Is the Best Recipe
Lamb-Filled Pastry Triangles served ready to eat.

Lamb-Filled Pastry Triangles

Yield
30 servings

Pastry triangles enclose a spiced ground-lamb filling with onion, ginger and green chile before frying.

Ingredients
Show the recipe for

Tips are one tap away.

Ingredients

Servings
Units
Batches and reset

30 servings · US measures · 1 batch

Batching

Make one batch of dough and filling at a time and fry it in its own 4-quart pot of oil; for a larger yield, make a second batch. Each batch is divided into 15 rounds. A half batch is not offered because the oil must stay deep enough to fry. Oil temperature and frying time do not multiply with ingredient quantities.

Original recipe: 30 servings.

Extra water for the dough and extra salt for the filling are excluded from the base nutrition scenario. Nutrition is incomplete because the oil the pastries absorb, the green chile size and the garam masala composition are not established.

Open shopping list

Before you start

  • Read through the recipe before heating anything. Gather the mixing bowl, saucepan, plate, rolling pin, knife, both thermometers, deep pot, slotted spoon, lined tray and the measured ingredients.

Directions

Measured flour fills a bowl beside cold butter, chopped aromatics, spices, water, and oil before cooking.
1

Read and gather

For the whole recipe

Read through the recipe and gather the equipment. Use the ingredient lines to prepare and measure everything, keeping the dough butter cold and the lamb in the refrigerator until it goes into the pan. Everything is prepared and measured before anything goes on the heat.

A hand presses pale pastry dough into a cohesive ball inside the mixing bowl.
2

Rub the butter into the flour and mix the dough

For each batch of pastries

Rub 2 tbsp unsalted butter into about 2 cups all-purpose flour and 1/2 tsp fine salt in the mixing bowl with your fingertips until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in about 1/4 cup water, then add extra water to taste, a spoonful at a time, only if the dough is still crumbly. Do not taste the raw dough. The dough holds together in a ball.

Smooth kneaded pastry dough rests in a bowl as a hand secures its clear cover.
3

Knead and rest the dough

For each batch of pastries

Knead the dough on a clean counter until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Return it to the bowl, cover it and let it rest while you make the filling.

Golden onion pieces soften with garlic, ginger, and green chile as a wooden spoon stirs the saucepan.
4

Melt the butter and soften the aromatics

For each batch of pastries

Melt 2 tbsp unsalted butter in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, green chile peppers and ginger and cook, stirring, until the onion is golden, about 5 minutes.

Brown lamb crumbs and aromatics fill the saucepan, with no pink remaining and a thermometer reading 160°F.
5

Stir in the spices and cook the lamb

For each batch of pastries

Stir in 1/2 tsp ground turmeric, 1/2 tsp chili powder, about 3/4 lb ground lamb and 1 tsp fine salt. Cook over medium heat, breaking the meat into small crumbs, until no pink remains and an instant-read thermometer in the meat reads 160°F (71°C).

A wooden spoon spreads cooked spiced lamb filling into a thin layer on a plate to cool.
6

Take the pan off the heat, season and cool the filling

For each batch of pastries

Take the pan off the heat and stir in 2 tsp garam masala and 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice. Taste the filling. Aim for savory and warmly spiced, bright with lemon and gently hot. If it tastes flat, stir in fine salt to taste. Spread the filling on the plate and let it cool until it is easy to handle.

Hands pinch a filled pastry cone shut beside dough semicircles and sealed triangles on the counter.
7

Divide, roll and fill the pastries

For each batch of pastries

Divide the dough into 15 equal pieces and roll each into a 4-inch round. Cut each round in half, moisten the cut edge with a little water from the tap, fold it into a cone and press the seam closed. Fill each cone with the cooled filling, then moisten and pinch the top firmly shut. Every pastry is filled and sealed with no gaps.

Clear frying oil sits well below the deep pot rim, with a clipped thermometer reading 375°F.
8

Pour in and heat the frying oil

For each batch of pastries

Pour about 4 cups vegetable oil into a 4-quart deep heavy pot, so it comes no more than halfway up the sides, and heat it over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer reads 375°F (190°C). Never leave hot oil unattended.

A slotted spoon lifts a crisp golden pastry from bubbling oil toward a paper-towel-lined tray.
9

Fry the pastries in small batches

For each batch of pastries

Fry a few pastries at a time over medium-high heat, turning them once, until crisp and golden brown all over, about 2 to 3 minutes. Lift them onto the paper towels with the slotted spoon and let the oil come back to 375°F between batches.

Golden pastry triangles fill two plates, with one broken open to reveal cooked lamb filling.
10

Serve warm

For the whole recipe

Serve the pastries warm, to make 30 servings. Refrigerate leftovers within two hours and reheat them in the oven until they reach 165°F (74°C). Turn off the burner and let the oil cool completely before you move or discard it. The pastries are served warm.

About this recipe

Why it works

Rubbing butter into the flour and using little water gives a firm dough that rolls thin and fries crisp and blistered. Cooking the filling fully before shaping means the frying only has to crisp and color the pastry.

Associated with

South Asian (North Indian and Pakistani) snack cooking

The name comes from the Middle Persian word for a triangular pastry. Medieval Arabic cookbooks record similar filled pastries, and cooks of the Delhi Sultanate brought them to India, where meat-filled versions were served at court.

Taste

  • Sweet
  • Sour
  • Salty
  • Bitter
  • Savory
  • Heat

Warm garam masala and ginger with real chile heat., A squeeze of lemon brightens the filling. · crisp, blistered pastry, moist spiced minced filling · warm

Skill level

A project

Dough, filling, shaping and deep-frying for about 30 pieces; each step is simple, but together they take time and care with hot oil.

You'll practice: Rub butter into flour, Knead and rest a firm dough, Shape and seal pastry cones, Deep-fry at a steady temperature, Cook ground meat to a safe temperature

Allergens

Contains: milk, wheat.

Check the frying oil, chili powder and garam masala labels; spice blends vary.

Diets

Vegetarian: Doesn't fit as writtenVegan: Doesn't fit as writtenPescatarian: Doesn't fit as writtenDairy: See the allergen linesEgg: See the allergen linesGluten: See the allergen lines

Occasions

  • Ramadan iftar · Traditional iftar snack in South Asia; fits with certified halal lamb

    Samosas are a staple at the evening meal that breaks the fast in Pakistan, North India and Bangladesh.

    Islamic month of Ramadan; starts on the sighting of the new crescent moon

    Next: February 8, 2027 (expected)

Course: appetizer · Technique: saute, deep-fry · Time: 1-to-2-hours

Serving and keeping

Best served: Warm, soon after frying Drained, with chutney

Make ahead: Fry close to serving so the pastry stays crisp.

Storage: Refrigerate fried leftovers within 2 hours (1 hour above 90 °F / 32 °C), covered. They freeze for about 2 to 3 months for best quality.

Leftovers: The pastry softens in the refrigerator; reheat in a hot oven rather than the microwave.

Food safety

  • Cook the ground lamb to 160 °F (71 °C) before shaping; grinding spreads surface bacteria through the meat.
  • Use a deep pot with plenty of room above the oil, lower the samosas in gently, and never leave hot oil unattended.
  • Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90 °F (32 °C).

We make no statement about cross-contact in your kitchen or in packaged ingredients. Check the oil and spice-blend labels.

Nutrition notes

Ground lamb and deep-frying supply most of the fat, including saturated fat; draining well after frying removes some surface oil.

Halving the salt in the filling and leaning on lemon and garam masala keeps the sodium lower.

Swap notes

  • ground lamb · vegetarian

    Works with changes

    Use: Boiled diced potato and green peas, the classic filling

    What changes: Cook with the same aromatics and spices.

    Not a swap: —

  • ground lamb · halal

    Works with changes

    Use: Certified halal ground lamb

    What changes: Nothing else in the dish changes.

    Not a swap: —

  • unsalted butter

    Works with changes

    Use: Neutral oil, in both the pastry and the filling

    What changes: Use kosher ground lamb and certified spices.; The pastry is a little less rich.

    Not a swap: Margarine of unknown certification.

  • fine salt

    Works with changes

    Use: Half the salt in the filling

    What changes: Add a little more lemon and garam masala to taste.

    Not a swap: —

These notes don't change the amounts, allergens or nutrition shown for this recipe.

For your food tracker

Fields for MyFitnessPal and other trackers
Recipe url
https://isthebestrecipe.com/appetizers/lamb-filled-pastry-triangles
Name
Lamb-Filled Pastry Triangles
Servings
30
Recipe yield
30 servings
Recipe ingredient
2 tbsp unsalted butter cold, for the dough, about 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp fine salt for the dough, about 1/4 cup water, 2 tbsp unsalted butter for the filling, 1 whole small onion chopped, 2 cloves garlic chopped, 2 whole green chile peppers stemmed and chopped, 1 tbsp fresh ginger peeled and finely chopped, 1/2 tsp ground turmeric, 1/2 tsp chili powder, about 3/4 lb ground lamb, 1 tsp fine salt for the filling, 2 tsp garam masala, 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, about 4 cups vegetable oil for deep frying
Copy action wording
Copy recipe and estimated nutrition
Sources

Make it the best

Copy this recipe and make it your own. Change amounts, swap ingredients, rewrite steps. The original stays as it is.

Nutrition Values

Nutrition estimates aren’t available for this recipe yet.

Your notes

Kept on this device.

Return: https://isthebestrecipe.com/appetizers/lamb-filled-pastry-triangles

Share recipe

Lamb-Filled Pastry Triangles