Balish (balesh, belish) - a traditional dish of Tatar cuisine, which is a pie from unleavened dough with filling. Often pastries are stuffed with meat and potatoes. Sometimes you can find more original versions of a dish where rice or millet is used instead of root crops. Tatar meat pie, as a rule, has a rather impressive size, because in the homeland it is prepared for the whole large family. Although sometimes the dish is made in a portioned form: all the components of the filling are placed in a clay pot, which is covered with a “lid” from unleavened dough.
Ingredients for Tatar Balish
The main difference between this dish and Russian meat pies is a generous amount of filling. The dough itself is very thin and crispy. But cutting the pie, you can find just a huge amount of filling, which directly falls out of it.
No need to try to give the pieces a neat shape by collecting meat and potatoes. A portion of the Tatar pie should look like a kind of stew. A plate of dough is used in the bite with flavorful filling. This is precisely what makes it special.
Tatar pie with meat and potatoes (balesh) is prepared with beef, ducklings, goose and even bird giblets. The fatter the main ingredient - the tastier and juicier the dish will turn out. By the way, for these purposes an impressive amount of butter and onions is added to the filling. Often, meat broth is poured into the pie. This type of baking is called “Shurpaly Belish”.
Seasonings for a delicious dish
Despite the fact that the Tatar cuisine is replete with the number of aromatic spices, they are practically not added to the pie. There is a logical explanation for this: seasonings with a bright characteristic smell will kill the delicate natural taste of the products from which the dish is prepared. Therefore, recipes for Tatar pies with meat and potatoes allow only the use of salt and ground black pepper. In rare cases, one (not more!) Bay leaf is put in the filling.
Method for making balish
Traditionally, Tatar pie is baked in an old oven. However, modern culinary technologies allow cooking in a conventional oven. One thing remains indispensable - baking dishes. It should be a tank with a thick bottom and walls. The recipe for a Tatar “Balish” pie with meat recommends using an ordinary cast-iron frying pan. In it, baking will turn out the most delicious and fragrant.
Tatar pie with beef and potatoes
One of the most delicious food options. The meat pie is very nutritious, juicy and nutritious. Since beef is rightfully considered a dietary product, experienced chefs advise adding a little broth and butter to the filling. Thanks to these ingredients, the Tatar pie with meat and potatoes (balesh) will turn out to be very juicy, moderately fat and deliciously delicious!
Ingredients
Products for the test:
- one and a half glasses of milk of any fat content;
- 150 milliliters of odorless vegetable oil;
- 75 grams of table salt;
- six glasses of wheat flour.
Components for juicy toppings:
- 750 grams of beef (without films and veins);
- 1200 grams of potatoes;
- a pound of onion;
- 150 grams of butter;
- 150 milliliters of meat broth;
- ground black pepper and salt.
Cooking a traditional Tatar dish
Pour milk at room temperature into a deep container, convenient for kneading dough. Add vegetable oil to it and mix. To salt. Introduce the flour in small portions while kneading the dough. Sifting the product through a sieve during the preparation of this pie is optional. However, if impurities are found in the flour, then the procedure should be carried out. The finished dough turns out pretty steep and does not stick to your hands. Next, cover the bowl with the workpiece with a towel so that various debris does not fall into it, and start preparing all the ingredients for the filling.
Rinse the meat under running water, and then dry it with a paper towel. If the product contains films or streaks, they should be removed. Otherwise, the filling will have a "rubber" structure. Cut the beef into small cubes (about one centimeter).
Peel the onions and potatoes and then rinse. The first should be chopped with thin half rings or chopped into small cubes. Cut the potatoes into squares about 1.5-2 centimeters.
Combine all the components of the filling in a deep bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly with your hands.
Divide the dough into three parts: one should be large, the second - smaller, the third - very tiny. Sprinkle flour onto the work surface. Put the largest part of the dough on it and roll it out with a rolling pin, turning it into a thin circle.
Cover the bottom of the cast-iron pan with parchment, and then lay the prepared layer in it. Place the potato-meat filling in the center of the circle.
Pinch the excess edges of the dough all around, giving the cake the shape of a kind of saucepan. A large hole should remain in the center of the product. In it should be placed butter chopped into pieces of any shape and size.
Roll out the second largest part of the dough into a thin circle, smaller than the first. Cover the Tatar pie with Balesh meat with the resulting layer. Gently pinch the edges until the product is completely closed.
In the center of the pie, with a knife, make a small hole.
Roll the remaining piece of dough into a neat ball. Close the hole made with the resulting bun.
Send balesha to the oven preheated to 180 degrees for an hour and a half. If the top of the product becomes too brown, the temperature should be reduced.
After the specified time, remove the cake from the oven, remove the ball covering the hole, and pour the meat broth into it. Close the “lid” again and return the balech to the oven for another half an hour, reducing the heating temperature to 160 degrees.
The Tatar pie with meat in the oven is completely ready! It remains only to remove it from the pan and, if desired, grease the top and sides with melted butter.
Nutritional Information of Meat Baking
The product turns out to be very satisfying and absolutely does not require additional side dishes. The cake is magnificent in its own right! 100 grams of the finished product contains:
- carbohydrates - 18.0 g;
- fats - 8.0 g;
- proteins - 7.0 g;
- calories - 171 kcal.
Tatar balish cake with duck meat
This type of baking is traditionally made with rice. Despite the fact that all the balishi are somewhat similar to each other, there is still a slight difference in the preparation. First you need to knead the dough, guided by the previous recipe. It should also be divided into three parts, two of which are rolled out, and the third is turned into a ball. A large layer of dough needs to be laid out in a pan, the bottom of which is covered with parchment. And now you can do the preparation of the filling.
To stuff the pie you will need:
- one kilogram of duck meat;
- five medium-sized bulbs;
- one and a half glasses of dry rice;
- salt, ground black pepper;
- packing butter (200 grams);
- one and a half glasses of meat broth.
Cooking toppings and baking a pie
Boil the rice in salted water until half cooked, then place it on a sieve and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Allow liquid to drain.
Cut the duck pulp into medium-sized pieces (1-2 centimeters). Peel the onion, wash, and then chop into small cubes.
Combine all products in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.
Put the finished stuffing in the center of the prepared dough layer. As in the previous case, the edges should be plucked, leaving a large hole in the middle. Cut the butter into slices and put on top of the filling.
Turn the second piece of dough into a layer using a rolling pin. Cover the cake with the workpiece. Good pinch all the edges. In the center, cut a small hole that you need to close with a ball of dough.
Send the Tatar pie in a hot oven (175 degrees) for two hours. After the specified time, remove the belich from the oven, remove the ball that covers the top, and pour the broth into the hole. Return the bun from the dough to its place. Put the pie in the oven for another 30 minutes. Serve hot to the table in a hot form, as an independent dish. Various pickled vegetables will be a great addition to such an unusual main dish.
Zur-Balesh with lamb
What is the name of the Tatar meat pie in national cuisine? Zur-Balesh. Translated from the Tatar language - "big cake". Over time, they began to omit the first part to make the word easier to pronounce.
As you know, lamb is the most favorite type of meat among Muslim peoples. Therefore, the traditional pie recipe implies the use of this particular product. A classic dish will surely be appreciated by all lovers of lamb, which is distinguished by its very unusual taste.
What are we cooking from?
Products necessary for the preparation of the dough:
- packaging of butter (200 grams);
- 250 milliliters of drinking water;
- 200 milliliters of fat sour cream;
- one teaspoon of soda (extinguish with vinegar);
- two tablespoons of vegetable oil;
- one teaspoon of salt;
- wheat flour (how much dough will take).
Ingredients for a delicious and juicy filling:
- a pound of lamb pulp;
- one kilogram of potatoes;
- a pound of onion;
- one glass of meat broth;
- ground black pepper, salt.
Guide to cooking Tatar lamb pie
In a deep bowl, combine drinking water and sour cream. All ingredients must have room temperature. Add softened butter, chopped into pieces, and a teaspoon of salt. Rub the resulting mass thoroughly. Pour in vegetable oil and add soda, after extinguishing it with vinegar. Pouring flour, knead the dough. The blank for zur-ballesha should be soft, elastic and not stick to the palms. Flour should be added until the required dough structure is achieved. Wrap the billet in a bag or cling film, and then send it to the refrigerator for a quarter of an hour.
Now you can start creating delicious toppings. Rinse the lamb thoroughly under running water and then dry with a paper towel. Cut the meat into small cubes (about 1 centimeter). Peel, rinse and turn the potatoes into squares of the same size as the lamb. Release the onion from the husk, wash and chop thin thin rings. Combine vegetables and meat in a deep bowl, season with salt and pepper to taste. Knead the mass well with your hands.
Chilled dough divided into three parts. As in previous recipes, they should be different: large, medium and small. Place the main part on the table, lightly dusting it with flour, and turn it into a thin round layer with a rolling pin. Spread the workpiece in a pan. Put the filling on top.
Roll out the middle part of the dough and cover it with a pie. Thoroughly grind the edges so that not a drop of aromatic juice flows out of the pie. Using a knife, make a small hole at the top of the product (in the center). Roll the bun from the last part of the dough and close the resulting hole with it.
Send zur-ballesh in a hot oven (180 degrees) for an hour and a half. After the specified time, the cake should be removed and the broth added (pour into the hole made earlier). Place the product in the oven again for half an hour. The heating temperature is better to reduce to 150-160 degrees.
Remove the ready-made Zur-Balesh from the oven and immediately serve it (directly in the pan). Remove the upper crust, setting it aside. Distribute the contents of the pie on portioned plates. It is recommended to use potato and meat filling with the same top crust.
Bon appetit and the most delicious Tatar pies!