Lebanese Beef Sambousek
Lebanese beef sambousek is an incredible freezer-friendly appetizer. Homemade dough is stuffed with minced meat, then fried until golden.
Servings: 30 to 40 pieces
Ingredients
Homemade Dough Ajeen Recipe (or store-bought dough, see note 1)
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon active dry yeast
- ¾ cup lukewarm water
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup milk any type
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
Sambousek Filling
- 1 lb ground beef or ground lamb
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon Lebanese 7 spices
- salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses optional
- a handful of pine nuts optional
- 1-2 cups vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Or, use store-bought dough (see note 1). Measure out the flour and place it in a bowl. Add dry yeast, sugar, and salt. Combine all the dry ingredients together using a spoon. Create a well in the middle of the flour mixture. Crack the egg in the well. Add in the milk, oil, and a little bit of water (save the rest and use only if needed). Start folding in the flour sides and use your hands to combine everything. When the dough's texture is pretty soft, form it into a ball. Place the dough ball on a floured surface and knead for a few minutes. Roll the dough in any shape you want to and cover it with cling film (plastic wrap). Then wrap it up with a kitchen towel and leave it out to rest for one hour.
Make the Meat Filling
- While the dough is rising, make the meat filling. Heat up the 1 tablespoon of oil on a nonstick stovetop pan. Add the ground meat and cook until slightly brown, then add the onion and spices (cinnamon, allspice, and seven spices). Cook until done. If using the pomegranate and pine nuts add them at the end of the meat's cooking process. Set the sambousek filling aside.
Make the Sambousek
- Remove the dough from the wrapping, knead it for 5 minutes. Split the dough into small circles. Use a rolling pin to spread out each piece. Use a medium-sized cookie cutter (or cup edge) to make cuts in the dough and keep doing this until you have no dough left.
- Place each flat dough piece in the palm of your hand. Fill it with around a teaspoon of meat (don't overfill it). Close up the circle to create a crescent shape. Tightly close it up on the corners and make twists on the sides.
- Once all sambousek pastries have been folded, heat up the frying oil. Add the sambousek in batches so as not to overfill. Once the sambousek turns golden brown, remove them from the frying pan and place them on a plate lined with a paper towel. Once the excess oil is gone, transfer the pieces to a serving dish.
Notes
- If not making the dough from scratch, there are a couple of substitutions for store-bought dough. Pizza dough, whole-wheat biscuit dough, and dinner roll dough are all suitable options for this recipe.
- Storage: Freeze sambousek pastries (that are not fried) in a freezer-friendly bag for up to 4 months. Beef sambousek is best served fresh.
Nutrition
Serving: 1piece | Calories: 101kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 60mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 0g