Lamb and Vegetable Samosas

Samosas are an appetizer and are roughly equivalent to England’s Cornish pasty. Samosas date back to the 10th century, that’s over 1,000 years ago!

Serve with one of our curry recipes, on top of a crunchy salad and topped with Cucumber Raita, an Indian dip.

Ingredients

Vegetable oil (to glaze)
1 medium potato
1 medium carrot
50g frozen peas
1 small green pepper
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
100g lamb mince
2 x 15ml spoons medium curry powder
270g (1 packet) filo pastry

Equipment

Weighing scales
Baking tray
Pastry brush
Small bowl
Vegetable peeler
Sharp knife
Chopping board
Saucepan
Kettle
Frying pan
Wooden spoon
Colander
Mixing bowl
Spoon
Garlic crusher
Measuring spoons
Tea towel or clingfilm
Oven gloves
Pan stand

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan or gas mark 5. Brush the baking tray with vegetable oil.
2. Wash and peel the potato and carrot and dice them into small 1½cm cubes. Place them in the saucepan.
3. Carefully pour boiling water over the vegetables until they are just covered. Boil gently for 5–10 minutes on a medium heat until the vegetables are cooked. You can check if they are cooked by inserting a knife into the potato, if the potato falls off the knife when you lift it up you know they are ready.
4. Add the frozen peas into the saucepan and boil for 1 minute. Drain the potato, carrot and peas in the colander and put into a bowl.
5. Peel and finely chop the onion and crush the garlic. Remove the seeds and white pith from the pepper and chop finely.
6. Place the mince, onions, pepper and garlic in the frying pan on a medium heat and stir gently. There is no need to add oil as there is fat in the mince.
7. When the mince is browned all over add the curry powder, potato, carrot and peas. Stir everything together, until lightly coated with the curry powder.
8. Unwrap the filo pastry and cut into 3 strips. Place one strip in front of you on a dry clean surface and cover the rest with a clean tea towel or clingfilm to avoid drying.
9. Brush the pastry strip lightly with oil and put a small spoonful of the lamb and vegetable mix on the right side of the strip, about 2½cm from the edge. Fold the right corner of the pastry strip to cover the filling and make a triangle shape.
10. Continue to fold the pastry, making triangle shapes along the length of the strip.
11. Brush lightly with oil and place on the baking tray. Continue until all the samosas are made.
12. Bake for 15 minutes until the pastry is crisp and lightly browned.

Skills used include:
Washing, weighing, measuring, peeling, chopping, crushing, folding, boiling/simmering, frying and baking.

Top Tips

• Be gentle with the pastry as it is very fragile. Only use a little oil to brush the samosas.
• If the first few turns of the triangle look messy, don’t worry. It should look neater once you have finished.

Something to try next time

• Use 100g of chickpeas instead of minced lamb for a vegetarian option.
• The Apple Triangles on our website use a similar folding technique, with filo pastry and a sweet filling. Why not give them a try?

Prepare now, eat later

• Chill any leftover samosas, store in the fridge and eat within 48 hours. Reheat, only once, until piping hot.
• Alternatively, freeze the cooked samosas for up to 1 month.

Get more from your food

• Any leftover uncooked chopped vegetable mixture (carrots, onions, potato, pepper and garlic) can be popped into a ziplock bag, labelled and popped in the freezer to be added to a soup, stew or pasta sauce recipe.