Oh my goodness, if you made that chutney last week you are going to be SO glad you did! This, my friends, is the best thing in the world. The aroma that moves around your house when you make these, and the way it fills you up but you still want more, is just so good. I made a batch of 10 samoosas, and when I woke up Mr. H from a nap, within the hour they were all gone. Including the really big one I made! The sweetness of the meat, paired with the flaky crust, and the tang of the chutney is just to die for. Of course I have the recipe for entirely from scratch, but if you're like me and a little short on time (or just lazy like me!) of course this a HUGE time saving shortcut that I'll share with you ;)
I apologize for the blurriness of that picture, unfortunately by the time I dug into these I hadn't eaten all day and my hands were too shaky to take good pictures. Shaky beyond the help of anti-shake! Anyway, that was the last picture of these that I took because I just could not resist shoving the whole thing in my mouth within 3 bites. Part of me will always eat samoosas fast because it's traditionally what my grandma makes for Iftar during Ramadan. So of course when Iftar rolls around you hastily say your prayers, shove a date in your mouth, guzzle some rose milk in between bites of a samoosa before you observe your sunset prayer. Eating one food so hastily from the time you could chew kind of ingrains that into a kids mind ;) Not that I mind, though; I just have to make bigger batches since I've taught Mr. H the same bad habit!
Let's get started! The first thing you want to do is chop up 1 entire onion. I know it seems like a lot, but trust me this is half the flavor of your filling. If at this point you do not have garlic and ginger paste like I didn't, take your powders and mix them with water to create a paste. Since I was making both of them into pastes, I didn't bother to separate them, I just made it one big paste. At this point also, if you are using hand made dough, your dough should be completely done and cut into squares. If not, keep reading and I'll tell you what I used :)
Now you should brown your ground beef. Once it's about halfway browned, add in your paste, salt, and chili powder and stir it around for about a minute, or until you feel it's fully incorporated.
Then add in your onions, and let that cook.
Since I didn't have time to make every single thing from scratch the day I made these, I cheated a little and used Peppridge Farm's Puff Pastry Shells. I know, it's cheating a little, but does it still count as cheating if my grandma (the woman this recipe belongs to) uses them too? Regardless, I have no shame and they turned out fantastic :) So while you're letting your beef brown and your onions cook down, take this time to roll out your dough. I used the Shells, I should have bought the sheets, but wanted to get home as soon as I could to get cooking. That being said, at this point I didn't know that I had to cut them in half so I rolled them into giant square-circle-things. If you end up using the shells like me, roll them intl rectangles from the get-go. This will save you a lot of time and effort later on. Once you have them into squares, brush the inside with egg wash and lay it onto a baking sheet. Like I said earlier, if you're using hand made dough, it'll be done at this point and all you have to do is brush them with egg wash.
Now that your filling is done and your shells have been brushed, set some of the filling inside of each shell. Make sure not to put too much in! When I was little I used to make that mistake a lot. My grandma would met have it though, and she would make fun of my poor samoosas that couldn't stand up to the amount of filling in them in the oven and had busted open :( I still ate them and they were still delicious :) Still, it was a great learning experience. It's always best to underfill by a teaspoon.
Once you've filled them, fold the dough over on itself and seal the dough edges with your fingers. I took a fork to the edges after that, just to make it look pretty. Although, the pretty edges baked out in the oven. Oh well.
Pop those bad boys in the oven at 350 F for 30 minutes! My goodness they come out looking
so good.
I honestly couldn't even wait until they had cooled to try one. They were
totally worth the burnt mouth! My mouth is watering just writing this post, I love these things so much.
Yes they are a bit time consuming the first time because the process is a little new, but trust me they are so worth it! I hope you guys enjoyed this one as much as Mr. H and my whole family does. And stay tuned for next week's main course! Enjoy :)
Ingredients:
For Crust:
1.5 cups flour
1 T shortening
3 T water
For Filling:
1 lb ground beef
.5 t garlic paste (or .5 t garlic powder with .5 t water)
.5 t ginger paste (or .5 t ginger powder with .5 t water)
1 onion finely diced (about 5 cups)
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
Egg Wash
Puff Pastry Sheet or Shells rolled and cut in half (optional)
For Crust:
1.) Slowly add shortening to flour until mixed thoroughly. Add in water until dough forms.
2.) Roll out dough into 2x3 foot sheet
3.) Cut sheets into large squares
For Filling:
1.) Brown ground beef, ginger paste, garlic paste, salt, and chili powder
2.) Add in onions, cook until completely browned and onions are translucent.
3.) Add in cilantro, stir for 2 minutes until cilantro has wilted.
Assembly:
1.) Brush each square of dough with egg wash
2.) Place a spoonful of filling into the center of each square making sure not to overfill
3.) Fold dough over onto itself and seal sides shut with fingers, then crimp with fork.
4.) Brush tops with egg wash; Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or until pastries are completely golden browned to your liking. Enjoy!
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