Orange Blossom Water

The recipe for this dish is made using “‘Ajineh Mwarraqah“. “Sambousek Mwarraq” is pastry stuffed with meat. It is a specialty of Hama.

Let’s make Sambousek Mwarraq:

1. Ingredients for dish are: ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah, Filling: ground meat, onion, pine nuts and walnuts.

2. Dough is used fresh or frozen, check the post ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah for all the details about it. If it is frozen, allow to thaw in the fridge for few hours then at room temperature. Do not leave it a room temperature for long time, otherwise ghee will melt, the dough should hold its shape. The weight of each piece of dough is 50 g.

Filling

3, 4. In a pan, heat 1/2 tablespoon ghee.

5. Add 30 g pine nuts and fry until golden brown in color, and set aside.

7, 8, 9. To same ghee, add 50 g chopped walnuts and fry until golden brown in color, and set aside

Filling

10, 11, 12, 13. Finely chop red onion and measure 200 g chopped onion.

14, 15, 16. Rinse chopped onion in several changes of water, and put in a strainer.

17. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to chopped onion.

18, 19, 20, 21. Set chopped onion aside for 10 minutes to drain.

22. Press chopped onion to get rid of excess water.

23, 24. In a pan, heat 1 teaspoon ghee.

25, 26, 27, 28. Add chopped onion to ghee and stir to soften

29. Transfer onion to a bowl and allow to cool.

30, 31, 32, 33. In a deep pot, heat 1 tablespoon ghee.

34, 35, 36. Add 250 g fat free ground lamb meat to ghee.

37. Brown the meat.

38, 39, 40, 41, 42. Add chopped onion to meat and stir.

43, 44, 45. 107 to 112. Season the meat with 1 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper.

46 to 53. Add nuts to meat, stir and transfer into a plate and set aside to slightly cool.

54. Bring the dough and the filling.

55. Prepare aluminum baking sheet, no need to grease it.

56, 57, 58.  Take one piece of dough and gently press with your hand.

59, 60, 61. Roll the dough with a rolling pin to a circle about 4.3 inch (11 cm) diameter with 0.2 inch (1/2 cm) thickness.

62. Bring the filling.

63, 64, 65. Each piece of dough will be filled with 20 g of meat filling.

66, 67, 68. Put 20 g filling in the middle of the dough.

69 to 77. Fold the disc and seal the edges by pressing the dough with your fingers.

78, 79, 80. Work on the side which is sealed, use your fingers and bring two sides in the middle together to get one pointy top.

81. Put in the prepared baking sheet. The side that has a pointy top to inside.

 82, 83, 84, 85. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.

86, 87, 88,89. Preheat the oven to 428°F (220 °C). Place the baking sheet in the oven (rack position the second from bottom), and bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown in color on bottom. I baked Sambousek Mwarraq in the oven with the top burner on and bottom burner on, baked for 7 minutes on second rack from bottom then put it on bottom rack for 3 minutes, then returned to second rack with bottom burner off and kept the top burner on for 2 minutes.

90, 91, 92, 93. Take from the oven and keep on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.

94 to 101. Transfer into serving plate and serve it hot.

102. Serve Sambousek Mwarraq hot with salad (salad is prepared from tomato, cucumber, parsley, mint, onion, lemon juice, olive oil and salt), and laban ‘ayran (yogurt diluted with water and seasoned with salt).

Sambousek Mwarraq

From: Family Recipe / Servings: 16 Pieces
PDF Text Only / Print With Images

Dough 1 recipe ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah Filling 1/2 tbsp ghee, for nuts 30 g pine nuts 50 g chopped walnuts, chopped into medium pieces 200 g chopped red onion 1/2 tsp salt, for onion 1 tsp ghee, for onion 1 tbsp ghee, for meat 250 g fat free ground lamb meat 1 1/8 tsp salt 1/8 tsp black pepper To Serve Salad Laban ‘ayran (yogurt drink)

Ingredients for dish are: ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah, Filling: ground meat, onion, pine nuts and walnuts. Dough is used fresh or frozen, check the post ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah for all the details about it. If it is frozen, allow to thaw in the fridge for few hours then at room temperature. Do not leave it a room temperature for long time, otherwise ghee will melt, the dough should hold its shape. Filling In a pan, heat 1/2 tablespoon ghee. Add 30 g pine nuts and fry until golden brown in color, and set aside. To same ghee, add 50 g chopped walnuts and fry until golden brown in color, and set aside Finely chop red onion and measure 200 g chopped onion. Rinse chopped onion in several changes of water, and put in a strainer. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to chopped onion. Set chopped onion aside for 10 minutes to drain. Press chopped onion to get rid of excess water. In a pan, heat 1 teaspoon ghee. Add chopped onion to ghee and stir to soften Transfer onion to a bowl and allow to cool. In a deep pot, heat 1 tablespoon ghee. Add 250 g fat free ground lamb meat to ghee. Brown the meat. Add chopped onion to meat and stir. Season the meat with 1 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Add nuts to meat, stir and transfer into a plate and set aside to slightly cool. Bring the dough and the filling. Prepare aluminum baking sheet, no need to grease it. Take one piece of dough and gently press with your hand. Roll the dough with a rolling pin to a circle about 4.3 inch (11 cm) diameter with 0.2 inch (1/2 cm) thickness. Bring the filling. Each piece of dough will be filled with 20 g of meat filling. Put 20 g filling in the middle of the dough. Fold the disc and seal the edges by pressing the dough with your fingers. Work on the side which is sealed, use your fingers and bring two sides in the middle together to get one pointy top. Put in the prepared baking sheet. The side that has a pointy top to inside. Repeat with the other pieces of dough. Preheat the oven to 428°F (220 °C). Place the baking sheet in the oven (rack position the second from bottom), and bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown in color on bottom. I baked Sambousek Mwarraq in the oven with the top burner on and bottom burner on, baked for 7 minutes on second rack from bottom then put it on bottom rack for 3 minutes, then returned to second rack with bottom burner off and kept the top burner on for 2 minutes. Take from the oven and keep on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer into serving plate and serve it hot. Serve Sambousek Mwarraq hot with salad (salad is prepared from tomato, cucumber, parsley, mint, onion, lemon juice, olive oil and salt), and laban ‘ayran (yogurt diluted with water and seasoned with salt).

Notes and Tips

Check the post ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah for all the details about the dough.

I used 16 pieces of dough. The total amount of filling is enough for 16 pieces.

Size of each piece of dough is 50 g, the filling added is 20 g. Use these measurements as standard. If size of dough is 40 g, so add 16 g of filling. If size of dough is 30 g, so add 12 g of filling.

My oven is gas oven and it has two functions:
The oven upper burner “broiler”.
The oven bottom burner “bake function”.
I can turn on both of them together, and I can turn off one of them and keep the other on.

Leftovers can be reheated or eaten at room temperature.

Check my videos:
Making ‘Ajineh Mwarraqah
Making Sambousek Mwarraq

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 2:16 AM and is filed under Syrian Cooking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.