Simple samosas?

[abigboydidit]

Just bought some cut price filo pastry (use by 1st July) & have taken lamb mince out of the freezer. Does anyone have any tried and tested reciped for simple samosas? Lamb or veggie? Thanks.

[StealthPolarBear]

Ooh lurkkng id love to make samosas

[CarpeVinum]

Also lurking in hope of knowledgable person coming along.

[SavoyCabbage]

Also lurking!

[abigboydidit]

Haha. I saw I had replies there and got all excited

[abigboydidit]

This recipe was the one I was thinking of trying but always prefer to get one from someone who has made them before

[sashh]

Well they are not really made with filo pastry. I do have a recipe but I can't find it. My best Indian cook book has gone missing .

And I have not made any for a while because I tend to buy from the sweet centre, so from memory.

1 brown onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove chopped
1 teaspoon each of garam massala, ground turmeric and ground cumin
ghee
salt and pepper
frozen peas

heat the ghee
add the turmeric and cumin for 30 secs - stir in to the ghee.
add the onion and garlic - fry for a couple of minutes until the onion goes 'clear'
add the mince, salt, pepper and peas, cook until the mince is brown and break up any lumps.

Drain off any excess fat and leave to cool, much easier to handle when cold.

I don't put coriander (fresh or ground) in samosas but you can add it if you want.

BTW - tip from the very nice Pakistani lady on the market, done in sign language / gesture because she doesn't speak English.

If you buy a bunch of fresh coriander you can wrap it in newspaper and put it in the freezer.

When you want to use it just take it out, it will be brittle, and crumble it into your curry. (she was selling 2 bunches for £1 and I didn't think I would use both)

[sashh]

Just noticed the vegi request.

Boil some floury potatoes and put to one side. Fry the onion etc as above. And I forgot to say stir in the garam massala at the end.

[abigboydidit]

Thank you!

[StealthPolarBear]

yes thank you - will try that this weekend!
What pastry would you use? and do you think they could be shallow fried? And I assume I can use butter in the absence of ghee?

[StealthPolarBear]

Will add some peas too, and carrot. Yum

[sis]

Spring roll pastry workd to make samosas

[sis]

sorry, forgot to add that you can make a plain flour and water paste to stick down the edges of the samosa before frying.

[StealthPolarBear]

am I likely to get that in Sainsbury's?
And thanks for the sticky down info - I was wondering.

[ScienceRocks]

Whatever you do, make sure your filling is quite dry and cool before putting it in the pastry. If it is too wet or warm, the pastry will stretch and split. And don't put too much filling for the same reason. Unfilled samosas be frozen (assuming the pastry hasn't been previously frozen) and then deep fried from frozen when required.

My mum makes her own pastry. Plain flour, a splash of oil and water mixed to a soft dough. Pull off even sized balls, and roll out until the size of a saucer. Take one round, flour one side, then place another one on top. Repeat until you have a stack of about eight or ten. Roll the whole lot until the size of a big non-stick frying pan. Heat the pan, then put the rolled out stack in the pan. After 30 seconds, turn it over and peel off the top layer. Turn again, and peel off the next layer. Keep going until you have all your thin sheets of pastry. Place in a tea towel so they don't dry out. Depending on the size, cut them into halves or quarters before filling and wrapping.

Baked samosas are also lovely. Use puff pastry and the same filling, shaping a bit like pasties and bake. These freeze well once cooked.

[StealthPolarBear]

Right, will use puff and bake thanks. I can't deep fry but could shallow fry the thinner ones - is that definitely a no?

[ScienceRocks]

My mum always deep fries them, and she is the oracle I wonder that shallow frying wouldn't get them as crispy and lovely.

[StealthPolarBear]

Youre probably right. is your mum about on saturday? Does she fancy a little side earner ;)

[ScienceRocks]

Not sure I can pimp out my mum

[multitaskmama]

I have learnt a lot about samosas in the last year whilst not at work. It was something my kids loved but I was always too busy for samosas but now I'm at home I have mastered it and documented it.

Simple Samosas

I do lamb mince ones, veggies ones and recently sweet ones. Deep frying produces an evenly brown and crisp samosa. Oven baking brushed with olive oil produces a healthy samosa and shallow frying produces something in between.

Recipe for sweet samosas
Sweet Samosas

If you are local to me I can even come and show you (SW16) :)

[StealthPolarBear]

Definitelt not local! Think ill do tbe baked ones next weekend then try the shallow frying when its just me and dh :)