Simple Spicy Starter - Potato and Pea Samosas

I really could fore go the whole of an Indian meal for a pile of samosas, which says more about my love of these spicy little triangles than anything because in reality I really do enjoy eating all the components of an Indian meal. But samosas are delicious, from the crunch of the pastry to the (sometimes) spicy filling. Whilst I do enjoy meat samosas, I prefer vegetable ones and seeing as March is apparently 'vegetable' month, (I read it somewhere) this is fantastic food to blog about.

The recipe is Anjum Anand's, whose recipes I really rate, mainly because of her emphasis on healthy Indian food, as far as that is possible. Whilst these are not diet food, I do love the fact that these use filo pastry and can be baked instead of fried. Makes the bottle of lager that I have to accompany these not such a bad thing.

Potato and Pea Samosas, from Anjum Anand's 'Indian Food Made Easy'

Ingredients

3 tbsp vegetable oil

½ tsp mustard seeds

60g/2½oz chopped onion

1 tsp finely chopped ginger

60g/2½oz frozen peas

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp red chilli powder

½-¾ tsp garam masala

1-2 tsp dried mango powder, to taste

salt, to taste

splash water

600g/1lb 5oz potatoes, peeled, boiled until soft and crushed into large lumps

4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves

packet ready-made filo pastry

5 tbsp melted butter, for brushing

2 tbsp sesame seeds (optional) (you can also use poppy or nigella

seeds)

Method

Heat the oil in a small non-stick pan and fry the mustard seeds for about ten seconds, or until they begin to splutter.

Add the onion and ginger and cook for 2-3 minutes over a high heat.

Add the peas, stir well and add the spices, mango powder, salt and a splash of water. Cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the potatoes and coriander and cook for 2-3 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

Unroll the pastry and cover with cling film and a damp tea towel. Peel off one piece and keep the rest covered so that it doesn't dry out. Lay the pastry sheet flat on a clean surface and brush with melted butter.

Cut the piece of filo into thirds and brush with melted butter.

Place one rounded teaspoon of the filling mixture at one end of the strip, leaving a 2cm/1in border. Take the right corner and fold diagonally to the left, enclosing the filling and forming a triangle. Fold again along the upper crease of the triangle. Keep folding in this way until you reach the end of the strip. Brush the outer surface with more butter. Place onto a baking sheet and cover while you make the rest.

Coat with melted butter and sprinkle with nigella seeds. Bake for about 20 -25 minutes until golden brown.

Serve warm with a cold glass of Cobra beer.

Emergency Pudding - Mixed Berry Samosas

Pud (or dessert for American viewers) is pretty important to some in this house and whilst I enjoy creating something when I have the time to, there are occasions when it's the afterthought after cooking the main meal. Often I would skip the pud as it is not crucial to me personally but there are others for which a meal is not a meal without a sweet conclusion. That being the case and the fact that the previous day I had failed to produce something resembling 'dessert' meant that however haphazard, on the hoof and possibly ill conceived, something had to be done.

Inspiration came from the depths of the freezer in the form of a bag of frozen mixed berries and some sorry looking filo pastry leftover from a baklava adventure. I set to work, mostly by instinct as you will see from the vagaries of the ingredient list below and produced something pretty OK. Crisp crunch of filo, hot, slightly sour (in a nice way) berries tempered by sweet custard, though if I had my way it would have been vanilla ice cream to accompany them. I love hot and cold combinations, but we are Brits and custard is the choice of many, not least Phill. I aim to please.

Now I am thinking about it, I would produce these again as humorous dessert after an Indian meal. I would opt perhaps for a sweetened mango filling and I would serve with a generous spoonful of kulfi to create the sweet/crisp/cold experience that I love.

As I say, there is a certain flexibility about the ingredients here. I'm pretty sure you could use any fruit combination you were in favour of. I imagination apple and cinnamon would be extraordinarily delish, but you're in charge. Think of the filling of any crumble that you enjoy and then just start folding away.

Mixed Berry Samosas - makes 9 - 12, depending on your generosity

500g bag of mixed berries, defrosted if frozen

a few drops of vanilla

a pinch of cinnamon

sugar to taste (I used about 150g but it was a sour mix of berries. You need to add a bit and taste the mixture until you're happy with the sweetness).

3 - 4 sheets of filo pastry, defrosted if frozen

about 100g of melted butter

extra sugar for sprinkling

Method

Prepare your fruit filling. With defrosted berries I just mixed the vanilla, cinnamon and the sugar in and tasted until I was happy with the filling. With bigger, harder fruit I suggest cooking the fruit through and allowing the mixture to cool. The cooking time is only 10 minutes once the samosas are made and any fruit that is raw or hard to begin with won't get cooked or warmed through.

Lay out the filo one piece at a time. Keep the other sheets under a damp cloth to stop them drying out. Cut each sheet into three and brush liberally all over with melted butter.

Put a generous teaspoon full, maybe two, of the mixture onto the filo. Working quickly, fold the filo over in a fashion which creates triangles, that is, fold a lower corner over the mixture and over towards the opposite edge of the filo. This should create a triangle shape. Then fold the triangle upwards and then over to the side, following this pattern until you find yourself at the top of the pastry. Ensure you press the edges of the samosa down as you fold to try to cut down on the escape of the filling. Two things are certain: Number one, by the last one you will have perfected your folding techniques and number two, they will look ramshackle and delightfully homemade. Part of their charm if you ask me.

Once folded, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Put in a preheated oven, 180c, for about 10 - 15 minutes. Keep checking them. They're done when the pastry is golden and the filling, if you can see it is hot and/or bubbling.

Let cool for 5 or 10 minutes or so, then serve with custard, cream, or, if you're me, vanilla ice cream.

Pudding. Sorted.