Recipe: Half-moons of dough filled with minced meat (samborakat)

The Suryoye (also known as Assyrians or Arameans) are one of the oldest population groups in the Middle East. In the cookbook Haniyé, Matay de Mayee has collected the recipes of his mother, Smuni Turan. In her kitchen, the world’s oldest recorded Suryoye recipes are the common thread. This makes Haniyé – ‘enjoy your meal’ in Aramaic – a unique cookbook filled with special recipes, such as these half-moons of dough filled with minced meat.

At a Suryoye wedding, people always eat and drink lavishly. And actually, that simply continues the following morning. Married couples are called sabahiye the morning after the wedding, which literally means ‘those of the morning after’. Traditionally, samborakat were served for breakfast. They are sometimes compared to small stuffed pancakes, but they are really quite different. Pancakes are made with batter, while samborakat are made with wafer-thin dough. This is filled with a mixture of minced meat, onions, parsley and spices, and then folded double into the shape of a half-moon. You really have to practise this, because the trick is to keep the dough as thin as possible without it tearing.

How to make half-moons of dough with minced meat (samborakat)

• Brown the minced meat in 1 tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over medium heat until all the moisture has evaporated, breaking it up with a spoon. Add the remaining ingredients except the onions and parsley and fry for 1 minute, stirring continuously. Turn off the heat, transfer the minced meat to a plate and set aside.
• Use the same pan without washing it and sauté the onion in the second tablespoon of butter over medium heat for 5 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the browned minced meat and stir-fry everything for another 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and mix the parsley into the minced meat and onion mixture. Leave to cool thoroughly.
• Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Pour a little of the water into the flour and mix everything by hand. Gradually add the rest of the water and knead until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Add a tablespoon of sunflower oil and shape the dough into a ball that does not stick to your hands. If the dough is too dry or too wet, add more water or more flour.
• Dust your work surface with a little flour and divide the dough into 17 equal-sized balls. Take one ball and roll it out flat and thin with a rolling pin or the palm of your hand until you have a circle 18 cm in diameter. Spread 1½ tablespoons of the minced meat and onion mixture over slightly more than half of the dough circle. Leave the lower half and a border of approximately 1 cm clear. Fold the lower half of the dough over the filling to create a half-moon shape. Press the edge closed with your fingers and then with the rounded side of a fork, leaving the imprints of the tines. Repeat with the remaining dough balls.
• Heat butter in a non-stick frying pan and fry the samborakat over medium heat for approximately 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. Fry several at the same time. Transfer the samborakat from the pan to a plate, building up a large stack.

Title: Haniyé
Author: Matay de Mayee
Price: €33,99
Publisher: Fontaine Uitgevers

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