Shamburak: Kurdish Meat Hand Pie – Great for leftovers!
Shambarak can be made with just about anything, and in fact, it is a traditional way to get rid of leftovers. You can swap virtually any part of this dish. Rather than chutney, you could do chimichurri. Instead of sweet potato, you could try squash. You could swap the lamb for barbacoa or just omit the meat altogether and go vegetarian. With that said, here’s my take made with lamb.
Servings Prep Time
4People 20Minutes
Cook Time
3.5Hours
Servings Prep Time
4People 20Minutes
Cook Time
3.5Hours
Ingredients
  • 1 Leg of lamb
  • 1 oragne
  • 1whole stalk Fennel
  • 2 apple(s)
  • 2-3 sweet potatoes
  • 1bunch tarragonfresh
  • 1bunch thymefresh
  • 1 bread or pizza doughdivided into 4 pieces
  • 1pinch Himalayan pink salt
  • 1pinch pepper
  • 1/4cup hunza raisins
  • 3-4dashes sherry vinegar
  • 1 shallot(s)
  • 1/4cup green onionchopped
  • 1tbsp brown sugar
  • 1tsp cardamom, green
  • 1pinch cloves
Instructions
  1. Dress your leg of lamb, removing the fatback and any unwanted large chunks of fat. Score the lamb and coat with oil, then season generously with salt and pepper and stuff with fresh tarragon and thyme. At this point, go ahead and pre-heat your oven to 350F.
  2. Add ghee to a dutch oven over medium-high heat and when ready, sear the lamb on all sides until brown. Then deglaze your pot with a little white wine until there is about an inch of liquid in the bottom of the pot. Toss in your chopped fennel, green onions, and your orange that has been halved. With the lid on, put this in the oven and set your timer for 3 hours.
  3. Peel, chop, and boil your sweet potatoes.
  4. While the potatoes are boiling you can start working on your chutney. Peel and chop your apples, and dice the shallot. Add a little ghee to a saucepan and add the apples, shallots, and raisins. Combine with a few dashes of sherry vinegar (to taste). If you don’t have sherry vinegar, white wine or rice vinegar will do. Add a pinch of salt, pepper, and clove, and 1 tbsp of brown sugar, a tsp of cardamom, and simmer on low to medium-low until the liquids reduce and become syrupy and all the ingredients are soft.
  5. Next, your potatoes should be ready to be purred. I added butter and a little cream to mine.
  6. After the lamb is cooked you should be able to shred it easily with a fork. At this point, roll out your dough (optionally seed with black cumin seeds) and combine your ingredients, starting with your sweet potato puree, then lamb and finally top with chutney. Fold the ends of the dough so they overlap and create a bowl. Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes.