Healty Baked vegetarian samosas

 

Ingredients

• 5 sheets of pasta or phyllo dough
• 1 medium potato
• 2 carrots
• 50 g of cooked spinach
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1 small onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• Virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste from home)
• 50g butter
• Sesame seeds

How to make vegetarian samosas in the oven.

    Samosas are a traditional snack of Asian cuisine, mainly from countries like India, Pakistan and Tibet. Although the recipes usually have certain variants, depending on the country in which we are, they are characterized by their triangular shape and by almost always having potatoes among the ingredients of the filling. They would be like our traditional empanadillas, food to take away and eat without problem.

    Today's are classic vegetarian samosas that are usually served in India with potatoes, but that we have enriched with carrots, spinach (in our case frozen and cooked), peppers and a touch of lemon. These vegetables are cooked and seasoned with cumin and curry, although they also admit ginger, garam masala, turmeric or chili. To taste.

    We have prepared them in the oven and with filo dough (with which we have saved enough time preparing the recipe), something that is very convenient because they are all made at once, and they are a little healthier. However, they can also be fried in a pan or saucepan with plenty of vegetable oil. In any case, the result is super crispy fried triangles filled with a potent Asian flavor blend.

    For those of you who do not know Indian or Hindu cuisine, samosas are a good gateway to it. Perfect to have as an aperitif along with a very fresh beer or, why not, as a single dish with basmati rice, a bit of chutney and naan bread to finish the game. However you decide to take them, try this recipe and enjoy some yummy vegetarian samosas.

Preparation of stuffed vegetarian samosas

• We peel the potatoes and carrots. 
• Cut into small cubes and cook in plenty of salted water for 5-6 minutes or until, when piercing with a skewer, we notice that they are tender.
• The time will depend on the size of the dice and how new or old the potatoes and carrots are. We drain and reserve.
• Finely chop the garlic clove, the onion and the two types of pepper. Heat 3-4 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan and poach the vegetables over low heat. We introduce them in the pan at the same time.
• When the vegetables are tender we add the ground cumin, the ground curry and the spinach. Season to taste and stir to incorporate.
• We also add the potato and carrot cubes, the lemon juice and a splash of water. Cook the whole for five minutes or until there are no traces of liquid in the pan.

Assembly, baking and final presentation of the vegetarian samosas

• Cut the phyllo dough sheets for their shortest part, into three long strips of about 30 x 10 centimeters. We keep them wrapped in a damp cloth so that they do not dry out. It is a very delicate mass that dries quickly and, if this happens, it becomes unmanageable because it cracks.
• We take one of the strips and spread it with melted butter. Place a tablespoon of the filling (which must be cold) at one end and fold in the shape of a triangle enclosing the filling. We repeat the operation until we finish with all the strips of filo dough.
• As we assemble them, we place them on a baking sheet covered with greaseproof paper, and cover with a damp kitchen cloth. Brush all the samosas with a little more butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
• Cook in the oven, preheated to 200º C with heat up and down, for 10-15 minutes or until they acquire a slightly golden color. We serve the samosas very warm and we can accompany it with a yogurt sauce, simply delicious.

Tips for perfect stuffed vegetarian samosas

• It is very easy to prepare the original samosas dough, but this time we have used the phyllo dough we had in the fridge and it is an excellent wild card. The process is greatly simplified and shortened. This way you will achieve 24 samosas (the measurements for this recipe) in less than an hour.
• If you want to make the dough at home you can follow the potato samosas that we have on the blog. There we explain step by step how to make the original dough for samosas.
• Samosas are usually served with some type of sauce: chutney, yogurt sauce, parsley oil, etc. The filling can be adapted to taste and can be the perfect excuse to give out those vegetables that you have in the fridge. Of course, we recommend that you always include potatoes in the recipe. Provides a consistency and texture to the filling that is not achieved with any other vegetable.
• The lemon juice gives an interesting citrus touch to the filling, but if you are not a lover of it, you can skip it