Samsa

Samsa (called kǎobāozi in Mandarin, 'baked buns') are Xinjiang's version of the Central Asian baked meat pie found across the region from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan. A dough of wheat flour, water and a little oil is rolled thin, filled with a mixture of hand-chopped lamb, raw onion, cumin and chilli, then folded into a square or round parcel and slapped onto the inside walls of a cylindrical clay tandoor (nang oven) where they bake for ten to fifteen minutes over charcoal. The high heat of the tandoor makes the pastry blister and develop a distinct char on the base while the interior stays moist. They are eaten fresh and hot, with the lamb fat having melted into the pastry during baking. Samsa are sold at dawn at Uyghur bread stalls alongside nang flatbread.