Vegetable samosas

Vegetable samosas

Try this authentic Bengali recipe for veggie-stuffed samosas and kachumber salad from South West chef Romy Gill MBE. It's a popular snack made around the world to celebrate Diwali
  • Total:
  • Serves: 12 persons

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Step 1

    Cook the potatoes whole for 15-20 minutes until just tender but not mushy. Drain and cool. Meanwhile, sieve the flour for the pastry into a bowl. Add a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp vegetable oil, and rub the oil into the flour with your hands until it looks like breadcrumbs, then add 4-5 tbsp water and bring together. Knead briefly until it forms a ball, it should be smooth and soft. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
  2. Step 2

    Peel the cooled potatoes and cut into 1cm cubes. Heat a drizzle of rapeseed oil in a frying pan, add the ginger, green chilli and all the dry spices and cook for 1 minute. Add the cubed potatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes, tossing with the spices in the pan. Add the chopped coriander, peas and 1 tsp salt, and keep cooking for 2-3 minutes on a low heat. The veg should be well coated with spices. Check the seasoning and add a pinch of salt if you like. Remove from heat and cool.
  3. Step 3

    For the beetroot, add 1 tbsp rapeseed oil to a hot pan. Add the nigella seeds and, once they start sizzling, add the beetroot and cook for 2-3 minutes on a high heat. Add all the other ingredients, 1 tsp salt and 100ml water. Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for 10-12 minutes until tender but not too soft. Leave to cool.
  4. Step 4

    Divide the rested pastry into 6 equal-sized balls. Roll each ball into a circle on a lightly floured worksurface to approximately 15cm diameter, then cut in half. Brush the edges with warm water. Bring the straight edges together to make a cone and fill with a heaped tbsp of the filling. Pinch and seal the open edge with a fork. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
  5. Step 5

    Heat a pan of vegetable oil 1/3 full to 180C, or until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds. Deep-fry the samosas, two at a time, for 4-5 minutes until light brown and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper, then transfer to a baking sheet and keep warm in a low oven while you fry the rest in batches.
  6. Step 6

    To make the mint chutney, tip all the ingredients into a small blender with a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp water and whizz until smooth. Tip into a bowl.
  7. Step 7

    Mix the kachumber salad ingredients in a bowl with a pinch of salt. To serve, spread some tamarind chutney onto 4 plates. Top with samosas, some mint chutney, beetroot slices and salad on the side.