How To Make Indian Beef Samosas

If you’re craving for an Indian snack or appetizer, Samosa, which is one of the most popular Indian dishes, is a great choice. It’s a savory pastry with ingredients like seasoned potatoes, onions, and peas that is either fried or baked. Depending on the area, it can have various shapes such as triangle, cone, or half-moon.

Today, we’re going to discuss about how to make Indian beef samosas. Scroll down to continue reading if you’re looking for an Indian beef samosa recipe.

Indian Beef Samosas

What Is A Samosa?

As mentioned above, it is a savory pastry. The dish originated in Central Asia. Samosas are typically served with chutney and date back to medieval times or before. In the cuisines of South Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia, East Africa, and its diasporas, samosas are a popular entrée, appetizer, or snack.

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History Of Samosa

The samosa originated in Central Asia. The dish was first recognized by the Abbasid poet Ishaq al-Mawsili, who commended the sanbusaj. Recipes for sanbusak, sanbusaq, and sanbusaj, all derived from the Persian term sanbosag, can be found in 10th–13th-century Arab cooking texts. The dish was prevalent in Iran till the 16th century, and by the 20th century, it had been limited to a few districts, like the sambusas of Larestan. It was recorded by Abolfazl Beyhaqi, an Iranian historian, in his book Tarikh-e Beyhaghi.

Chefs from the Middle East and Central Asia brought the Central Asian samsa to the Indian subcontinent in the 13th or 14th centuries, cooking in the royal kitchens under the Delhi Sultanate’s rules. Around 1300 CE, Amir Khusro (1253–1325), who is a Delhi Sultanate scholar and royal poet, stated that the princes and nobleman loved samosa cooked with beef, ghee, onion, etc.

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Indian Samosa

In India, the samosa is made with all-purpose flour (known as maida in India), and loaded with a filling, which is usually a mixture of diced and cooked or mashed boiling potato (ideally diced), green peas, onions, ginger, lentils, spices, and green chillies. Depending on the contents, a samosa can be vegetarian or non-vegetarian. The overall pastry is deep-fried to a beautiful golden brown in vegetable oil or, on rare occasions, ghee. It is typically served hot, with a side of mint, coriander, or tamarind chutney. It can also be made as a dessert.

Singaras or singras, the East Indian variant of samosas, are a famous snack in the Indian states of Assam, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, and Jharkhand. They’re a little smaller than those seen in other regions of India, and the contents is mostly cooked chopped potato, peanuts, and often raisins. Shingras are fried after being wrapped in a thin layer of all-purpose flour dough. Flaky textures similar of a savory pie crust distinguish good shingras.

Samosas are basically deep-fried in vegetable oil till golden brown. They’re either eaten hot with chutney (mint, coriander, or tamarind) or in chaat with yogurt, chutney, chopped onions, coriander, and chaat masala. Singaras are a delicious teatime snack. They can also be made into a dessert. Bengali singaras are triangular, packed with potato, peas, onions, sliced almonds, or other vegetables, and are more severely fried and crunchier than Indian samosas. A popular version is singara stuffed with a cauliflower combination. Mutton and fish singaras are non-vegetarian types of singaras. There are also sweeter kinds, such as coconut singaras, and others packed with khoya and dipped in sugar syrup.

A smaller variant of samosa with a thicker pastry crust and mince-meat filling known as lukhmi is common in Hyderabad, India, as is another variety with an onion filling.

Samosas are folded differently in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, similar to Portuguese chamuças, but with a distinctive style of pastry. The filling varies, but it usually consists of mashed potatoes with spices, fried onions, peas, carrots, cabbage, curry leaves, and green chilis, and is served without chutney. South Indian samosas come in a variety of sizes, with fillings that are inspired by local eating patterns and may feature meat.

The samosa pastry originated in India and spread through several nations, eventually reaching North and East Africa, the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and even Polynesia. The recipe evolved throughout time, and each area contributed its unique flavor to the typically plain pastry. These variations then found their way back to India, where the samosa had already undergone regional modifications.

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How To Make Baked Beef Samosa

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 cup frozen peas (thawed)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 cups potatoes peeled and cubed
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups yellow onions, finely chopped(2 large onions)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger root
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 bay leaf, finely chopped
• 1 pack phyllo dough/phyllo sheet
• 12 tbsp salted butter, melted
• 2 tbsp green chile peppers, chopped

Instructions

First, preheat the oven to 375°F.

Preparing The Savory Filling

Filling The Samosa

1. After opening the phyllo pack, unroll it and place on a wax paper.
2. Remove one phyllo sheet and set it on another piece of wax paper, then cover the other phyllo sheets with wax paper to prevent them from drying out.
3. Then, brush the phyllo sheet with melted butter.
4. Fold one third of the phyllo sheet over using the long side of the sheet, then do that for the other long side to make a long phyllo sheet featuring three layers.
5. Fold one end of the short side of the phyllo sheet over to make a triangle, with some of the folded phyllo sheet coming out from below the phyllo sheet.
6. Brush the phyllo sheet above the triangle with butter and fold it over again for another triangle with the corners aligned. Bear in mind that placing your finger at the top of the previous triangle will assist you in getting the fold where you want it. This makes the pocket where the filling will go.
7. Gently lift the phyllo sheet to reveal the space for the samosa beef filling.
8. Fill each phyllo sheet’s pocket with about 2-3 teaspoons of the beef samosa filling.
9. To complete the samosa, fold it three or four times more and place it on the baking sheet.
10. Cook the samosas on a greased baking sheet for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown in the corners.
11. Best served with mango chutney, plain yogurt, or sour cream while still warm.

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How To Make Fried Beef Samosa

Ingredients

You can use the same ingredients above(baked beef samosa) or you can use the ingredients below.

• Samosa wrappers/large Spring Roll wrappers
• 1 tbsp flour for slurry
• Oil for frying
• 300 grams ground beef
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 chopped green chilis
• 1 diced onion, medium sized
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1 tbsp cumin powder
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp black pepper powder
• 1 cup water

Instructions For Beef Mixture

1. Combine the ground beef, ginger-garlic paste, and salt in a medium sized pot with 1 cup of water. To avoid lumps in the beef mixture, combine thoroughly.
2. Cook over low to medium heat, stirring regularly to prevent the meat from burning. Cook until the meat is totally browned and the liquid has absorbed.
3. Next, drain any oil that from the ground beef, as well as any extra water.
4. Remove the meat from the heat, and allow the meat mixture to cool completely.
5. Add the cumin powder and black pepper powder after it has cooled. Mix in the onion, cilantro, and green chile. Taste and adjust any spices as necessary.
6. To make the slurry, add flour to a small bowl and gradually add water to get a cream-like consistency. The slurry should slowly fall off a spoon but should not be be like the consistency of a water.
7. Layer two spring roll sheets together and cut them into three rectangles if you are utilizing spring roll sheets.
8. While working, keep the sheets covered with a dishtowel.
9. To fill the samosa, basically, it has the same process in making baked samosa. Fold the rectangle one-third of the way, bring the top right corner to the bottom. Then fold it in half to create a pocket.
10. Using one hand, fill the samosa pocket with roughly 1-2 teaspoons of the filling, squeezing the beef mixture into the pocket.
11. To seal the pocket, fold the hanging piece over. Apply the slurry, then fold the triangle in half to seal it. To prevent the filling from falling out, make sure the samosa is securely wrapped.
12. Cover with a clean dishtowel or paper towel until ready to fry.
13. When ready to cook, heat enough oil in a frying pan over low heat to deep fry the samosas. Add the samosas after the oil is heated. If possible, work in batches to avoid overloading the pan.
14. Fry on low heat until golden brown, rotating every minute or two.
15. Place the beef samosas to a dish lined with a paper towel using a large spoon or strainer.
16. To add more flavor, serve with lemon and ketchup or hot sauce, if desired.

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Tips In Making Beef Samosa

Usually, when making samosas, keep in mind to not overfill them since the crust may break. If you set the rolled pastry on a hot, dry frying pan for approximately 5 seconds, it will somewhat stiffen and become much simpler to handle and fill.