I love samosas. They are an Indian snack/appetizer that is filled with either vegetarian filling or a meat and vegetable filling. Most often Samosas are deep fried. Sure they taste great all fried and crispy, but I feel such guilt indulging in them. I wanted to bake them, but since I am not a whiz with making dough, I took my usual shortcut and got some help from the store. So here is my quick and easy way to make this fun Indian treat. This recipe makes 8 large samosas.
If you are a die hard food purist you can make your own crust and here is a recipe that has a 5 star rating:
Pie Crust: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Easy-Pie-Crust-104325Feel free to use your own recipe of pie crust. Don't make it overly sweet because this is a savory pastry.
Directions for Samosas:You will need to finely dice 4 small potatoes
2 medium onions finely dice
2 cups of frozen peas
Gently boil the diced potatoes in 2 cups of water and salt or chicken broth. I used chicken broth and the 2 cups were evaporated by the time the potatoes were fork tender. Put potatoes aside until later.
If by chance you have extra water left and the potatoes are cooked through, drain them. If you need more water add a little at a time until the potatoes are cooked.
Time to get your spices ready for the Samosas. In a mortar and pestle I placed:
1 tsp of whole coriander seeds
1 tsp of whole cumin seeds
1 tsp of whole fennel seeds
I ground them until they were a coarse powder.
In 3 tbs of canola oil I sauteed:
diced onion
2 serranos chilies (seeded and finely chopped)
1 tbs of grated garlic
2 tbs of grated ginger
Then add the ground spice mixture to the pan.
I also added one tbs of curry powder, 1 tbs of red chili flakes and a small pinch of Chinese five powder.
Add your 1lb ground chicken to the pan and saute until all the meat is cooked through. Once the meat is cooked, salt the dish.
Add your frozen peas and diced potatoes. Now incorporate all the ingredients together and add 1 tbs of lemon juice. Check for seasoning here.
I just wanted to make a note here that the recipe for the filling makes quite a bit. I filled all my samosas and still had almost half the filling left over. I put it in a freezer safe bag and I'm going to freeze it for a rainy day. Next time I'll have samosas in half the time. : )
Now you can roll out your pie crust. The box pie crust just rolls out and I cut into four equal portions. I got two pie crust in my box so it will give you 8 very large generous samosas.
Fill the quarter portion of pie crust with 2 tbs of filling. You want a good amount of filling, but not were you cannot seal the edges.
Gently fold over and press down the open edges.
Press with a fork and crimp the edges.
Apply a egg wash to the top of each samosas before baking.
Bake at 400 degrees on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with some cooking spray or buttered. They should bake between 15-20 minutes.
I think mine were done around 17 minutes.
Serve with any chutney or sauce you like. Enjoy.
