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Beef Samosas

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These beef samosas can also be prepared with lamb which is equally popular.

You are going to love these beef samosas but if you prefer lamb instead, go for it! Just substitute the lamb for the beef in these meat samosas and you will be in food heaven. These are proper Punjabi style beef samosas and you will get excellent results every time. We’re talking restaurant quality of better here!

Don’t just skip to the recipe!  You will find step by step photos below on how to prepare and wrap the samosas.

beef samosas

What are Punjabi style meat samosas?

You are most likely to find beef samosas in the Punjab region of Pakistan or of course at proper Pakistani restaurants around the world. Beef is not consumed much in India for religious reasons but you will find it in Pakistani recipes much more often.

In India, you would be much more likely to see these samosas filled with ground lamb or mutton. Vegetarian and Punjabi chicken samosas are also very popular.

What makes them ‘Punjabi’ is the way you prepare the samosa pastry and how you wrap the samosas along with the spices you use in the samosa filling and pastry. 

Do you have to make your own samosa pastry?

Yes, but you can cheat and still get a decent samosa. You will find prepared samosa wrappers at Asian shops. Using these wrappers is a different folding process but you will find folding instructions here.

All you need to do is prepare the beef samosa filling and wrap it up with the shop bought samosa wrappers. 

How do you cook Punjabi beef samosas?

You are getting a samosa recipe that is just like beef samosas are cooked in the Punjab!

The prepared Punjabi samosas are first lowered into hot but not boiling oil. You then cook them in the oil for about 8 minutes before raising the heat to high to finish them off.

You might think that this would produce soggy and oily samosas but the opposite is true. Cooking your beef samosas in this way produces the crispiest and flakiest samosas around.

How hot should the cooking oil be?

All you need to do is heat sufficient oil in a large high sided pan. Your oil is ready for cooking when you add a piece of pastry to the oil and it rises to the top slowly with a few bubbles around it.

This oil is way to cool to cook shop-bought or samosas prepared with frozen wrappers. For homemade pastry, you will find it the perfect temperature. 

Once your oil is to that heat, you can then add as many of your folded beef samosas to the oil as you can in one layer. Let them slowly bubble for about eight minutes and then raise the heat to high to brown them and make them extra crispy.

Why do you cook the samosas in oil that isn’t really hot?

You do this to ensure that the pastry cooks through and the filling becomes hot. If you just throw your samosas into boiling hot oil, they will cook quickly and look great on the exterior but the pastry will not cook through correctly and the filling may not be to heat either.

If you use shop bought samosa wrappers, you can add them to hotter oil because the pastry is much thinner but no where near as good.

Can you work ahead?

Yes. You can prepare the samosa filling a couple of days in advance of folding and frying the beef samosas.

If you like, you can also prepare the pastry a day or two ahead of rolling it out. You just want to cover it and store in the fridge until needed. Then you should allow the pastry to come to room temperature before rolling. 

If you would like to, you can also prepare the whole beef samosa recipe up to frying them. Cover the beef samosas and place in the fridge until you are ready to fry.

Can beef samosas be frozen?

Yes. For best results, prepare your beef samosas but don’t fry them. Place the samosas in an air-tight container in the freezer. They keep for a good 6 months.

When you are ready to fry the beef samosas, take them out of your freezer and let them defrost completely before frying. 

Can you do anything with leftover Punjabi samosas?

You sure can! You’ve simply got to try this samosa chaat recipe. Samosa chaat is an excellent way of giving new life to leftover samosas. Just heat them up in a low oven or give them another quick fry and then follow the samosa chaat recipe.

What is the cooking process for beef samosas?

  1. Prepare the beef samosa filling. This can be done a couple of days ahead of cooking.
  2. Make the samosa pastry. You can do this one or two days ahead of cooking.
  3. Roll out the pastry and fold the samosas.
  4. Fry those beef samosas to perfection.

Do you have to make this exact beef filling?

Absolutely not! You do need a nice keema, however. You might like to try this lamb keema recipe or this one.

The thing is, you can fill these samosas with what you like.

What do you serve with beef samosas?

Don’t serve these delicious samosas on their own! You need a good dip and I have you covered! Try mint and coriander chutney, curry house style onion chutney, Indian mint sauce , spicy yoghurt sauce and tamarind chutney.

Chicken samosas are of course a great way to start off a curry feast. Why not try some of these new one pot curry house style curries?

You might also like another good starter to go with those homemade chutneys. Try curry house style onion bhajis, baked onion bhajis or air fryer onion bhajis. Or go for a another firm favourite, lamb seekh kebabs or chicken seekh kebabs. While that oil is hot for your samosas, you might like to add a few chicken pakoras!

Step by step photos of wrapping and cooking beef samosas

Adding oil to the flour and salt for the samosa pastry.

Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Then add the oil and work it into the flour with your hands.

Adding water and seasoning to the samosa dough.

The dough will be very crumbly so start adding a few drops of water at a time along with the cumin seeds, if using until you have a stiff dough.

The kneaded dough ball.

Knead the dough for about 5 minutes and then work into a ball. Cover and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

The divided samosa pastry dough

Roll the dough ball out into a long snake shape and then divide it into 10 equal (roughly) sized portions.

Rolling out the samosa pastry.

Roll one of the dough pieces into a flat roundish shape. The dough needs to be paper thin, slightly thinner than a tortilla.

Slicing a round of samosa pastry into two halves.

Slice the circle into two halves. I have never had a pastry shape look exactly the same so don’t worry about that!

Folding the samosa pastry.

Wet the edges of the wrapper with water. Bring the two corners together and press the dough together at the seam. Be sure to pinch the cone closed at the top.

Filling the samosa.

You will now have a cone shape. Fill that cone generously with the meat filling.

Creating a pleat with the dough.

Opposite the seam, fold a pleat into the other side. This will help the samosas stand should you wish them to do so.

Closing the samosa.

Press the open end together. A drop of water might help. If you like, you can also use a fork to secure the filling.

All of the folded samosas

Repeat until all of your samosas are filled. You might have extra pastry or meat at the end depending on how you filled your samosas.

Frying the beef samosas

It is very important that your oil not be too hot for the first 8 minutes. You just want to cook them through and you should only see a few bubbles around the samosas.

Then raise the heat and let them fry like crazy for a couple of minutes until crispy brown.

Frying the samosas.

Add your samosas in one layer to hot but not boiling oil. Fry for 8 minutes and then raise the heat to brown them and make the samosas extra crispy.

Beef samosas

You are going to love these.

 

Yield: 10

Beef Samosas

beef samosas
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 25 minutes
Additional Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil or ghee
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 medium onion, very finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp garlic and ginger paste
  • 3 green bird’s eye chillies
  • 1 medium tomato, finely diced
  • 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder (more or less to taste)
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 tbsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1 level tsp salt
  • 500g (1 ¼ lbs.) minced (ground) beef
  • 3 tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro) finely chopped
  • FOR THE SAMOSA WRAPPERS
  • 250g (2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
  • 65ml (1/4 cup) melted ghee or rapeseed (canola) oil
  • 6 tbsp water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cumin or ajwain seeds (optional)

Instructions

  1. Heat two tbsp ghee or oil to the pan over a medium high heat. When visibly hot, stir in the cumin seeds and let them infuse into the oil for 30 seconds. Then add the finely chopped onion and fry for about 5 minutes or until soft and translucent.
  2. Stir in the garlic and ginger paste and chopped chillies and fry for another 30 seconds and then add the diced tomato and the ground spices. Stir this all up into a nice base masala.
  3. Now add the minced (ground) beef and 250ml (1 cup) of water. As the water comes to a simmer, break the minced (ground) beef down with a spatula or spoon until you see no lumps. This takes a bit of time but it’s necessary.
  4. With the ground beef broken down and the water simmering, cover the pan to cook for about 15 minutes, lifting the lid from time to time to stir. After 15 minutes, lift the lid and continue simmering until all the water has evaporated and the beef is beginning to brown in the pan.
  5. Add the chopped coriander and season with salt to taste and then transfer the filling to a plate to cool while you prepare the wrappers. Wipe your pan clean as you will need it to fry the samosas.
  6. TO MAKE THE SAMOSA PASTRY
  7. Pour the flour into a mixing bowl and add the salt, cumin/ajwain seeds and melted ghee or oil. Start mixing it all together with your hand. It will become crumbly. Add the water slowly. You are aiming for a stiff dough, not soft. Once you have your dough ball formed, place it back in the bowl and cover with a damp cloth for 30 minutes.
  8. After 30 minutes, place the dough ball on a clean surface and roll it into a long cylinder shape. Slice it into 10 equal sized pieces and then form each piece into firm, smaller balls.
  9. Place one ball on a lightly floured surface and roll it out until you have a circle that is just thinner than a tortilla. If you pick it up, you should be able to see your hand through it. Slice the circle in half into two half circles. Be sure to keep the other dough balls covered so they don’t dry out while you work.
  10. Take one of the half circles and join the corners so that you have a cone shape. Press the seem so that the filling has no way of escaping and fill the cone with a few tablespoons of the beef filling. Close the samosa by pressing the top together into a triangle shape. Repeat with the remaining dough.
  11. To cook, bring sufficient oil for deep frying to a simmer, slowly over medium heat. You do not want the oil too hot. If you put a piece of the dough in it, it should rise slowly to the top with only a few small bubbles around it. This is the perfect temperature.
  12. Add as many beef samosas as you can to the hot oil. They should not be boiling like crazy! Instead, the samosa should simply be floating in the hot oil with only a small amount of bubbles around them. Let these fry in the hot oil for about 8 minutes.
  13. Then turn the heat up to high. As the oil gets hotter, the samosas will begin to fry to a crispy golden brown. This slow frying method will get you really crispy and flaky samosas that are to die for! Each batch should take about 15 minutes but remember that if you are cooking several batches, you will need to cool the oil down some before adding each batch.
  14. Transfer the cooked beef samosas to a wire rack. They should stay hot while you cook the remaining samosas so no need to cover.

Notes

Many restaurants will add other things to their meat filling such as small cubed potatoes, carrots and peas. You can do this too if you like. I prefer my beef samosas to be exactly that...Beef samosas!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

10

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 125Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 571mgCarbohydrates: 6gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 1g

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 I hope you enjoy this beef samosa recipe. If you do try it, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

 

Aggy

Wednesday 11th of October 2023

Spendid must try this out I loved itπŸ‘ŒπŸ‘Œ

Dan Toombs

Tuesday 17th of October 2023

Thanks very much, I hope you enjoyed it. Dan

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