These lamb samosas are a little fiddly to assemble, but well worth the effort! A really delicious meal full of yummy flavours.

Have you made samosas before? This recipe was my first attempt, and we enjoyed them so much that I’m already thinking up other versions to create!

Get someone to help you out with putting the samosas together if you’re in a hurry – it will be a lot quicker and easier.

Also, how good do those tomatoes look, (given we’re in the middle of winter here in NZ!)? Surprisingly affordable too – I’m sure this wasn’t the case this time last year?! EDIT: I spoke too soon! Literally a week later and they’ve shot right up in price!!

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LAMB SAMOSAS

Keyword: LAMB, MAIN MEALS

Difficulty: Easy

Ready In: 1 hour

Serves: 4

These lamb samosas are a little fiddly to assemble (get someone to help you out if you can!), but well worth the effort! A really delicious meal full of yummy flavours.

QUICK PRINT

Ingredients

SAMOSAS

1 carrot
1 brown onion
2 cloves garlic
4-5 Tbsp olive oil, divided
450 g lamb mince (1lb)
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
3 Tbsp water
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup frozen peas (80g)
3 Tbsp roughly chopped coriander
15 sheets filo pastry (375g)

TO SERVE

2 tomatoes
1 Lebanese cucumber
1 small red onion
1/2 cup plain, unsweetened yoghurt (125ml)
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp chopped coriander
4-5 Tbsp mango chutney

Instructions

PREPARE SAMOSA FILLING
Grate carrot, finely dice onion and crush garlic. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large non-stick pot on medium-high. Add mince, stirring, until browned. Stir in onion and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes, until soft.
Stir in cumin seeds, garam masala and turmeric. Cook for 2 minutes. Add water, lemon juice, tomato paste, sugar, salt and peas. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until liquid has disappeared. Stir in coriander and season with pepper (and any extra salt) to taste.
ASSEMBLE SAMOSAS
Line two oven trays with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180ºC (360ºF) fan bake. Start with one pastry sheet, long side facing you. Brush top of pastry with oil. Fold left side over the middle third, then fold right side on top (forming a long, triple-layered rectangle).
Place 1/4 cup lamb mixture at one end of rectangle. Fold right pastry corner diagonally to the left, enclosing filling and forming a triangle. Fold again along the upper crease of the triangle, repeating until you have reached the end of the rectangle. Seal with a little oil. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling.
Place samosas on prepared trays and brush with any remaining oil. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the position of the trays and bake for a further 5 minutes.
PREPARE SERVING INGREDIENTS
While samosas cook, dice cucumber, tomato and onion and combine in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together yoghurt, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Stir in coriander. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
SERVE
Serve samosas with tomato salad, and generous dollops of yoghurt sauce and mango chutney.

Recipe Notes

WINE MATCH: Try a Riesling.
GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: You could use gluten-free pastry instead of filo pastry. Alternatively, try using gluten-free wraps and assemble these like quesadillas instead of samosas (briefly pan fry instead of baking in the oven for best results). You could also have this as a nacho-style dinner, using gluten-free corn chips or kumara chips. Make sure mayonnaise and mango chutney are gluten-free.
INGREDIENT SWAPS / NOTES: If you don’t like lamb, you could use beef mince instead. Coriander adds great flavour - I know this is a polarising ingredient though, so feel free to swap it for finely chopped parsley (reduce quantity by half).
STORING AND REHEATING: Store samosas, salad and yoghurt sauce separately. Samosas are best reheated in the oven (so they don’t go soggy), but are still fine in the microwave for lunch.