Lamb Kheema Samosa (Samosa Stuffed With Spiced Ground Lamb)

• South Asian

When I was developing a recipe for aloo samosas, I wanted to give readers the option of making samosas with a non-vegetarian filling, too, so I developed an additional recipe for samosas stuffed with lamb kheema, or spiced ground lamb.

The process is basically identical to the one for the aloo samosas, and this recipe uses the same samosa pastry dough and method for filling. As with the potato filling, you’ll have to follow the same two rules with the kheema filling to guarantee that your samosas turn out crispy and not at all soggy. The first, again, is make sure your filling isn’t overly wet. To accomplish this, I first cook out much of the water in the ground lamb, and then I add some flour along with the peas to the mixture. The starch in the flour will gelatinize and help to bind any water that remains. The other rule is to make sure that the filling is completely cool when stuffing it into the samosas.

For the kheema, while I prefer using lamb, you can also use ground beef, but just make sure it’s lean. Using excessively fatty ground meat means a lot of fat will render out of the meat, and you’ll either have a greasy filling or will have to drain off a fair amount before cooling the cooked filling.

Ingredients 

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For the Pastry Dough: 

• 2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour, such as King Arthur, plus extra for shaping and rolling out the pastry
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoons caraway seeds, lightly cracked (optional)
• 1/4 cup (60ml) neutral oil, such as grapeseed
• 1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons (80ml plus 45ml) chilled water, divided

For the Lamb Kheema Filling:

• 2 tablespoons (30ml) ghee or neutral oil such as grapeseed
• 4 medium garlic cloves (20g), finely grated
• One 2-inch (5cm) piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 teaspoon garam masala 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri chile powder (see note)
• 1 pound (450g) 85% lean ground lamb or beef 
• 1 tablespoon (6g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (60g) frozen peas, thawed and drained
• 1 to 2 fresh green chiles such as serrano or jalapeño, stemmed and finely chopped
• 1/4 cup (15g) tightly packed chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
• 2 tablespoons (30ml) apple cider or malt vinegar
• Kosher salt/