Vegetarian Samosa's, Prawn Masala, Minty Yogurt Dip

So this post is basically my journey with Samosas. Because, let’s face it, the minty yogurt dip is a breeze and the prawn masala was delicious but I cheated with a spice mix from Seasoned Pioneers.

I found this recipe, “Vegetarian Samosas – A Perfect Snack For Any Time Of The Day” blog post of homemade samosas and thought it seemed easy and was a good, healthy, vegetarian snack. I’ve started snacking a lot since I’ve been going to the gym after work; normally this means a triangle of blue cheese and a banana. I’ve been thinking of changing my eating habits to stop me snacking. I have already tried splitting my lunches so I eat at 11.30am and 3pm, which worked pretty well as it gave me a lot of energy at the gym. But the amount I was eating was the same as the single meal I had at 1pm, so I still snacked in the evening! In the meantime, I think having healthy snacks around the house is a good way to address this.

Prawn Masala

I had all the ingredients to hand, and wanted to make baked Samosas because they’re healthier and I don’t have to spend a fortune on vegetable oil. Honestly if I wanted a deep fried samosa, it’s cheaper to get one from the stores than to home make them. I was surprised at how seasonal the ingredients were, apart from the peas, but I used frozen as the recipe suggested. I even put cauliflower in my second batch which worked well.

The one thing I can say about this is that the recipe for the filling is spot on in spicing. My struggles came in the shaping of the samosas themselves. You can see my first batch in the pictures below, this is because I followed the instructions and thought it would be a good idea to flatten the dough by hand. This led to thick dough and small circles. I dropped the filling in and couldn’t get them to close in the way the recipe described so I turned them in to Cornish pasty shapes by crinkling the edges. I brushed them with a bit of oil and baked them in the oven until brown.

The result? Delicious filling, thick, unevenly cooked pastry that crumbled in some areas and was soggy in others. My boyfriend and I still ate the whole batch even though they weren’t exactly perfect looking.

First batch of Cornish Pasty looking Samosas

Cornish Pasty insides

The next day, I tried again using whole wheat flour as I had run out of the plain flour. I made the dough in exactly the same way as described in the recipe and then took out my rolling pin. I took 3 inch rounds of dough and rolled them into a circular shape, as thin as possible. I cut the circles in half and joined the straight edge of the half circle together with some water. Like this except, I didn't overlap my pastry so much in step three, only a couple of millimetres, enough to seal them securely. I then filled the pastry leaving 1cm free at the top and ‘glued’ the edges together with more water. Success! The triangular shape was formed. :)

The whole batch took quite some time, it was about 9pm and I was only halfway there. So I got my boyfriend to help out with the rest, I made the cones; he filled them and closed them. That really speed things up, so if you have a helper, enlist them! Again, I brushed them with oil and shoved them in the over until the outsides were cooked. As you can see from the picture, the samosas were bigger, the pastry thin, evenly cooked and crisp. The whole wheat flour made them taste even healthier!

Whole wheat second batch

I dolloped a good deal of sriracha onto each samosa for an added spicy kick (my lips were tingling afterwards). But they were delicious and the perfect snacks the following evening. I think they would definitely have a more traditional flavour if deep fried, and a colleague recommended using filo pastry for the baked versions instead. I have yet to try this, but the principle is a good, thin pastry that turns crisp in the oven. I’ll give it a try next time I have to make samosa’s in a large batch.

Insides of second batch

But there you go, simple snacks for vegetarians. You can make a meat version instead with lamb mince, or other types of mince. Having made this though, I think I might try a Jamaican patty next. I’ve put the recipe for the Prawn Masala and Minty Yogurt dip below, but if you want to try making Samosa’s too, please use the original recipe in the link at the top of the page.

Prawn Masala

Ingredients

2 tsp Kashmiri Masala

250g fresh Prawns

3 medium Tomatoes, chopped

1 Onion, finely chopped

1 inch Ginger, grated

1 clove Garlic, finely chopped

fresh Coriander, to garnish

Recipe

Fry onions, garlic and ginger in a bit of oil until fragrant. Add spices and cook for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, give a good stir, cook for 10 minutes on low/medium heat until tomatoes break down and everything starts to caramelise. Add prawns, season and cook until pink. Place into a bowl, scatter with fresh coriander.

You can serve this with rice, or naan, or like I did with the samosas.

Minty Yogurt Dip

Ingredients

100ml plain Yogurt

handful of fresh Mint, finely chopped

handful of fresh Coriander, finely chopped

squeeze of Lemon juice

Cucumber (optional)

Salt & Pepper

Recipe

Mix all ingredients together. I told you this was a breeze!