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Untold Recipes by Nosheen » Recipes » Pakistani Recipes

Meat Samosas {Beef Tikka Masala Filling}

Modified: Feb 23, 2025 · Published: Sep 21, 2021 by Nosheen Babar · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment

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These Meat Samosas {Beef Tikka Masala Filling} are a fusion recipe inspired by my lovely childhood friend Amber. The crust, made with premade empanada dough sheets resembles that of the flaky and crispy punjabi samosa. The filling is made with slow cooked and shredded beef, marinated in a yogurt based tikka masala. The result is a moon shaped punjabi style samosa with a rich meat filling.

meat samosas (beef tikka masala filling)
Disclosure: Bear in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.

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The History

Samosas are perhaps one of the most popular South Asian snacks in existence. Globally popular, most people across the world have heard of them and tried them at some point or the other. This is far from surprising when some researchers have traced their history back to the 9th Century.

The bbc.com says the first mention of the samosa is by the Persian Historian Abul-Fazl Beyhaqi in the 11th Century. However, it was not until the 1300's that the word "samsa" became associated with the delightful snack. Samsa is the name of famous pyramids in Central Asia and It is a popular belief that the snack is shaped and named after them.

Over the course of it's history, the samosa has been mentioned in the 16th Century Mughal document Ain-i-Akbari, by the 14th Century Moroccan Explorer Ibn Battuta, the famous poet Amir Khusro and countless others.

Such is the nature of this small triangular pastry, it tantalizes and captures the heart and soul of all that take a bite.

My Story

Samosa Love

I love samosas in any and all forms and shapes! Who doesn't? The number of memories associated with them are countless! The small cocktail sized ones, sold at Karachi's famous store Nimco, are usually in everyone's freezer at home. Available to be fried at the drop of a hat, they come filled with potatoes, assorted ground meats and lentils.

Then there are the big Punjabi Style Samosas sold by street vendors. These are purchased hot and fresh with chutney to go along with them. The perfect tea time snack and usually at everyones table in the month of Ramadan. Stuffed with spicy potatoes, the pastry like crust flaky and crisp, each bite of these is irresistable.

Learning How To Make Samosas

Living in America, I mastered the art of making the cocktail version at home a long time ago. Fortunately, spring roll wrappers make the perfect crispy crust for this variety.

The Punjabi style samosas however, have evaded me simply because the pastry like dough is very time consuming and tedious to make at home. After one experiment a long time ago I decided this is one recipe I would outsource until I found an easy solution to making them.

Recipe Inspiration

I've often found that empanada and samosa crust has a very similar texture. After researching and exploring, I'd been dabbling with the idea of trying premade empanada wrappers to make the traditional Punjabi samosas. When my friend Amber told me that she had eaten the most delicious shredded beef samosas at someone's house in Sri Lanka where she lives this recipe idea came to birth.

The richness of shredded beef seemed to deserve the more textured pastry like crust versus the thin crispy spring roll version. Since Amber didn't actually have a recipe but just a concept I created my own version based on the flavors and cooking techniques I thought would pair well together.

Apart from the lack of a triangle shape the crust turned out perfect and I will definitely be making these again as well as experimenting with a variety of fillings for it.

The Recipe

The main part of this recipe is preparing the Beef Tikka Masala. I have tried to simplify the recipe as much as is possible and while the cooking and prep time may seem long at first glance, there is very little effort involved. The filling can also be prepared ahead of time if necessary to help breakdown the whole process into easier tasks.

Making The Filling

Instant Pot/Slow Cooker Method

I chose to use the slow cooker function on my Instant Pot as I found it the least labor intensive method to cook the meat. You can saute the meat and set the Instant Pot to slow cook for 8 hours overnight. Come morning, all you will need to do is dry the excess liquid, shred the meat using a fork and add in the chilies and cilantro.

I personally don't recommend using a pressure cooker (High Pressure) method for this recipe as it's essence is in the slow cooking process. The long cooking time allows the meat to tenderize and all the flavors of the marinade to fuse well. However, if you want to try going that route traditionalcookingschool.com has a good time conversion guide to assist you.

Stove Top Method

The stove top method will likely take as long but will require more vigilance. You will need to keep adjusting water and temperature as you go along. Detailed instructions are provided in the recipe card below.

Folding The Samosas

Now that the filling is ready, it's time to fold the samosas! Thanks to these premade empanada sheets at instacart.com (also usually available at most grocery stores under many different brand names) it's a breeze!

  • Step 1 is simply to make sure that your filling is fully cooled. This prevents the dough from getting soggy.
  • Make sure you seal the edges well. I usually press the edge down with a fork, fold the edges over and press down again to prevent them from opening up during the frying.

Cooking The Samosas

Traditional Frying

The best way to insure perfect results when frying is to use a cooking thermometer. For years I used traditional old fashioned methods to gauge if my oil was hot enough before frying things.

However, I have completely converted to using my chefalarm from thermoworks.com after being introduced to it at a conference earlier this year.

The alarm tells me when the oil is at the perfect temperature of 375 degrees to start frying. It also helps maintain that temperature throughout the entire cooking process (about 5 minutes) which results in perfectly fried samosas!

Baking In The Oven

If you want to go a healthier route, you can bake the samosas. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and brush the samosas lightly with oil on both sides (this prevents the dough from drying out) and bake for 15 minutes.

Deep Frying

Heat your Deep Fryer to 350 degrees and fry the samosas in it for 5 minutes.

Air frying

Preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees. Brush both sides of your thawed samosas with oil. Cook for a total of 10 minutes, 5 minutes on each side.

Note: Air fryers tend to be a bit different from model to model so you may need to slightly adjust these timings based on your particular model. Mine is a Cuisinart toaster oven/ Air Fryer. The link for all those interested is www.amazon.com. (I am not an Amazon affiliate and will earn no commission on this sale, just sharing a product that I've been happy with for the past few years).

Storing The Samosas

It's best to fry the samosas as soon as you make them. The dough can start drying if they're left uncooked for too long. If you do not plan to fry all the samosas you've made, I suggest you freeze them. they will last for up to 4-6 weeks in your freezer.

The best method is to lay them flat on a baking tray and put them in the freezer for a few hours. Once they are fully frozen, they can be removed and placed in a ziploc bag or airtight container and stored.

When you're ready to consume them, just defrost and fry! This will insure that the filling doesn't remain cold.

Reheating The Samosas

The best way to reheat any leftover pre fried samosas is in the oven or air fryer:

  • Oven - Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and heat the samosas for 10 minutes.
  • Air Fryer - Preheat the air fryer to 350 degrees and heat it for 5 minutes.

What Chutneys To Eat With The Samosas

Some of my favorite Chutneys to eat with these samosas are:

  • tamarind-dipping-sauce
  • green-coconut-chutney
  • cilantro-mint-chutney
  • sugar-free-imli-tamarind-chutney
  • Raw mango chutney recipe
meat samosas (beef tikka masala filling)

Meat Samosas {Beef Tikka Masala Filling}

Nosheen Babar
These crispy Punjabi Style Meat Samosas {Beef Tikka Masala Filling} have a delectable, flaky crust filled with a rich and spicy meat filling.
5 from 2 votes
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Prep Time 1 hour hr
Cook Time 8 hours hrs 30 minutes mins
marinating 12 hours hrs
Total Time 21 hours hrs 30 minutes mins
Course Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine Indian, Pakistani
Servings 20 samosas
Calories 329 kcal

Ingredients
  

Beef Tikka Masala Filling

  • 2 lbs beef
  • 1 cup yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon ginger paste
  • 1 tablespoon garlic paste
  • 2 tablespoon tomato paste
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1 teaspoon amchur powder
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
  • 2 teaspoon red chili powder
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 jalapenos
  • 1 bunch cilantro

Samosas

  • 20 sheets premade empanada dough
  • 2 cups cooking oil (SEE NOTES)

Instructions
 

  • Mix all of the ingredients except for the jalapenos and the cilantro and marinate overnight or during the day for 12 hours.
  • Set your Instant Pot on Saute Mode and put 2 tablespoons cooking oil. Saute the beef for 15 minutes to sear. (SEE NOTES FOR STOVETOP METHOD)
  • Add 2 cups of water and set your slow cooker to 8 hours.
  • Once cooking time is complete, uncover, dry out all the excess liquid and then shred the meat using a fork.
  • Once the beef has cooled to room temperature, mix in the finely diced jalapenos and cilantro.
  • Place 1 heaping tablespoon of the filling in the center of each empanada sheet.
  • Fold each sheet in half and seal the parcel with the tips of a fork.
  • Twist and fold the sealed edge and press with the fork once again to reseal (SEE NOTES)
  • Preheat the 2 cups of Cooking Oil to 375 degrees using a thermometer
  • Fry no more than 2 samosas at a time to prevent the oil temperature from dropping (SEE NOTES)
  • Your samosas are ready when they are a nice golden brown, about 5 minutes

Video

YouTube video

Notes

Cooking Oil - Samosas are traditionally deep fried and as such require a huge amount of cooking oil, depending on how many you are frying. There are healthier alternatives and details for those have been provided in this blog post above.
Stove Top Method For Filling - To cook the Tikka Masala on the Stove use a heavy bottomed pan and saute the meat using 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, as you did in the Instant Pot. Once the meat is well seared, add about 4 cups of water, cover and bring the mixture to a boil on high. Then reduce the flame to low and slow cook the meat, checking every 2 hours in order to adjust the water and cooking temperature as needed. Due to the fact that regular pots don't seal as the Instant Pot or a slow cooker do, this method requires more water and vigilance.
Sealing The Samosas - My first samosa, despite being well sealed opened up during the frying process. I learned after some experimentation that the best way to insure that this doesn't happen is to press, fold and press again. It doesn't take long and is possibly the most important part of the entire process.
Frying The Samosas - Once your oil is heated to its optimal temperature, in order for the samosas to cook perfectly the oil needs to stay close to that temperature throughout the entire process. This is why I love my chefalarm. It's probe allows it to stay immersed in the oil and I can regulate the heat to make sure the samosas are cooking perfectly. I have learned not to add any more than two samosas to the pre heated oil at a time as adding too many causes the temperature to drop too much. This slows down the frying process, leading to greasy samosas versus crisp ones, as the prolonged immersion in the oil leads to excess oil absorption. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 329kcalCarbohydrates: 2gProtein: 8gFat: 32gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 7gMonounsaturated Fat: 18gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 34mgSodium: 290mgPotassium: 175mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 139IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 27mgIron: 1mg
Have you tried this recipe yet?Mention @Untoldrecipesbynosheen or tag #Untoldrecipesbynosheen!

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Welcome to Untold Recipes by Nosheen!

Here, you'll find authentic Pakistani recipes inspired by my childhood—a curated space to explore nostalgic recipes for all aspiring home cooks. It's all here, from slow-cooked Mughal wonders to regional delicacies and street food favorites. I aim to make all the recipes approachable for beginner, intermediate, and advanced cooks alike.

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