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
- 2large potatoes, unpeeled (about 400g)
- 200g plain flour, plus more for dusting
- for deep frying vegetable oil, plus 1 tbsp
- for frying extra-virgin rapeseed oil
- grated to make 1 tsp ginger
- 1green chilli, diced
- 1tsp ground cumin
- 1tsp garam masala
- 1tsp ground coriander
- 1tsp (optional) dried mango powder
- crushed to make 1 tsp fennel seeds
- chopped to make 2 tsp coriander
- 50g frozen peas, defrosted
- to serve tamarind chutney
- 1tsp nigella seeds
- 4medium beetroot, peeled and thickly sliced
- 2tsp chilli flakes
- 20g caster sugar
- 2tsp pomegranate molasses
- a bunch mint, leaves chopped
- ¼cooking apple, peeled, cored and chopped
- ½small red onion, chopped
- 1small green chilli, finely chopped
- ½lemon, juiced
- ½small cucumber, seeded and diced
- 1small red onion, diced
- 1small tomato, seeded and diced
- ½green apple, cored and diced
- ½pomegranate, seeded
- ½lemon, juiced
- chopped to make 1 tsp coriander
Instructions
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.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.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.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.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.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.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.