Samosas

For the past few weeks, I have been experimenting with cooking meatless dishes to try a healthier diet, but also as a personal challenge. If you have been following my recipes for a while, then you know that I rarely cook with the giant pieces of meat often used in Western cooking. However, meat is also essential in providing texture and flavoring for many of the dishes in my recipes. I’ve often joked that I’ll eat anything that has a face or a mom. And we Asians don’t waste any parts of the meat. From the feet and head to the eyeballs and intestines, we eat it all.

I have to admit, cooking without meat has been a lot more challenging for me than I thought it would be. It was almost like learning how to cook all over again. But I have also realized that by using herbs and spices to bring out the vegetable’s natural flavor you can get amazing results. Too often in vegetarian cooking, we try to make vegetables taste like meat. So what started out as a challenge has actually become a really fun experience as I play with spices and vegetables. These samosas are proof that you really don’t need to be on a vegetarian diet to enjoy vegetarian cooking!

Ingredients: (Makes 12-16 samosas)

For the dough:

1½ cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. ghee or melted butter

1 tsp. Ajwain seeds or dried thyme

1 tsp. turmeric powder

1/2 cup water

For the filling:

¾ cup mashed potatoes

¾ cup mashed sweet potatoes

½ cup frozen peas

2½ Tbsp. minced shallots

2 tsp. ginger paste

1 tsp. garlic paste

¼ tsp. ground coriander seed

¹⁄₈ tsp. ground cumin seed

¹⁄₈ tsp. chili powder

¼ tsp. curry powder

¼ tsp. garam masala

¹⁄₈ tsp. ground mustard seed

¹⁄₈ tsp. white pepper

dash of black pepper

1¼ tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. olive oil

¼ cup cilantro

Around 2 to 3 cups vegetable or canola oil for frying

Directions:

Boil potatoes and sweet potatoes until soft, mash them together. I’m using Japanese sweet potatoes in the mix, which is why the mixture is white. But regular orange sweet potatoes work just fine.

Mince shallots, garlic and ginger into a fine paste.

On medium high heat, heat 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Cook the shallots for one minute until soft and translucent. Toss in garlic and ginger paste. (photo 2) Cook for 30 seconds and mix in all of the spices, salt and pepper and the mashed potato mix. Cook until all combined. Mix in peas and cilantro, remove from heat and set it aside while you prepare the dough.

Note: If the potato mixture gets too dry while cooking, add a few tablespoons of water to loosen it up.

To make the dough, mix the flour, salt, turmeric powder and Ajwain seed together. Ajwain seeds are an Indian spice which is actually related to bishop’s weed. You can get them in the Asian grocery store or online. You may also substitute it with dried thyme, which tastes very similar. Add in ghee (clarified butter), which may be substituted with unsalted melted butter. Mix in water and kneed until the dough is smooth. This is a fairly stiff dough. Cover the dough up and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Cut dough into eight pieces or six if you wish to make bigger samosas.

Roll the dough out individually into an oval shape.

Cut the dough in half.

Brush the top (flat edge) with a little water and take corners and fold them into triangles on top of each other.  

Now you have a cone to fill in the fillings.

Bush around the edges with some water and seal it tightly. This will make a pyramid shape that is able to sit by itself.

Deep fry the samosas in a large skillet on medium low heat. Fry them slowly as this is how you get the classic samosa texture. Cook for about 5 minutes.



Let them cool down for five minutes before serving. These are perfect as an appetizer or a side dish!

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