Ramadan essentials – Samosas

Samosas, samboosa, samboosak, spring rolls, borek, borega as they are variously called in different countries are all a variation on a similar theme. They generally consist of a paper thin pastry filled with meat or vegetables, rolled into triangles or logs and deep fried. They feature on iftar tables during Ramadan worldwide in some form or other.

I have no set recipe for these and will generally fill them with whatever ingredients I have on hand, favourites include spiced mixed vegetables (as below), minced meat, onions and scrambled egg (Algerian style) and mashed potato/ Cheddar cheese. I have also tried filling them with Pakistani chicken kebab mixture and they were a hit.

One thing I love to do, whatever the filling, is to quickly dip each rolled samosa into egg wash and then in breadcrumbs before frying.

The prepared, uncooked samosas can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days or they can be frozen and thawed as needed.

Today’s recipes consisted of:

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 potato, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1/2 cup sweetcorn
• 1/2 cup petits pois
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• salt and chilli to taste
• a squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Place the potato, carrots, sweetcorn and peas into boiling water and cook until soft.

Drain the vegetables and then very quickly give them a little mash – mainly just to break up the potato cubes a bit.

Fry the onion until soft and then add the mustard seeds, cumin, coriander, chilli and salt and stir on a medium to high heat for one minute before adding the cooked vegetables. Stir fry for a minute and finally add the squeeze of lemon juice.

Allow to cool before filling the samosa pastry. Fold into triangles, dip in beaten egg and then breadcrumbs if desired.

Fry in hot oil until golden and crispy.