Malabar Meat Samosas/ Meat Stuffed Savoury Pastries

Ramazan, our month of fasting started last weekend and that of course brought back memories of home. So this month, I am going recreate as many of the delicacies as I can in an effort to make my family and my extended blogosphere family enjoy the little known traditional food.
This is one of the Ramazan specialities, samosas filled with meat. It is made completely by hand but feel free to replace with ready wrappers or ground meat or even chicken. Ground meat changes the texture but tastes similar. Though if making with chicken, no need to pressure cook, just cook the boneless pieces in the spices and chop it up.
Back home, there is a vegetarian version of this samosa which I will post later today. It is made with just onion, carrots and green chilies, but tastes great. Also, the quantity of onions to meat is a personal preference. Increase or decrease as you like.
Forgive the quality of the photos, my camera is acting funny today. But I had to post so did it anyway.
For meat filling (makes about 24 samosas)
Boneless Beef/Mutton -1 lbs
Ginger -1 inch long piece
Garlic -5 cloves
Green chilies- 6
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Roasted Coriander powder – 1 1/2 tbsp
Red chilli powder -1 tsp
Black pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds -1/2 tsp
Fennel powder -1/2 tsp
Mint, curry leaves, coriander leaves - A handful of each, washed and chopped
Salt to taste
For Sautéing:
Onions – 1 1/2 lb (5 medium ones)
Small green chilies -8
Curry leaves- A handful
Oil- 2-3 tbsp
Preparation:
1. Clean and cut the meat into small pieces. Grind ginger, green chilies and garlic into a paste. Mix everything with the meat, including the spice powders and leaves.
2. In a thick bottom sauté pan or pressure cooker, add the marinated meat and let it cook uncovered for 5 minutes. No need to add any oil at this stage. When the meat starts releasing its excess water, place the lid and let it cook for 3-4 minutes after the first whistling sound. Take it off the flame and open after the steam is fully released. If there is excess gravy, simmer uncovered for 5-10 minutes to evaporate it.
Slow cook the meat covered on low heat for almost 1hr if you do not have a pressure cooker.
3. Meanwhile, chop the onions, green chilies and curry leaves into very fine pieces.
When the meat cools down, chop that also. You could use a chopper for this.
4. Heat the oil, and sauté the cut onions, chilies and meat on medium high heat till it looks dry and slightly separated. Keep stirring to avoid the mix from sticking to the base. When the mix cools down, the filling is ready.
P.S.If onions were cut by the chopper, it becomes a bit moister so the frying time increases.

The wrapper for the Malabar Samosas are traditionally handmade and are not as crisp as those of the north indian potato samosas. Still, the same filling can be used with store bought samosa wrappers too. The traditional style is explained below.

For the wrapper dough:
1 1/2 cup wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
½ tsp salt and 2 tsp oil.

5. Make the dough the same way as for Triangular paratha. The dough should be hard but pliable else it would be difficult to roll it out. Cover with plastic wrap and keep aside for at least 15 minutes. Divide into even sized balls...about the size of a medium lemon.
6. Roll it out evenly till about 7-8 inch in diameter (Ah yes; now we need a measuring tape while cooking). Cut it into four quarters as shown.

Disclaimer: The following steps are for the truly uninitiated and are prone to misinterpretation. Still I will try and explain as well as I can. If you already know how to do it, just go ahead and make the samosas.

7. Take one quarter and revolve it along the curved edge till the two ends meet. Spread a drop of water along the edge and seal it to make a cone as shown. Now fill with 2 tsp of filling (or less). Wet the remaining flap and turn it over and seal over the cone. Now repeat and make more till you get tired. The filling can be kept in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

8. Heat about 1 ½ cups of oil in a wok or deep frying pan. When it is quite hot, reduce the heat to medium. Slide 4-5 samosas one by one, taking care to plop it in. Fry it like a puri. Turn over once immediately, and fry for 2-3 minutes or less. Turn over and fry the other side till golden flecks appear. Drain and serve hot.

Meat Samosas, Malabar Recipes