VEGETABLE SAMOSAS

VEGETABLE SAMOSAS RECIPE

(Indian vegetable pasties)

Makes about 16 samosas.

Preparation and cooking time: 1 hr 20 mins.

This is a savoury snack served at parties or with high teas. It is useful for picnics too, because samosas are tasty even when cold. Raw filled samosas can be stored in a freezer and then fried when needed. For this recipe you need a flat frying pan or tava, and a deep frying pan or wok.

Ingredients For filling

• 450 g (1 lb) potatoes
• 60 ml (2 fl oz) cooking oil
• ½ tsp whole jeera (cumin seeds)
• ½ tsp whole rai (black mustard seeds)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 110 g (4 oz) frozen peas
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp tandoori masala
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp garam masala
• 15 ml (½fl oz) lemon juice

Ingredients For pastry

• 120 ml (4 fl oz) water
• 225 g (8 oz) plain flour
• 15 ml (½fl oz) lemon juice
• A pinch of salt
• 55 g (2 oz) plain flour for rolling pastry

Ingredients For paste

• 25 g (1 oz) plain flour
• 90 ml (3 fl oz) water
• 600 ml (20 fl oz) cooking oil for frying

Method

1. Peel the potatoes and then boil them for about 10 minutes.

2. Cut the boiled potatoes into very small pieces.

3. Heat the 60 ml (2 fl oz) of oil in a frying pan, and add the jeera, rai, and chopped onion. Cook until the onion is golden brown. Add the potatoes, peas, salt, chili powder, tandoori masala, turmeric powder, garam masala and lemon juice. Mix all the ingredients well, cook for about 2 minutes and remove the contents from the heat.

4. Mix the 120 ml (4 fl oz) of water, the 225 g (8 oz) of plain flour, the 15 ml (½fl oz) of lemon juice and the pinch of salt into a medium soft dough.

5. Heat a ‘tava’, or a large flat frying pan, to a high temperature.

6. Divide the dough into 8 roughly equal parts and shape them into round balls. Sprinkle a little bit of the plain flour on to each ball. Roll each ball out flat (like a chapatti), 20 cm (about 7 to 8 inches) in diameter. Cook each side on the ‘tava’ for about 4 seconds.

7. Cut all the cooked chapattis into halves. Now mix the 25 g (1 oz) of plain flour and the 60 ml (2fl oz) of water thoroughly, until the mixture is like glue.

8. Take each half of the rolled chapatti, and form a cone by bringing its two corners together and joining the straight sides together with the paste. Now fill each of the cones with about 2 to 3 tablespoonfuls of the potato mixture and paste together the round ends of the cone. These filled cones are called samosas. Repeat with all the remaining chapattis.

9. These samosas can now be stored in a freezer for a period of up to 6 weeks. If stored in a freezer, they must be thawed for about 1 hour before deep frying.

10. Heat the 600 ml (20 fl oz) of oil in a wok or a large pan, and deep fry all the samosas, 4 to 5 at a time, until they are golden brown.

11. Serve the samosas hot, with tomato ketchup.