🍽️ Samsa

Tandoor-baked bun with spiced lamb.

Samsa, or baked bun, is a common Uyghur snack across Xinjiang, including Urumqi. Unleavened dough is wrapped around a filling of diced lamb, lamb fat and onion, pinched into square parcels and slapped onto the inner wall of a tandoor (nang oven) to bake over charcoal. Out of the oven the skin is golden, crisp and layered; a bite releases a steaming, juicy lamb filling, with onion cutting through the richness and a savoury, non-gamy aroma. Samsa must be eaten hot, held in both hands and nibbled open first to sip the broth. Fresh from the tandoor at Urumqi's Grand Bazaar and street stalls, they are among the most iconic baked foods of Xinjiang.