I was in the mood to make something a little different, so I had a go at creating Samosas.
The cooking aspect of them is simple enough, but I clearly wasn't designed to fold filo pastry - it takes a bit of care, and I was convinced that the triangles were going to split in the oven. It turns out though, it doesn't need quite as much care as I assumed.
These samosas use turkey but it should work fine with pretty much any mince - just need to make sure it's lean mince (or that you drain it) otherwise the pastry is likely to get a bit soggy.
A low fat cooking spray is required, not for health reasons so much as because you use it as a sort of glue. Brushing oil instead should work fine, but takes a bit longer.
Can be served as a main, side or snack.
Cooking Time
| Prep | Cooking | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 15 mins | 40 mins | 55 mins |
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 60g frozen peas
- 500g turkey mince
- 3/4 tsp ground coriander
- 3/4 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp mild chilli powder
- 2 tsp garlic paste
- 2 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 4 tsp tomato puree
- Low Fat Cooking oil spray
- 12 Filo pastry sheets
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180c
- Line a baking tray with tin foil
- Spray some cooking oil onto the foil and use your fingers to spread it so that it's lightly greased
- Peel the onion and chop it finely
- Peel the carrot and grate it finely
- Put the vegetable oil in a medium pan over a medium heat
- Fry the onion until soft - about 3 to 4 mins
- Put the turkey mince in the pan and use your spatula (or a fork) to break it down
- Add the coriander, ginger, chilli powder, garam masala and garlic paste to the pan
- Add the grated carrot and frozen peas to the pan
- Add the tomato puree
- Cook stirring regularly until the mince has browned and the spices are absorbed (about 10 mins)
- Remove the mix from the heat and set to one side
- Take a sheet of filo pastry and lay it on a chopping board with the long side running horizontally
- Give the top half a light spray of cooking oil
- Fold the bottom half of the sheet up so it sticks to and covers the top half, giving a long strip of pastry. Spray this lightly with oil
- Spoon 2 tablespoons of the turkey mix on to the pastry - at the right hand sided end, leaving a 1 inch border around the turkey
- Take the bottom right corner of the pastry and fold it up diagonally over the turkey. Stop about 1 cm below the top of the pastry. Should give you a right angled triangle with a little overhang at the top, lots of pastry to the left
- Spray the top edge of the triangle with some oil and then fold the top overhang down onto the edge of the triangle (fold it down all the way along the strip)
- Pivot the triangle on its long edge so it folds over some more of the pastry on the left
- Keep folding until you've folded the entire strip onto the triangle
- Place on the greased baking tray and spray the top with a little oil
- Repeat the folding process with the other sheets
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 mins, carefully turning them (and spraying the top with oil) after 10 minutes
- Allow to cool a little before serving, the centres are piping hot