Uzbek Samsa
Description
Sweet walnut fritters
Ingredients
Filling
- 6 ounces of walnuts, pulverized in a blender or ground in a nut grinder
- 1½ tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened
- 1½ tablespoons of sugar
Dough
- 1½ cups of all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup of lukewarm water (110°F to 115°F)
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 1½ tablespoons of unsalted butter
- vegetable oil for deep fat-drying
- powdered confectioner's sugar
Procedures
- In a large mixing bowl, toss together walnuts, 1½ tablespoons of butter and sugar.
- Set aside at room temperature.
- Place the flour in a deep mixing bowl and make a well in the center.
- Pour in the water, salt and 2 tablespoons of butter and slowly stir in the flour in the other ingredients until well absorbed.
- Then beat vigorously with a large spoon until firm dough is formed.
- Gather the dough into a ball.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll it into a rectangle approximately l1 inches wide by 18 inches long.
- Brush the dough with the additional 2 tablespoons of butter and fold it into quarters.
- Roll it out again as thinly as possible and with a pastry wheel or small, sharp knife, trim the dough into a rectangle 16 inches wide by 18 inches long.
- Cut the rectangle into 2- inch squares.
- Heap 1 teaspoon of the filling in the center of a square of dough and draw up the four corners to meet in the middle, thus enclosing the filling.
- Dip your fingers in water and pinch the corners firmly together to seal them.
- Fill and seal the remaining squares similarly.
- Fill a deep-fat fryer or deep, heavy pot with enough oil to come 4 inches up the sides of the pan and heat until the oil registers 375°F.
- On a deep-fat thermometer.
- Drop in 10 to 12 fritters, turning them about occasionally with a slotted spoon, fry them for about 3 minutes, or until they are golden brown and crisp.
- Then drain them on paper towels while you fry the rest of the fritters similarly.
- Arrange the fritters on a serving platter, sprinkle them with the powdered sugar and serve.
