Beef Sambousek (Fried Meat Pastries)

5 from 4 votes

A favorite side dish or appetizer in the Levant, beef sambousek or samboosa is a spiced meat-filled pastry that's fried for maximum flavor and the best texture. While this recipe needs a little time to make, more for the pastry, it's well worth it!

Prep Time40

Cook Time20

Total Time1

Course: Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: Levantine, Middle Eastern

Servings: Pastries

Author: Luay Ghafari

Cost: $15

Ingredients

Dough

2 cups All-purpose flour
1 tsp Kosher salt
¼ cup Vegetable oil
½ cup Water

Beef Filling

1 tbsp Olive oil
1 Onion - Finely chopped
3 Garlic cloves - Finely minced
½ lbs Ground beef - Lean or extra lean
2 tsp Baharat spice mix
1 tsp Pomegranate Molasses
2 tbsp Pine nuts
Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Instructions

Make the dough. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, oil and water. Mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula. Add more water if needed, one tablespoon at a time, until you are able to form a ball. Dust the ball with some flour, cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
Prepare the filling. In a frying pan or skillet set on medium heat, add the olive oil, onions and garlic. Fry for 2-3 minutes, until the onions become translucent. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Lower the heat if necessary. Add the ground beef to the pan and cook until no longer red, 5-8 minutes. Add the Baharat, pomegranate molasses, pine nuts and a big pinch of salt and cracked black pepper. Continue to sauté, stirring often, for 2-3 minutes.
Roll the dough. Cut the dough ball in half. Keep one half covered with the towel while you roll out the other on a work surface using a rolling pin. Because the dough is slightly oily you don't need to add any flour to your work surface.
Roll to ⅛” thick. Get it as thin as you can. The dough may fight you and want to pull back. Let it relax for 5 minutes and roll again. This gives the gluten a chance to relax.
Cut Rounds. Using a large cookie cutter or inverted bowl, cut out 4-inch rounds. Make sure to reroll the scraps and cut out more dough rounds.
Fill. Place 1-2 tablespoons of meat filling in the center of a dough round. Don't overfill it.
Form. Carefully fold the circle in half, making a half-moon shape.
Seal. Press the seams together by hand or by using a fork to ensure a good seal. Alternatively, you can twist the edge to create a pleated seal. A fork is easiest.
Fry. Use a deep-fat fryer or a large heavy pot with neutral oil. Bring the oil up to 350°F. Using a slotted spoon, carefully drop the sambousek into the oil. Fry on both sides until golden brown, about 2-4 minutes. Work in batches and don’t crowd the pot. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fried sambousek to a paper towel-lined dish to drain excess oil.

Notes

Refer to the blog post above for step-by-step recipe photos.

Some ingredient notes:

Baharat: substitute 3/4 teaspoon each coriander, cumin, and cinnamon for the 2 teaspoons the aromatic baharat powder if necessary.
Pomegranate molasses: this is a bit sweet and tart, but can be left out if you don't have it.
Pastry: substitute thawed frozen puff pastry or wonton wrappers for homemade in a pinch.
Ground beef: use ground lamb or even a vegetarian ground meat substitute to replace all or part of the beef.
Oil: For deep frying, I recommend using vegetable oil, canola oil or peanut oil.

Here are a few tips:

Don't overcrowd the pot. Adding too much at once to a deep-fat fryer cools the oil down, leading to greasy pastries. Do several batches rather than trying to get them all cooked at once for a much better end result.
Use an air fryer: ait-frying is an option. Make sure to brush each side of the pastry with a neutral oil before air-frying. Every air fryer is different so you'll have to use your judgement here on cooking time, but it should be around 8-10 minutes.
Bake them instead: Traditionally, sambousek is deep fried. But you can certainly bake them. The same principles apply as with an air fryer. Brush them with oil on both sides and bake until brown and crispy, about 10-13 minutes in a 400F (200C) pre-heated oven.

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