Beef Sambousek is a crispy meat pie, typically served as a mezze or appetizer. These delicious pies are loaded with spiced ground beef, onions, pine nuts and fried to golden perfection.
Place the flour in a large, deep bowl. Add salt, cornstarch, oil and ½ cup of water. Mix with a wooden or rubber spoon, and slowly add more water as needed. (I used three more tablespoons). Once the dough has come together, form into a ball using your hands. Dust with flour and cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and set aside to rest for about 30 minutes.
In a skillet, heat up one tablespoon of avocado oil. Add the pine nuts and cook until golden brown.
Finely chop the onion.In a skillet, brown the ground beef until no longer red. Add the chopped onion, and two tablespoons of avocado oil. Sauté for about five more minutes until the onion is translucent.
Add the seven spices, salt and black pepper. Cook for two more minutes. Drizzle two teaspoons of pomegranate molasses, and mix in the toasted pine nuts.
Once the dough has rested, divide into two balls to make rolling easier. Keep one dough ball covered while you work on the other one. Turn the dough ball onto a floured surface and using a rolling pin, roll thin about ¼ inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter or glass cup, cut 3–4-inch rounds. Set aside remaining dough to roll out later.
Place one tablespoon of the meat filling in the middle of each dough round. Fold them in half and seal the edges with your fingers by pressing the dough together. The first technique to close the sambousek is to twist the edges and press down to make a nice design. Another technique is to use a fork and press down on the sealed edges for an even tighter seal.
Deep Frying
Heat up a pot of any neutral frying oil to 350F degrees. Deep-fry the sambousek for about 2-3 minutes on each side. **If sambousek is frozen, you may need to add an additional minute to each side.
Air Fryer
To air-fry the sambousek, spray both sides of the sambousek with non-stick spray. Place on the rack in the air-fryer (or on a parchment paper lined rack for an easier clean-up) and air-fry on 350F for 5 minutes. Increase the temperature to 390, flip the sambousek over, and cook for 3 more minutes. **If sambousek is frozen, you may need to add an additional minute to each side.