Beef Samosas
Spiced beef mince and peas in folded pastry triangles, brushed with oil and baked until crisp.
Photograph credit: Beef samosa, Le Petit Laotien, Montparnasse, Paris 001 by Guilhem Vellut from Paris, France · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Don't Make These Mistakes
Cool the filling completely.
Cook off all the liquid.
If your oven runs hot, check at 20 minutes.
Keep unused filo covered.
How to Make Beef Samosas
Tap a step to highlight it, or turn on Cook Mode for large type and step-by-step focus.
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Soften the onion in the 1 tbsp of oil for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and ginger for 1 minute.
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Add the mince and brown for 6 minutes until dry. Stir in the cumin, coriander, garam masala, chilli and salt for 1 minute, then the peas for 2 minutes.
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Spread on a plate and cool completely, about 20 minutes. Heat the oven to 200°C / 390°F.
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Cut the filo into strips about 8 cm wide. Put a spoonful of filling at one end, fold the corner over into a triangle and keep folding along the strip. Seal the end with a little oil.
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Brush with the oil and bake on a lined tray for 25 minutes, turning once, until golden.
Why It Works
Cool the filling. That is the single most useful instruction, because a hot filling steams the pastry from the inside and it never crisps.
Fry the onion, garlic and ginger until soft, then the mince until browned and dry. Stir in the cumin, coriander, garam masala and chilli for a minute. Add the peas and cook until any liquid has gone, because wet filling soaks through the pastry. Spread it on a plate to cool completely. Be patient with the cooling. It takes about 20 minutes, and everything after depends on it.
Cut each filo sheet into strips, put a spoonful of filling at one end and fold the corner over to make a triangle, then fold again and again along the strip, as you would a flag. Brush with oil and seal the end.
Bake at 200°C / 390°F for 25 minutes, turning once, until crisp and golden. If your oven runs hot, check at 20 minutes.
Leftovers, Reheating and Keeping
Keeps in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat in a hot oven to crisp the pastry.
Ingredient Swaps
- If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
What to Serve Alongside
- Mint chutney
- Mango chutney
- Cucumber raita
- Tamarind chutney
Still Wondering?
How long does Beef Samosas take to make?
40 minutes of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking, plus 20 minutes of cooling, so allow 1 hour 25 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 12.
The Numbers per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
Cooked this? Keep a note for next time
Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked.
First published ; last changed .
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