Crispy Baked Bacon Samosas with Coconut & Spices

Oh, look at these gorgeous little triangles, they came out so beautifully and tasted like… well, like samosas. Or samusas. Or chamuças. Honestly, whatever you want to call them, as long as they’re crispy on the outside, packed with a flavorful and spicy filling on the inside, the name really doesn’t matter!

For a great samosa, the filling is everything, because wrapping and baking (or frying) might seem intimidating at first, but after the first one or two you’ll be cranking out a whole tray in no time. And yes, I went with bacon as the filling, I know, I know, it’s not exactly a classic choice, and you might be raising an eyebrow right now. But hear me out, it was genuinely great! That said, this recipe is really just a template, you can fill these with ground beef, shredded chicken, or even just chunks of leftover roast. Use whatever you’ve got sitting in the fridge.

I also went the baked route here, because I’m more of an oven person than a fryer person and honestly, this makes it a fantastic alternative to the classic fried samosa. You still get that incredibly satisfying crunch from the phyllo without any of the mess or the extra oil/fat. Speaking of phyllo, I used it instead of traditional samosa pastry, because traditional pastry really needs to be fried to shine, while phyllo does beautifully in the oven. One pack of phyllo was enough for 12 samosas, which is never a bad thing. Oh, and please excuse the quality of the photos, this is a good oldie from me, back from the days before I got better at food photography. Have a good one and lets check the recipe! 🙂

Crispy Baked Bacon Samosas with Coconut & Spices

Servings: 12
Time: 1hr 10mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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Gotta love me some samosas, i really like this recipe, easy to make and super versatile, besides its an amazing alternative to the more common salty puff pastry pasties, right!

Ingredients

Filo Pastry – 250g
Onion – 1/2
Carrot – 1/2
Green Pepper – 1/2
Garlic – 4 Cloves
Fresh Bacon – 4 Slices
Roast Suckling Pig – 160g
Butter – As Needed (For Brushing)
Garam Masala – 1 Teaspoon (Or Curry Powder)
Coriander – 1 Teaspoon (Powder)
Pepper – A Pinch
Salt – A Pinch
Paprika – A Pinch
Olive Oil – A Drizzle
Nutmeg – A Pinch
Piri-piri – A Pinch
Coconut Milk – 2 Tablespoons

Directions

Start by preparing the filling. You can cook everything in the same pan, but chop everything finely so that it cooks evenly and is easier to stuff into the samosas. The only thing I left a little larger were the pieces of leftover roasted suckling pig.
In a frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil, add the chopped onion, garlic, carrot, and green pepper, with a pinch of salt, and sauté well.
Then add the chopped fresh bacon followed by the garam masala (or curry powder), ground coriander, pepper, paprika, nutmeg, piri-piri, and another pinch of salt. Cook until the bacon is well cooked and delicious.

Finally, add the shredded suckling pig, cook for a little longer and finish with the coconut milk. Cook for another 2 minutes, taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking, remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool (so that it doesn’t melt the dough when wrapping).
Preheat the oven to 210ºC (410°F) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

While the filling is cooling, prepare the filo pastry. When working with filo pastry, there are two important details to remember! 1) Filo pastry dries out quickly and when it dries, it loses its flexibility, so when using it, always leave the remaining pastry in its packaging under a damp cloth so that it does not dry out. However, whenever you use it, try to use it as quickly as possible. 2) Filo pastry is better with several sheets (more crispy and flavorful), so you need some fat to join the sheets together. In this case, I’m going to use butter, but you can also use olive oil or another fat without any problems.
When you are ready, first melt the butter you are going to use for brushing, then decide on the size of the samosa, which will be the width of the filo pastry. In this case, I cut each sheet of filo into 3 long sheets.
First, roll out a sheet of filo pastry, brush with butter, place another sheet of filo pastry on top, brush with more butter, and finally place the third sheet of filo pastry on top and brush this with butter too.
Now place a generous amount of filling in the bottom corner of the pastry. Imagine a square at the bottom of the pastry and don’t put more than enough to cover it.
Divide the dough into a triangle. Fold it over itself. Fold it again. Continue until you have a parcel. Make sure it is tightly sealed so that the filling does not spill out.

Place on the baking tray to bake in the oven, repeat until you have no more filo pastry or filling.
Bake for about 12 minutes until crispy, or as recommended on the filo pastry package.
Remove from the oven and they’re ready to eat! Bon appétit!

Notes & Tips: Yes, this is absolutely a great alternative to the classic fried samosa, you get that satisfying crunch from the phyllo without a drop of oil in the pan. Lighter, less mess, and honestly just as delicious.

Smoked vs. fresh bacon: Smoked bacon has a deeper, more intense flavor than fresh (unsmoked) bacon, which is more similar to a thin pork cutlet, want more flavour! Go with the traditional smoked bacon 😉

Oh the layers matter, I used 3 layers of phyllo per samosa. In hindsight, 2 layers also works if you want a slightly lighter, smaller triangle but 3 gives you that extra satisfying crunch.

There’s a good chance you’ll have about a third of the filling left over. Don’t throw it out, it’s delicious! Make more samosas, or serve it over a bowl of steamed rice for a quick weeknight dinner.

This recipe for Crispy Baked Bacon Samosas with Coconut & Spices was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Chamuças de Bacon foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.