These samosas are crisp and golden pastry triangles have a spicy curried beef filling and make a tasty starter served with mango chutney or cooling cucumber raita.
They make a great starters, and if you are serving up to guests, they’re such an impressive appetiser to have made yourself. You can prepare them a few hours in advance and deep-fried just before serving, or deep dry them in advance and keep them warm in the oven until your guests are seated. This recipe is suitable for meat-eaters, but if you want to do a veggies version, add 225g frozen diced mixed vegetables to the fried onion instead of the minced beef.
Ingredients
- 2tsp sunflower oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 200g lean minced beef
- 1 small potato, peeled and finely diced
- 1tbsp medium curry paste
- 100ml water
- 50g frozen peas
- 2tbsp fresh chopped coriander
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 large sheets of filo pastry
- Sunflower or groundnut oil, for deep frying
- Coriander sprigs, to garnish
Method
- Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion for 5 mins. Add the minced beef and fry over a medium-high heat until browned all over then add the potato, curry paste and water and cook for 10 mins, stirring occasionally.
- Add the peas and cook for a further 5 mins. Stir in the coriander and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cool.
- Cut each filo pastry sheet into 4 long thin strips. Place a teaspoonful of the mince mixture onto the bottom of one pastry strip. Fold over a corner of the pastry to enclose the filling then continue folding the pastry in a triangular shape to the end of the strip. Seal with a dab of water. Repeat to make 16 samosas in total.
- Heat the oil in a large deep frying pan until a cube of bread dropped in the hot oil browns in 30 secs. Fry the samosas, a few at a time, for 3-4 mins until crisp and golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper. Serve immediately, garnished with coriander sprigs.
Top tip for making samosas
If you don’t fancy deep-frying them, that’s fine – you can just bake them in the oven. Simple brush each pastry strip with melted butter before filling and folding then bake at 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5 for 15 mins until crisp and golden.
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