Topic: Samosas - Illustrated

[976bar]

I have been making these for years using my own recipe and made a batch this morning.

Ingredients
500 grams beef /lamb or pork mince
1 Onion very finely chopped
2 tsp Ginger puree
1 tsp Garlic puree
0.5 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp ground Coriander
1 tsp ground Cumin
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Curry powder (I use Rajah Madras)
1 tsp Kashmiri Mirch (Chilli powder)
0.75 tsp Garam Masala
0.5 tsp Cardamom powder
0.5 knorr beef stock cube
Small squeeze of Tomato Puree
Juice of half a lemon
2 0z frozen peas
2 0z sweet corn
Salt to taste
1 pack of Samosa pastry sheets

Method:
In a pan add a knob of butter and some vegetable oil (I use cold pressed Rapeseed oil). Add the onions and cover them in the butter/oil and fry on a high heat for about 2 minutes then turn the heat down and gently fry them until they are soft/translucent and golden.

Add the garlic and ginger puree and gently fry for 2 minutes.

Add all the spices except the garam masala and stir around for a minute.
Add the mince and turn the heat up to brown the meat. Add the tomato paste and stock cube at this stage. Season with salt.

Continue to cook until the meat is done (around 20-25 minutes).

Add the Garam Masala, lemon juice, sweet corn and peas and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.

Take off the heat and allow to cool.

Take a sheet of samosa pastry and dampen all the edges with water.

Put a dessertspoon of the mixture onto the Samosa sheet and fold into a triangle. Make sure you press the edges together so they seal. Continue to fold the pastry in a triangular shape and until you end up with a triangular shaped parcel filled with the mixture.

Place the finished Samosas on a greased baking tray into a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for around 8-10 minutes or until they are lightly golden.

Remove and set aside on a plate or serving dish and allow to cool.

[Stephen Lindsay]

excellent post 976bar - very clear

any reason why the samosas are done in the oven as opposed to deep frying?

[976bar]

excellent post 976bar - very clear

any reason why the samosas are done in the oven as opposed to deep frying?

Hi Stephen, I'm glad you liked the post.

I find that Samosas come out too greasy for my personal liking. But by all means deep fry them if that's the way you prefer them

[Mikka1]

Excellent post and images Bar. I like the idea of oven baking too from a health perspective. Many congrats on this they look just great.  ;D

[Razor]

Great looking Sams, 976.

I like the technique too.  Looks easier than the "make a cone" method.

Ray

[Stephen Lindsay]

thanks for the reply 976

re the folding technique, this certainly is easier than the cone method and this technique is shown in Bruce Edward's seminal paper on curry house cookery.

[Razor]

Hi Steve,

The only critisism I have, is that the pastry looks a bit like filo.  If that is the case, I've never been a fan of it.  Jamie's savoury pastry is awesome, and lends itself well to deep frying, without becoming soggy.

Ray

[Bobby Bhuna]

Great post, I've been looking for recipe for these. I have the pastry waiting in the freezer. I'll let you know how I get on! Thanks for your contribution!

[Stephen Lindsay]

Hey Razor

Yeah I agree it's like filo and I have read some recipes where they recommend buying filo straight from the supermarket shelf. I have usually made my own dough when making samosas though it is of course a bit time consuming.

[976bar]

Hey Razor

Yeah I agree it's like filo and I have read some recipes where they recommend buying filo straight from the supermarket shelf. I have usually made my own dough when making samosas though it is of course a bit time consuming.

The pastry was not quite filo it was slightly thicker than filo. I've made before with filo pastry and deep fried, but filo pastry does retain a lot of oil making them very greasy.

The pastry I used was a pack of Samosa pads from my local asian supermarket. They are UPB Samosa pads and come in a 30 sheet pack.

Their website is www.upbproducts.co.uk

However, looking at their website, the pack I bought seems different to the ones shown.

Oh well!!! we enjoyed them