Samosas

 

A samosa is a savory Indian stuffed pastry. It is usually stuffed with potatoes, peas, onions, and spices. It’s traditionally vegetarian, but is also good with beef or chicken.
This was my first attempt to make them, so they’re not as beautiful as I would like, but they tasted great!

Samosas

Dough
1 package (2) refrigerated pie shells

Filling

1 cup frozen peas
2 large potatoes (red or russet)
1 tablespoon butter
1 c finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 teaspoon dried coriander
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
¾ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
cooking spray

Set the frozen peas out to thaw.

Cut the potatoes into small squares, about 3/4″ each. Boil potatoes until tender. Drain potatoes, roughly mash, and set aside.

While the potatoes boil, chop onion, shallot and ginger. Heat butter in a medium saucepan. Add onions, shallots, ginger, mustard seeds, coriander and salt. Saute until onions are soft.

Add onion mixture to the potatoes along with the lemon juice, peas and cayenne. Fold ingredients together gently to avoid smashing the peas.

Preheat the oven to 425°. Roll out ready-made pie shells on a floured surface, just enough to make them nice and even-slightly thinner than they originally come. Cut the dough into 4 inch circles.

Spoon filling onto half of the dough circle, fold the empty side over the filling. Pinch the edges to seal the samosa.

Spray the tops of the samosas with cooking spray. Bake on a lightly greased sheet pan or pizza stone for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 375°, and bake for 10 more minutes or until golden brown.

Most samosas are in triangle shapes, but I found it much easier to fold them into half-moons like an empanada.