Sarburma

A stack of separate thin sheets is rolled into a turban, so the layers stay countable instead of fusing.

Lamb, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

the dough

• 500 g plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 180 ml water
• 10 g salt

the filling

• 600 g lamb shoulder, minced or very finely chopped
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper

between the sheets

• 200 g butter, melted

Method

1. A STACK OF SEPARATE THIN SHEETS IS ROLLED INTO A TURBAN, and the word behind the name is 'to wrap' or 'to curl'. Six or seven sheets are rolled out individually, stacked with melted butter between each, and only then is the whole stack rolled up as one and coiled into a round tin. Because the sheets went in already separated by butter, the baked pie has layers you can count and lift apart -- which a single thick sheet rolled round a filling never gives, however thin it is rolled. It is the lamination that makes this a distinct thing from every other rolled meat pastry.
2. THE SHEETS ARE STACKED AND ROLLED OUT AGAIN TOGETHER. After buttering, the stack is rolled with a pin so the sheets thin together while staying separate -- butter will not let them weld. This is where the layer count multiplies, and it is also why the butter must be MELTED and brushed thin: a thick layer squeezes out at the edges and the sheets slide instead of thinning.
3. THE FILLING IS RAW LAMB AND RAW ONION. Nothing is pre-cooked. The pie bakes slowly for an hour and a quarter, which cooks the lamb in its own fat inside a sealed pastry -- which is the whole reason it tastes of lamb rather than of browned mince. Cooked first, the meat is twice-cooked and dry.
4. THE LAMB IS SHOULDER AND IS CHOPPED, NOT BOUGHT MINCED. Shoulder for its fat, which bastes the layers from inside; chopped by hand to a coarse texture so the filling stays in distinguishable pieces rather than becoming a paste.
5. IT IS BAKED COVERED AND THEN UNCOVERED. Foil on for the first fifty minutes so the lamb cooks in steam without the top drying, then off for twenty-five to brown. Uncovered throughout, the top layers are dark and brittle before the meat is done.
6. The flour and salt mixed with the eggs and water to a firm dough. Kneaded 12 MINUTES.
7. Divided into 7 and rested, covered, 30 MINUTES.
8. The lamb chopped fine BY HAND and mixed RAW with the onion, salt and pepper.
9. Each piece of dough rolled out thin, about 26 cm across.
10. The sheets STACKED with MELTED butter brushed thinly between every one.
11. The whole stack rolled out AGAIN TOGETHER, to about 40 cm.
12. The filling spread over the stack, leaving a 2 cm border.
13. The stack rolled up as ONE into a thick rope, then coiled into a buttered round tin.
14. Brushed with the remaining butter and covered with foil.
15. Baked at 170°C for 50 MINUTES COVERED.
16. The foil removed and baked a further 25 MINUTES.
17. TESTED: the cut face should show countable separate layers. One fused mass means the butter was too thick or not melted.
18. Rested 15 MINUTES and cut in wedges.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes