Ichlekli

Ingredients

• Flour600 g
• Water280 ml
• Mutton — finely diced800 g
• Onions — finely chopped5
• Mutton fat100 g
• Potato — optional2
• Cumin seed1 tsp
• Butter50 g
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Knead a stiff unleavened dough from the flour, water and salt and rest it under a cloth for thirty minutes.

   40 min

2. 2

   Dice the mutton and fat small with a knife, and chop the onion as fine as you can.

   25 min

3. 3

   Mix the meat, fat, onion, cumin, salt and pepper. Add no water; the onion supplies the juice.

   8 min

4. 4

   Divide the dough in two, roll the larger piece into a round and line an oiled tin, leaving an overhang.

   12 min

5. 5

   Spread the filling evenly, cover with the second sheet and seal the edges in a firm rope.

   12 min

6. 6

   Make a small steam hole in the centre, brush with butter and cover with foil.

   5 min

7. 7

   Bake at 180 °C for an hour under the foil, then uncover and give it ten more minutes to colour.

   75 min

About the dish

The filling goes in raw, with a great deal of onion. The onion supplies the juice the meat cooks in: no water or broth goes into an ichlekli.

Traditionally the pie is buried in hot ash under a fire for an hour. In an oven the principle is reproduced by covering: it stays under foil and is uncovered only at the end.

The dough is unleavened and firm. It has to carry the weight of the filling and hold the juices — puff or enriched dough collapses here.

Worth knowing

• — There should be at least half as much onion as meat by weight. Less, and the filling comes out dry, because nothing else provides liquid.
• — Seal the seam tightly and fold it over. An opened edge lets all the juice out and the pie dries.
• — The meat is cut with a knife rather than minced. Mince gives a dense uniform filling; what is wanted here is separate pieces in their juice.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

660 kcal

Protein

32 g

Fat

34 g

Carbs

56 g

More from Turkmenistan

• Dograma — Crumbled flatbread with mutton and onion under hot broth. The Turkmen dish of Eid al-Adha.