Samosas are some of the best things to come out of India.  These flaky, meat- or vegetable-filled pastries are positively addicting!  The beauty of samosas is the pastry can be filled with just about anything; you can make them your own!  Rus and I enjoy them whenever we eat at an Indian restaurant, and one can find many heat-and-eat varieties in the grocery store freezer section.  Nevertheless, nothing beats a fresh, homemade samosa, and this Tasty Tuesday, we are making vegetable ones!

Note: Samosas require quite a bit of time and effort, but they are worth it!

Ingredients:

1 small cucumber, grated

1 cup plain yoghurt

4 peeled and cubed potatoes

1 peeled and cubed carrot

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 large chunk of ginger, finely chopped

1 bunch of fresh coriander, finely chopped

3 bunches of fresh spring onions, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

1 teaspooon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

rice bran or olive oil

2 cups warm water

salt to taste

pastry squares, enough to make 30-50 samosas (you can use any fresh store-bought pastry or make your own; I used pre-made, pre-cut wonton pastry from my local Asian Food Warehouse)

Here’s what I did:

1. In a large frying pan (with a lid), saute the red onion in oil on medium-high heat until they begin to soften.  Add garlic and ginger and saute those.

2. Stir in turmeric and cayenne pepper

3. Turn down heat to medium-low heat and add carrots and potatoes.  Stir.

4.  Add one cup of warm water, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally.  The goal is to soften the carrots and potatoes to the point where a fork easily pokes into them.  You may need to add more water during this process.  Warm water is recommended so as not to cool down the pot too much.

5.  Once the carrots and potatoes are soft (there should be little water left in the pan), add the spring onions and fresh coriander.  Mix thoroughly, then remove from heat.

6. Add sea salt to taste.  The stuffing should be the consistency of roughly-mashed potatoes.  If it needs more mashing, do so now.  If not, the stuffing is complete!

7. Take a pastry square and put a tablespoon of the stuffing in the middle.  Fold the opposite corners over to form a triangle and press the edges closed (it might help to moisten the edges to help them seal).

8. Repeat until the mixture is finished or you run out of pastry.

9. Time to cook the samosas!  You can either bake these on a greased cookie sheet at 175C/350F for 15-20 minutes (or until golden brown) or fry them.  We chose to fry them in rice bran oil at 150-175C/300-350F for two minutes on each side.  Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

10. Mix the yoghurt and grated cucumber together to create a dipping sauce (the yoghurt calms the spicy tingle on the tongue).

11. Serve!  Eat with chutneys, fruit preserves, and the cucumber-yoghurt sauce.

Results:

This dish takes awhile to make, even using the pre-made pastry.  Chopping everything took about 45 minutes, filling the pastries took another 30 minutes (and we only made 20), and deep frying took another 30 minutes.  On top of all of the prep time, they were messy to make - and turmeric, used appropriately as a dye in India, will stain just about anything it touches.  Was it worth the effort?  Absolutely!  These were melt-in-your-mouth goodness…we could hardly wait long enough for them to cool down without burning our mouths!   Simon, currently not an “adventurous” eater, thought the sample was so good, he went back for seconds!  Arno also loved them.  The other flatmates were not available for tasting.

The verdict?  While it was a bit of a Disaster in the “prep” and “clean up” categories, the end result for this Tasty Tuesday was a definite Delight!