Vegetable Samosas

A samosa is a triangle shaped pastry of Indian or Persian origin, stuffed with a delightful filling of meat or vegetables. This version I made comes from Good Taste magazine. What’s different about this samosa is that puff pastry is used which gives it a lighter texture and ultimately taste compared with a short crust pasty.

Makes 20-30
500g potatoes, peeled
20g ghee
1 long green chili, de-seeded and chopped
2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander
4 sheets (25x25cm) frozen puff pastry, thawed

Chutney
2 green chilies, de-seeded and chopped
1/3 cup fresh coriander chopped
1/3 cup fresh mint chopped
130g (1/2 cup) Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Method
Boil potatoes for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and coarsely chop. Heat ghee in a frying pan over medium-high heat and add potato, chili, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, turmeric and chili powder. Cook 3-5 minutes until aromatic. Add lemon juice and remove from heat to cool for 30 minutes then stir in coriander.

To make the chutney, place all ingredients (except yogurt and lemon juice) in a food processor & process until finely chopped. Add yogurt and lemon juice and process until combined.

Use an 11-cm round pastry cutter to cut 16 discs from the pastry. Cut discs in half. Place 2 tablespoons of potato mixture into the center of each pastry half. Fold over to make a triangle shape. Press edges with a fork to seal. Add enough oil to a saucepan to reach a depth of 3cm. Heat to 170c over medium high heat. Add four samosas and cook 4-5 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Repeat with remaining samosas. Serve immediately with chutney.

The Culinary Chase’s Note: I didn’t follow the pastry cutting directions and my samosas look more like turnovers but they still tasted great! I did find, though, that this recipe really needed the green peas not only for color but for texture and taste. If you don’t like the idea of cooking with ghee, you can always use olive oil.