Vegetarian Samosas

I'm so excited to share this recipe with you. Ever since I was a little girl, samosas have been one of my favorite snacks to eat. I would always get so excited to go to the South Asian store with my mom. She would always buy samosas and mango juice for us to eat. I loved samosas so much, that we served them as appetizers at our wedding. As you can tell,my love for them run deep.

Samosas are pastries that are filled with a potato, vegetable and spice mixture. You can than fry them in oil or bake them in the oven. I prefer them fried, because they have a nice crisp outer layer, while soft and yummy in the inside. Samosas can be served as an appetizer, or a snack with afternoon tea. My mint chutney recipe goes great with these samosas.



Vegetarian Samosas (adapted from Food Network)
Cook Time: 1 hr  Yield:  14-16

Pastry
~ 1 1/2 cups flour
~1 teaspoon salt
~1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
~7-8 Tablespoons cold water

Filling
2 large baking potatoes, russets, peeled, and diced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4th jalapeno pepper, minced
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 cup frozen green peas
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Pastry
1.) Mix flour, salt and oil in a large mixing bowl. Add water and form into a dough ball.
2.) Knead dough on a floured surface for five minutes, until firm. Place into a bowl and cover with a towel for 30 minutes.


Filling
1.) Place potato pieces into a saucepan, cover with water, and boil until tender. ~30 minutes.
2.) Place onions into an oiled large skillet/frying pan and lightly brown on medium heat.
3.) After onions have bowned, add ginger, jalapeno pepper and garlic. Lightly fry for 30 seconds. Than add garam masala, salt, turmeric, black pepper, and cayenne. Mix and fry for 30 more seconds.
4.) Add the potatoes to onion mixture, and lightly fry until spices are well incorporated.
5.) Add frozen peas, and cook for two minutes. Stir cilantro into potato mixture, and turn off the heat. Mix lemon juice into mixture.


To Make Samosas
1.) Remove pastry dough from bowl, and place onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about one minute. Separate dough into 8 equal balls.
2.) Roll out each ball out to a circle, about 6-7 inches in diameter. Cut each piece in half. You should have about 16 pieces of flattened dough at this point.
3.) Take one piece of dough, bring sides together to form a cone. Seal edges with water. Fill the cone with 1Tb of potato mixture. Fold top of dough down, and seal again with water. Repeat this step with remaining pieces of dough.
4.) Fill a deep saucepan with about 2-3 inches of vegetable oil. Warm oil on medium heat.
5.) Gently slip samosas pastries into the oil. Cook samosas until golden brown on both sides. This took me about 4-5 minutes. Cook in small batches. I cook about 3-4 samosas at a time.
6.) Serve samosas warm, and with chutney.

Alternative Directions:
Heat oven to 350F. Place uncooked pastries on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Samosas will be a very light color.

 (These were baked)

Enjoy!

Aisha

Vegetarian Samosas