Turkmenistan / Main
Ichlekli
A large closed pie of mutton and onion baked in ashes. The dish of Turkmen herders.
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
Quantities are auto-calculated from the original recipe as a guide. Items without numbers (e.g. “to taste”) are not changed.
Method 7 steps
Knead a stiff unleavened dough from the flour, water and salt and rest it under a cloth for thirty minutes.
Dice the mutton and fat small with a knife, and chop the onion as fine as you can.
Mix the meat, fat, onion, cumin, salt and pepper. Add no water; the onion supplies the juice.
Divide the dough in two, roll the larger piece into a round and line an oiled tin, leaving an overhang.
Spread the filling evenly, cover with the second sheet and seal the edges in a firm rope.
Make a small steam hole in the centre, brush with butter and cover with foil.
Bake at 180 °C for an hour under the foil, then uncover and give it ten more minutes to colour.