Diwali falls on 14th November this year and is the perfect excuse to celebrate the incredible flavours of Indian food. Whether you’re celebrating the day itself or just want something a bit different to add to your weekly meals, we’ve put together a series of incredible Indian recipes.
Samosas make a great side dish to any Indian meal, plus you can easily make them meat or veg – depending on your preference.
Basic Samosa recipe
Ingredients:
For the pasty
225g plain flour
2 tsp sea salt
2tbsp vegetable oil
2l vegetable oil
(Your choice of meat, if you like!)
For the filling
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 potato
1 carrot
100g peas
2 tsp curry powder
100ml vegetable stock
Method:
Start off by making the filling.
Chop the onion, crush the garlic and dice the potato and carrot. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and onion, mix in the spices and fry for around 10 minutes until it was soft. Add the rest of the veg and seasoning and stir well until coated. If you’re planning to use meat in your samosas, this would be the time to add it and make sure it is cooked through.
Add the stock, cover and simmer for thirty minutes until cooked through, leave it to cool.
While that’s cooking, you can make the pasty.
Mix the flour and salt into a bowl, make a well in the centre, add the oil and 100ml water and stir until you create a firm dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface for around 10 minutes until smooth and roll into a ball. Cover in clingfilm and leave aside for around half an hour.
Divide the pastry into 12 pieces, rolling each one into a ball then flatten and half. Brush each edge with some water and form a cone shape around your fingers.
Fill with 1 tbsp of the veg mix and press the two dampened edges together to seal, repeat until all the mix and pastry have been used.
Next, in a large, deep saucepan heat the oil to 180 degrees. Deep fry the samosas in batches for around 10 minutes until crisp and brown.
Mince pie Samosas
These are a fun alternative to mince pies, while keeping the spirit of the holiday alive!
Ingredients
Follow the same pastry ingredients as above.
For the filling:
1 cooking apple
zest and juice of one orange
50g dried apricots
25g pistachios (optional)
50g dried cranberries
175g sultanas
1 tsp cinnamon
1.5 tsp grated nutmeg
2 tbsp brandy
1 tbsp honey
Method:
Peel, core and chop the apple and then mix all the fruit and nuts with spices and brandy and leave in the fridge for around 30 minutes.
You can make the pastry following the above recipe during this time.
Once removed from the fridge, stir in the honey.
Using the same method to build the samosas as above, put 1 tbsp of mix into each pastry case until all used.
Deep fry in batches as above, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.
