Meat and Cheese Sambousek

 

Sambousek is a popular middle eastern pastry filled with meat or cheese or both. Usually made with mince, herbs, spices and pine nuts it’s either fried or baked. While making sambousek I realised that many cultures have their own version of this pastry. Samosa’s in India, empanadas in South America and curry puffs in Asia. Regardless of which version you make it’s always a crowd pleaser. I used short crust pastry for this recipe. It’s fail proof and delicious.⠀

Serves: 12 sambousek

Ready in: 45 minutes

Difficulty: ★☆☆

Ingredients

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250g lamb or beef mince ⠀
1/2 medium onion, diced ⠀
1/2 cup shredded cheese of choice ⠀
1 tsp harissa spice ⠀
1 tsp paprika ⠀
1 tsp cumin ⠀
1 tsp salt ⠀
1 tsp black pepper ⠀
1 tbsp oil ⠀
Handful of pine nuts ⠀
Handful parsley, chopped ⠀
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3 sheets of short crust pastry, room temp⠀
Oil for deep frying ⠀
Chopped parsley for garnish (optional) ⠀

Method

To make the filling heat oil in a saucepan and add onions. Fry onions until translucent then add mince. Add spices and sauté until liquid has evaporated and mince is cooked. Stir in pine nuts and parsley. Let cool. ⠀
⠀
Using a circle cookie cutter cut out 4 circles per short crust pastry sheet. You should have 12 circles. ⠀
⠀
Divide filling into 12 portions and start to assemble sambousek by placing the pastry circle in your palm and fill with 1 portion of filling and top with 1-2 tsp of cheese. Fold pastry over and close edges either using your hand or with a fork. Repeat with remaining pastry. ⠀
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Heat oil for deep frying and deep fry in batches on medium heat until crispy and golden. Alternatively bake at 180 C until golden. Serve while warm. Enjoy!