Vegetable Samosas

This recipe was sent to me by Carole Stashwick from New Hampshire, USA. I had been looking for a good samosa recipe for a long time and this is it! Carole's samosas are a Gujurati recipe. Funnily enough I have had something similar in Goa but they used mustard seed just before the onions are fried. The pastry though is absolutely spot on. The traditional (or at least in India,) accompaniment with samosas is tomato ketchup but you could as well serve them with some coconut relish. You can make large batches of these and freeze them after they are cooked. Re-heat in an oven at 250+ degrees (i.e as hot as you can,) after thawing. Of course you can make samosas from just about anything so experiment. T ry a filling of Prawn Balchao for something different.This recipe will make 24 small or 12 large samosas. I tend to make the larger ones because my hands are too big for the little ones! A cup is an American measure. In the UK use 3/4 of a decent sized tea mug as an equivalent.

Ingredients

Filling

• 1 large potato, boiled with skin, then cubed small
• 2 tblspns oil
• 1 small onion, cubed fine
• Ground fresh garlic
• fresh ginger
• finely chopped green chillies according to taste (about 1/2 tspn of each)
• Fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves, about 2-3 tbspns
• 1/2 tspn Garam Masala - Hot Spice blend
• 1/2 cup green peas (frozen best)
• 1/2 tspn sugar
• 1/2 tspn turmeric
• 4 cloves
• 1/2 tblspn lime juice
• 1 tblspn unsweetened coconut, fresh or desicated. (If dessicated, soak in some milk first.)
• Salt to taste

Pastry

• 1 cup white flour
• 1/2 tspn salt
• 2 tblspns oil
• 1/4 cup yogurt (the important thing is that you use 1/4 of the volume of the flour)
• Some cold water
• Oil for deep frying

Method

Make the filling first and then the pastry

1. Grind all spices, sugar, salt together to form a powder. Add garlic, ginger and chillies a give it quick whiz to mix.
2. Fry onions until translucent.
3. Add all other ingredients and stir fry for a minute. Put to one side to cool.

To make pastry

1. Put all ingredients except water into a bowl and mix by hand.
2. Knead with your fist adding a little water if necessary. The dough should be firm and elastic.
3. Cover dough bowl and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

To make the samosas

1. Divide dough into required portions. For large samosa each portion should be about the size of a small walnut.
2. Similarly divide mixture into portions.
3. On a floured board, roll out each pastry portion into a thin round measuring 4 inches for a large samosa and 2 inches for a small one.
4. Spoon a portion of the mixture into the centre of the pastry. Lift up the edges of the pastry to make a half circle, twisting and pinching the edges. You may need to slightly dampen the edge of the pastry if it is too dry to stick.
5. Heat oil in a small deep pan.
6. When hot deep fry the samosas two at a time, turning frequently until golden brown
7. Drain samosas on kitchen paper whilst finishing the rest.

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