Samosa with Puff Pastry

 

Samosas are one of my favourite snacks or indeed even a meal if channa / chole, plain yogurt, plus sweet and green chutneys are added to a couple of nice hot samosas. The use of spices makes the taste different and from particular parts of the country. The pastry is made from whole wheat flour and filling I believe was originally vegetarian with potatoes, peas, onion and spices and then the triangular shaped samosa was deep fried. Now its good to have fried snack once in a while and I buy ready made from the shop a couple of times in the year. With the advent of frozen food, I found that samosas were made and frozen. These could be defrosted and deep fried. Then came partly fried and frozen samosas which could be baked in the oven. I have tried these baked versions and found them to be fairly good. The filling can now contain of whatever you wish to put in it. So, recipes for non-vegetarian ones are also plenty. 

Having made some Eccles cake with the puff pastry, I had a couple of sheets left and also had some cooked potatoes in the fridge. I decided to try making the samosas with this and it turned out well. So here is the recipe for the vegetarian samosa I make with puff pastry.

Ingredients

2 sheets of puff pastry 

4 medium sized potatoes

¾ cup of frozen peas

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon red chilli powder

½ teaspoon of dried mango powder (amchur)

1 table spoon of crushed kasturi methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

¼ teaspoon of ajwain (carom seeds)

Salt to taste 

Some milk to brush the samosa

Method

Prepare stuffing first –

Boil potatoes, cool and remove the skins of the potatoes.

Crush potatoes and place in a bowl (roughly crush so there is texture to it)

Defrost and blanche the peas.

Crush the peas and add to the bowl of potatoes.

Add the spices and mix well.

Assemble the samosa –

Defrost pastry sheets and cut each into 4 squares.

Brush the edge of a square with milk to dampen it.

Put 1 tablespoon of the filling in the middle of the square.

Bring together the edges of the square to form a square samosa.

Press the edges together and pinch it to make a seal.

Place the assembled samosas, smooth side up, on a baking tray.

Brush the top with milk and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

Preheat oven to 375F or 190C.

Place the tray of pastry in the oven and cook for 10 to 15 mins. Please check at 10 mins to turn the tray around if the pastry is cooking faster on one side than the other. It should be evenly golden when cooked.

Remove from oven and leave on a rack to cool.

Serve with green chutney or sweet tamarind chutney or ketchup.

Suggestions 

For the heat, instead of red chilli powder, you can use garam masala, or finely chopped green chillies.

You can add fresh shredded ginger or ginger paste, about 1 teaspoon.

Sautéed chopped onions or raw finely chopped onions 1 heaped tablespoon can be added.

For the sour flavour you can add lemon or lime juice, or anar dana (pomegranate seeds) instead of the amchur. You can be adventurous and add lemon myrtle if you wish.

Ajwain and kasturi methi are optional.

You can temper the potatoes and peas with cumin seeds and oil if you wish.

If you want you can add other vegetables like shredded or finely chopped carrot, peppers to make mixed veg samosa. These can be stir fired in the tempering or par boiled separately. Remember the amount of total stuffing should be a heaped tablespoon per samosa.

The shape can be triangular instead of a square. Do not overfill the samosa or the pastry can split open.