Recipes for making sweet Tatar pies. Tatar pies
The main component of this dish is meat. Since the Tatars are Muslims, they do not cook pork and therefore the Tatar meat pie is filled with lamb or duck filling. But first, let’s look at product options for different types of dough, the recipes of which are slightly different.
Yeast dough option
- milk - 1 glass (250 ml);
- water (100 ml);
- salt and sugar - 1 tbsp. l (10 g each);
- fresh yeast - 25 g;
- margarine - 125 g;
- flour - 600-700 g.
Yeast-free dough option
- fat sour cream - 150 g;
- salt - 1 teaspoon;
- butter - 50 g;
- sugar - 1 tbsp. spoon;
- baking soda - 0.5 teaspoon.
Filling ingredients
- chicken or lamb - 800 g;
- butter - 50 g;
- onions - 3 pieces;
- boiled water or broth;
- lard - 100 g;
- raw potatoes - 700 g;
- salt, pepper and spices to taste.
Preparing the dough
Option for yeast dough
- Pour a small amount of warm water over the yeast and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Leave to rise in a warm place.
- Pour milk into melted margarine. When the mixture has cooled to room temperature, add the yeast to it and sprinkle with salt.
- Having poured half of the required flour into the bowl with the dough, knead the dough and leave it for 30-40 minutes until it rises.
- After the time has passed, pour out the remaining flour and, having kneaded the dough again, leave it for another 1 hour in a warm place, periodically settling it.
Option for yeast-free dough
- Melt the butter in a water bath and mix with sour cream, sugar, salt and soda.
- Add flour and mix well until an elastic dough forms. Try not to beat the dough so that it does not turn out hard, but soft and greasy.
- Cover the prepared dough with a towel and leave to “rest” for about 30 minutes.
The dough is ready to work, which means you can start preparing the filling for Zur belyash.
Preparing the filling
The peculiarity of Zur Belesh is that the filling components are put into the pie raw.
Now you can safely call guests to the table and try the cooled pie!
In Tatarstan, the highlight of the national cuisine is pastry made from dough. It comes in all sorts of ways: sweet, unleavened, rich, yeasty, sour. The most common Tatar dough dishes are considered to be such recipes as: gubadia, belesh, baursak, kastybai and many others.
The sacred product of the Tatars is bread, without which not a single table in the country will be left. In addition, for everyday meals, Tatars like to bake products from unleavened dough: pies, buns or flatbreads. Recipes exist separately for each holiday.
We suggest considering the recipe for Tatar pie Echpochmak or Belish.
Tatar pies made from meat and dough are considered a national feature of the Tatars. Depending on the dish, the dough is made with yeast or unleavened. The secret of the cuisine of this people is the Echpochmak pie, which is baked in the shape of a triangle. The dough for this product is made unleavened, and the filling is made of meat, onions and potatoes, as well as various cereals, cabbage and even pumpkin. Those pie recipes that have taken root in our country have remained virtually unchanged in content.
You may be surprised to find out that in our country this dish is called belyash and sell them on city streets. It’s interesting that Zur Belish has different recipes, and not just one that is special. They all turn out aromatic and appetizing, and they are most often prepared for holidays or on weekends.
This extraordinary product made from dough with filling, originally from Tatarstan, can decorate your table, making a great impression on guests and loved ones. Be prepared for some fiddling around. But the result will surpass all your efforts, and your recipes will be replenished with new ones. Well, let's start preparing the necessary products.
Bon appetit!
Balesh is a famous festive Tatar pie, baked from tender dough on sour cream with a nutritious and juicy meat and potato filling. He is able to gather the entire large and friendly family around the table.
According to the method of preparation, Tatar balesh is slightly reminiscent of Russian kurnik with meat and potatoes, but oriental cuisine has always been famous for its interesting and unique pastries. The recipe for belish (the correct name) is one of the original ones. The top of the pie must be opened so that broth can be added to the filling during baking and thereby turn the product into an amazingly juicy dish.
Today we will prepare this amazing traditional Tatar pie together.
To prepare the Tatar pie Balesh (Belish), we will take the products according to the list and immediately begin the process.
First, tender sour cream dough is kneaded. Add sour cream, mayonnaise and sunflower oil to the bowl (can be replaced with butter).
A soft ball that does not stick to the bowl is formed, which in turn is put into a plastic bag and then in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes.
Now for the filling. Beef (veal) is slightly frozen. Cut into cubes and place in a bowl.
And the onions are also cut into cubes. First, we clean it from the husk.
Potatoes are also cut into cubes and pre-peeled.
The greens for the Tatar pie need to be chopped, in our case the frozen version. Then mix with salt and season with pepper if desired.
After which all the ingredients are mixed well into the minced meat.
Let's move on to the formation of the balesh. Yes, by the way, little belyashi appeared after the big Tatar pie. The dough is divided in half and a round 5 mm cake is rolled out from one part. Cover the baking dish or frying pan with the tortilla so that the edges of the dough hang out.
The filling is sent into the mold.
Then the edges of the dough are pulled towards the center and overlapped, leaving a round space in the middle, as shown in the photo.
The second part of the dough is also rolled out into a flat cake, but smaller in size, with a hole in the center. The layers of dough are tightly pinched together. For convenience, your hands are “dipped” in flour. We will add broth to the pie through the hole in the cap.
The hole is closed with a ball of dough. The pie goes into the oven for 2 hours. Temperature - no more than 180°C. If it seems to you that the product is starting to brown too quickly, cover the top with a sheet of foil, and if desired, the surface of the pie can be coated with egg yolk - for greater goldenness.
30 minutes before readiness, carefully remove the dough ball using a knife. Hot broth (beef, chicken) is poured into the filling through the hole in the cap.
Tatar pie Balesh is baked! The finished dish is served hot in a frying pan.
Part of the cap is removed from the top of the pie. The filling is spooned onto plates along with pieces of dough.
If you decide to cool the cake slightly, you will be able to remove it from the pan and transfer it to a serving plate. Have a nice feast to you and your guests!
Tatar meat pie is a traditional holiday dish of Turkic cuisine.
A large covered pie is baked for the occasion, called zur-belish- big pie.
Unlike vac-belish(small pie) you can feed the whole family.
The traditional dough for Tatar meat pie is unleavened, often flaky.
However, the great popularity of this dish has made changes to the national recipe. Today you can find a recipe based on yeast text.
Beef, lamb or poultry meat is used as filling. For obvious reasons, it is better not to use pork. Duck, chicken, goose are the most common options for poultry meat.
The filling consists of two main components: meat and potatoes. They definitely mix with onion. You can season the filling with spices to taste, although the rich taste and aroma of the meat is self-sufficient. Instead of potatoes, some housewives use rice.
Tatar meat pie - general cooking principles
To prepare the filling, the meat should be cut into very thin cubes. Minced meat is practically not used. National cutting allows you to get a richer, more intense taste. Potatoes are used raw. Baking it into a pie is an interesting culinary challenge. It is better to cut the vegetable into almost transparent slices: then the potatoes are guaranteed to be baked. The onion is cut into transparent rings.
Mix the filling in a large bowl, add salt, black pepper and set aside for a few minutes.
The dough for belish is prepared on the basis of kefir, yogurt, milk, butter or margarine. Additional ingredients: salt, vinegar. You may need more or less flour than specified in the recipe, which depends on its type and the characteristics of mixing with other ingredients. Sometimes an egg is added to the dough.
Traditionally, a frying pan without a handle is used to bake a pie. The dough is divided into two unequal parts: two thirds for the base, one third for the top. The layer needs to be rolled out thin enough and placed in a frying pan so that the edges protrude a few centimeters above the edge of the frying pan.
Having distributed the filling, you need to lift the edges of the base to the center of the pie, roll out the top layer and pinch the pie nicely. Be sure to leave a hole in the center: through it, the readiness of the potatoes is checked and the broth is poured in.
By the way, it is the broth that is the special feature of the Tatar meat pie. Thanks to the liquid, raw potatoes have the opportunity to cook, and the pie itself turns out juicy and tender.
Tatar pie with meat is baked at a temperature of 200 degrees. Baking takes an hour and a half on average. After an hour, the oven temperature is usually reduced to 180 degrees (so that the potatoes “cook”). To distribute the heat evenly, you can place a container of water under the bottom of the mold. To prevent the top from burning, after browning (after about forty minutes) it should be covered with a sheet of foil.
Tatar pie with meat and potatoes made from dough with sour cream
The classic version of Tatar meat pie is a temptation for the family. Unleavened dough with sour cream turns out airy and tender. Ingredient quantities are for extra large pan.
Ingredients:
A kilogram of any meat;
Ten medium potatoes;
Two large onions;
Fifty grams of butter;
250 grams of sour cream;
100 ml milk;
100 ml water or ready-made broth;
Two chicken eggs;
A kilogram of white flour;
A teaspoon of sugar;
Salt pepper;
Two tablespoons of mayonnaise;
Two tablespoons of vegetable oil.
Cooking method:
Cut the potatoes into thin slices.
Finely chop the onions.
Cut the meat into very small pieces.
Mix all filling ingredients in a large saucepan, add salt and pepper to taste.
If desired, add dried parsley, dill, and basil to the filling.
Prepare the dough. Mix eggs with milk, mayonnaise and sour cream.
Add salt.
Pour in vegetable oil.
Gradually adding flour, knead the dough. It should turn out soft and not stick to your hands.
Separate a small lump of dough - about the size of a walnut.
Divide the dough into two parts.
Form the bottom layer of the pie.
Carefully, so as not to tear the dough sheet, lay out the filling.
Roll out the top layer, pinch, and make a hole.
Roll the reserved piece of dough into a ball and cover the resulting hole.
After an hour, check the readiness of the potatoes by removing a lump of dough and picking up a potato piece.
Pour broth or water into the pie and add butter.
Let the Tatar meat pie sit for a while and serve.
Tatar pie with beef and potatoes made from margarine dough
An appetizing, aromatic Tatar pie with meat is not only incredibly tasty, but also very satisfying. The margarine dough is thin, crispy, tender, slightly flaky. It is prepared without eggs, which is important in the diet of allergy sufferers.
Ingredients:
Half a glass of milk;
Half a glass of sour cream;
A tablespoon of vinegar;
A pack of creamy margarine;
Three glasses of white flour;
Half a kilo of any meat;
Two medium onions;
Three potatoes;
150 ml broth;
Spices, salt, pepper;
Cooking method:
Chop the meat finely enough, add salt and pepper.
Place the meat in the refrigerator for two to three hours. It will be soaked in juice and become tender and juicy.
Pour flour into a bowl.
Grate all the margarine into the flour (it is better to freeze it in the freezer first).
Grind flour and margarine into crumbs.
Add milk and sour cream, vinegar and knead the dough.
While kneading the dough, add about another glass of flour.
The dough will turn out uneven, but this is not a problem. After resting for half an hour in the refrigerator, it will become completely smooth and pleasant.
Roll out the rested dough, fold it and put it back in the refrigerator.
Cut the potatoes into thin slices.
Chop the onion into thin half rings.
Form the dough into a main layer as described above.
Place the marinated meat on the dough and press down a little.
Place onion and potatoes on top of the meat.
If the meat is very lean or chicken, you can add a few pieces of butter.
Form the top of the pie.
Brush it with beaten yolk.
Close the hole in the lid with a small peeled onion.
Bake for twenty minutes, then remove, pour broth or water into the hole, and put back in the oven.
Repeat the infusion of broth after another half hour.
After twenty minutes, taste the potatoes to see if they are done. Finish baking if necessary.
Tatar pie with lamb meat and potatoes made from puff pastry
Lamb is a special product for Tatar cuisine. It is from fresh lamb meat that special dishes of the national cuisine are prepared. Puff pastry with butter gives this version of Tatar meat pie a special charm.
Ingredients:
Three glasses of white flour;
Half a glass of milk;
Half a glass of sour cream;
A stick of butter;
A teaspoon of table vinegar;
Half a kilo of fresh lamb;
Four potatoes;
Two medium onions;
150 ml broth;
One yolk;
Salt pepper.
Cooking method:
Finely chop the meat, add salt, sprinkle with pepper, season to taste with dried herbs and spices, mix and place on the refrigerator shelf. The lamb should marinate for an hour and a half.
Sift the flour into a wide bowl.
Cut or grate cold butter into it.
Add sour cream, milk, vinegar and knead into a soft dough.
Place it in the refrigerator for about twenty minutes.
Take out the dough, roll it into a layer, roll it into an envelope, and put it back in the refrigerator for twenty minutes.
Repeat rolling out the layers four to five more times until the dough turns into a puff pastry.
Slice the potatoes and onions thinly.
Form a pie.
Place the filling in layers: meat, potatoes, salt and pepper, onion, five pieces of butter.
Brush the top of the pie with yolk.
Every half hour, pour broth or water into the pie.
The pie will be ready in an hour and a half.
You need to take it out of the oven, remove the foil and let it rest a little (about twenty minutes).
Tatar pie with meat and rice made from yeast dough
An unusual version of Tatar pie with meat and rice is a godsend for an experienced housewife. Yeast dough gives a special taste to the dish, beef - a thick meaty aroma.
Ingredients:
A glass of warm water;
One level tablespoon of dry active yeast;
A pack of butter margarine;
Two eggs;
White flour (about three to four glasses);
A teaspoon of sugar;
Salt pepper;
Two kilograms of beef;
A glass of white rice;
Half a stick of butter for the filling;
Two large onions;
A glass of prepared broth.
Cooking method:
Cook the rice, rinse it with water.
Slice the beef.
Chop the onion into rings.
Mix rice, meat and onion, add salt to taste and sprinkle with pepper.
Prepare a dough from water, sugar and yeast: mix the ingredients and leave for fifteen minutes.
Melt the margarine in a saucepan and cool slightly.
Beat one egg vigorously.
Mix egg, margarine, dough.
Add some salt and start kneading the dough, adding flour little by little.
The finished dough should be soft and elastic. There is no need to leave it to proof.
Form a pie.
Place pieces of butter on top of the filling.
Pour broth (or water) into the hole.
Brush the top with the yolk of the second egg.
Bake for an hour.
Then remove, cover with a damp cloth or towel and let rest for about an hour.
Tatar pie with chicken meat “Kubete”
A type of Tatar pie with meat is kubete, which means “fast”. It is prepared from puff pastry, which in combination with chicken meat really speeds up the preparation. It turns out deliciously tasty, juicy and appetizing.
Ingredients:
Six hundred grams of white flour;
Two hundred milliliters of water;
Three hundred grams of creamy margarine;
One egg;
A tablespoon of vinegar;
Three hundred grams of chicken fillet;
A spoon of cumin;
Six potatoes;
Two onions;
Pepper, salt.
Cooking method:
Chop the margarine with a knife along with half the flour, then grind into crumbs.
Beat the egg and add to the flour crumbs.
Salt, add water and vinegar.
Gradually add the remaining flour and knead the dough.
Roll the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film or put it in a bag and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour.
After twenty minutes, take it out, roll it out, fold it into an envelope and put it back in the refrigerator.
Repeat the procedure two more times.
Chop potatoes and onions.
Cut the chicken fillet into cubes, finely.
Mix the filling ingredients, add salt, add a spoonful of cumin, and stir.
Form a cake (not forgetting about the hole), brush with yolk and place in a preheated oven for about forty minutes.
Serve hot.
Tatar pie with meat “Uch pochmak”
A quick and convenient version of the Tatar meat pie is uchpochmaki pies. Small in size, they cook faster than zur-belish, but are no less tasty. The kefir dough is tender, tasty, soft.
Ingredients:
A glass of kefir;
Three quarters of a pack of margarine;
Two yolks;
A teaspoon of soda;
A teaspoon of vinegar;
Two to three glasses of flour;
Three hundred grams of beef;
Three hundred grams of lamb;
Six potatoes;
Large onion;
Bay leaf;
A teaspoon of dill seeds;
Pepper, salt.
Cooking method:
Melt the margarine.
Mix two yolks, salt, soda, slaked vinegar, kefir and margarine.
Add flour and knead the dough. It should come off your fingers.
Place the dough in a bag and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour.
Cut the meat into small cubes.
Cut the potatoes into the same cubes.
Chop the onion.
Mix all the ingredients of the filling, salt, sprinkle with pepper, season with dill seeds and crushed bay leaf.
Divide the dough into small balls.
Roll out the ball, put the filling in the center, bring the edges of the circle towards the middle and pinch so that you get a triangular pie with a hole in the center.
Place the uch puchmaki on a sheet and bake for about an hour.
Tatar pie with lamb ribs
An excellent dough made with yogurt and butter will make the Tatar meat pie a real masterpiece of culinary art. Two types of meat are used: ground beef and lamb ribs.
Ingredients:
Four hundred grams of flour;
150 grams of butter;
One hundred grams of natural yogurt;
Two hundred grams of sour cream;
One egg;
Half a spoon of soda;
Salt, black pepper;
Half a kilo of ground beef;
Three hundred to four hundred grams of lamb ribs;
Two onions;
Five potatoes;
A spoonful of coriander and cumin.
Cooking method:
Melt one hundred grams of butter.
Mix yolk, yogurt, sour cream, butter, slaked soda.
Knead the dough.
Roll the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film and put it in the refrigerator.
Trim the meat from the ribs and cut it into very small cubes.
Cook the broth from the ribs, adding carrots, onions, bay leaves, pepper, salt, and herbs.
Finely chop the onion.
Cut the potatoes into small cubes.
Mix minced meat, lamb, potatoes, onions.
Add salt, season with spices, mix.
Roll out the dough into two circles and form a pie.
Place the remaining butter on top of the filling.
Bake for about an hour.
If desired, after half an hour from the start of baking, pour a little broth into the pie.
After baking, be sure to let the cake rest.
Serve with broth.
Tatar meat pie - tricks and useful tips
You can add any spices to the pie filling to your taste. Anise gives it a special taste.
Homemade puff pastry will always turn out well if you add vinegar to it.
It is better to knead the dough not with your hands, but with a wooden spoon. The fact is that margarine and butter quickly melt from the warmth of your hands, so you have to add more flour to the dough. This will not make it airy and melting.
When laying out the filling, you need to try not to damage the bottom of the pie. Otherwise, the broth will leak out and the filling will turn out dry.
Traditional Tatar pie is served in a frying pan, which is placed in the center of the table. Using a sharp knife, cut the crust in a circle and serve it in portions to each plate. Then the filling is laid out. At the very end of the meal, the bottom of the pie is sliced. You need to cut it into triangles.
Belish (or balesh) is served not only with broth, but also with katyk and brine.
Very tasty, festive, satisfying and unusual.
Let's try?!
We will need: Lean beef (we don’t need beef fat here), I have about a kilogram of beef for two pies, exactly as much potatoes as meat, two packs of butter, two medium onions, a glass of water, 4-5 bay leaves, peppercorns( I take 10 pieces, see what you like).
Oil
First, let's melt the butter. Turn the heat to low and add oil to the pan, stirring. 
Filling 
While the oil is heating, finely chop the onion and throw it into a convenient deep dish.
The onions have been chopped! Cut the meat into 1 x 1 cm cubes, mix the onion and meat.
According to the principle of meat (1 cm by 1 cm, cube), cut the potatoes, add the potatoes to the meat and onions, salt to taste, add bay leaf and pepper, mix. We leave it to wait in the wings. 
Dough! 
Here we need to make a reservation. I am a person who is very bad with dough, but anyone can make this dough!!! It turns out to be gentle, pliable, does not stick, and does not have hundreds of nuances.
Add a glass of water to the melted butter (if there is 1 pie, then half a glass), add salt, and stir. Add flour, stir in flour little by little until the dough stops sticking to your hands.
Divide the dough into 4 parts (if there are 2 pies, if 1, then into 2 parts) and roll out. There is also an example from experience here. The first time I prepared this dish, I made a thick dough. In this case, the filling was not ready, and the dough became too brown (actually burnt). The dough should be rolled out into a 3mm layer, no more! 
Roll the dough and place it.
And so we rolled out the layer and put it in a container. (my grandmother made it in cast iron frying pans, my mother also makes it in cast iron, but I don’t have those, I make it in regular ones, it turns out... not that bad, a little different from theirs, but tasty). As soon as we put the layer in the container, we make the sides with our hands; they should be of such a height that we can “bend” them onto the lid (this will happen a little later). 
Filling
We begin to lay, there is also a nuance here. This pie is not flat, so we place the filling in a mound from the center, so that the height of the filling is 3-4 cm higher than the sides of the mold. We roll out another layer according to the principle of the bottom layer of dough and cover the filling with it, while we have the edges of the bottom layer of dough above the edges of the lid. 
Bend
We fold the edges of the bottom layer onto the lid, making, as it were, a lower bowl without outlets. Our dish is very juicy and ideally we need to ensure that the juice does not leak out, but there is so much of it that it finds somewhere to leak out. Again, ideally, all the juice should remain inside.
How will we check for readiness?! This pie needs to be checked! There are different varieties of potatoes, different starches, etc.
Very simple!!! In the very top part we make a hole in the dough, and close it with a “dough plug”, so during the cooking process we open this “plug”, carefully dig out the potatoes inside the pie and check them. As soon as the potatoes are ready, the pie is ready!
We made a hole, closed it with a plug, what next? 
In the oven
And then you need to cover this thing with a lid, and be sure to do so, otherwise the dough will burn while the filling is being prepared.
Cover with a lid and place in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. We set the timer for an hour and a half. BUT! a timer is a timer, and we have to keep an eye on this dish. The first check of readiness is after 35-40 minutes from placing in the oven, the second after 1 hour 10 minutes from placing in the oven, the third after 1 hour 30 minutes.
I didn’t cook this dish for longer than 1 hour 30 minutes, but my mother told me that there were potatoes that had to be kept a little longer. Check.
Are the potatoes ready?! Great, remove the lid from the pie and put it in the oven for another 8-10 minutes to brown the top of the pie. As soon as it is browned, cut it into portions, serve and enjoy! 
Quantity of juice
I decided to show how much juice collects inside. But we didn’t add water!!! 
Innings
The dish is self-sufficient, no side dishes are required, it is consumed with both tea and alcohol (almost any kind).
My club on VK in which I try to periodically show recipes is club106934903 - not a commercial group. Purely for communication on cooking.
Thanks everyone for the approvals :)
Bon appetit!!! 
Pie Zur belish (balish) is one of the most delicious dishes of national Tatar cuisine. It is a closed baked goods in the form of a cauldron filled with meat and potatoes. Thanks to the presence of broth. which is pre-cooked and inserted inside through a special hole, the filling turns out surprisingly juicy. Perhaps no other meat pie can compare in this regard with the Tatar Zur belish.
Our step-by-step recipe with photos today will tell you how to cook Zur belish at home. For the filling, you can take any meat (preferably with fat), poultry (goose is especially tasty in this pie) and even offal. And the vegetable component, in addition to traditional potatoes, can also consist of cabbage, pumpkin, radish, etc. Vegetables can generally be replaced with cereals, for example, rice.
Zur belish is not a daily dish, but a festive, very elegant dish, which Tatars, as a rule, prepare to receive dear guests or on weekends for relatives. Now you can pamper your guests and household members with this wonderful Tatar pie.
Let's start cooking!
Ingredients
- Wheat flour
(700 g) - Sour cream
(200 g) - Kefir
(150 g) - Egg
(1 PC.) - Butter
(200 g) - Vegetable oil
(1 tbsp.) - Baking soda
(1 tsp) - Vinegar 9%
(1/2 tsp) - Table salt
(1 1/3 tsp.) - Meat
(1.5 kg) - Potato
(1.5 kg) - Bulb onions
(2 pcs.) - Ground black pepper
(taste) - Water
(300 ml)
Cooking steps
Preparing the dough for Zur belish. To do this, in one container, mix 200 g of sour cream, 150 g of kefir or yogurt without additives (preferably homemade), 1 chicken egg, 150 g of pre-melted butter, 1 tbsp. l. vegetable oil and a pinch of salt. Quench with vinegar 1 tsp. soda and also add to the mixture. Then gradually add 700 g of sifted wheat flour and knead the dough. When it becomes homogeneous and elastic, we form a ball out of it, cover it with a cloth to prevent chapping and set it aside for now.
Next we will prepare the filling. Shred 1.5 kg of meat and potatoes into small pieces (about 2 cm x 2 cm). Chop 2 large onions. Then mix the ingredients and add salt and pepper to taste. The filling for Zur belish is ready.
All that remains is to prepare the broth. Actually, you can just take 1 tbsp. any meat broth. However, if there is none, you will have to prepare a special filling. To do this, on the stove, bring 300 ml of water to a boil with a piece (50 g) of butter and 1/3 tsp. salt. Boil the mixture for two minutes and the filling is ready.
Now let's start assembling the pie. We will need a thick-walled saucepan or cast iron. We wrap the outside of this container with a towel so as not to tear the dough, which will hang over the sides for some time.
Knead the dough and divide it into 2 unequal parts in a ratio of approximately 1:3. We will place the filling in the larger part, the smaller one will become the lid, and a small piece torn from the smaller part will become a “navel” with which we will cover the hole for pouring in the broth. Since the lid will consist of two elements, we still divide the smaller part of the dough in half.
We roll out most of the dough thinly with a rolling pin so that, when laid out in the mold, it hangs 5-6 centimeters from the sides. Place the filling inside.
Roll out half of the smaller part, place it on top of the filling, connect it with the sides of the larger part and pinch the edges.
We also roll out the second half of the smaller part and make cuts in it like sun rays.
We place it on top of the previous lid and also pinch the edges. And in the center of both lids we make a hole for the broth.
For now, we cover it with the “navel”, which we previously split off from a small part of the dough.
Coat the top of the pie with heated butter and place it in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for a couple of hours (perhaps a little more). After about an hour and a half, we take out the baked goods, lift the “navel” and pour 1 tbsp inside. broth (you may need a little more or less, as it depends on the juiciness of the filling). After this, return the “navel” to its place and finish baking the pie.
If the cake browns ahead of time, cover it on top with parchment soaked in water.
It is customary to serve ready-made Tatar Zur belish directly in the form in which it was baked.
The Tatars have a special ritual for cutting this pie. First, a lid is cut around the circumference, and pieces of it, along with part of the filling, are presented to each guest. Then the pie is cut to the bottom, and the bottom crust (the most delicious, since it is most saturated with juices) is also laid out on all plates along with the rest of the filling. Thanks to this, each guest tastes the lid, the bottom, and the filling of the Zur belisha.
