Episode 7 is here! Finally..

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Well this episode will be a bit of a two parter. This first one is the vegan sweet potato samosas. They ended up tasting delicious, what else did I expect? wink wink.

So, I had wanted to do an Indian themed night since it is one of my favorite ethic cuisines. I spent ages online looking up dozens of recipes for the filling and the crust. The recipes varied a great deal. I compiled what I thought was the best from each recipe. Of course, as my roommate likes to point out, I can't possibly just follow a recipe for samosas and call it a day. Nope, I had to switch it up and try to make it a bit more healthy.

For the filling, I switched out the usual potatoes for sweet potatoes and turnips since turnips are lower in carbs and higher in fiber than your usual tuber. (potato- 29gm carb 3gm fiber v. turnip-7gm carb 5gm fiber and sweet potato- 50gm carb 8gm fiber.) The sweet potatoes have all of those great B vitamins, beta carotene and vitamin C.

Then, I switched the usual flour in the crust to whole wheat and baked them instead of frying. The only down side to the baking is that you really need to keep an eye on them or you risk drying them out. I think next time I would coat them in either some melted Earthbound or olive oil to seal them a bit.

The dough

Ingredients:

2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

2 tbs Earthbound margarine

1 cup water

In a bowl mix flour, salt and butter until it is a sand-like mixture, I used my fingers after getting frustrated. Then add the water until the ingredients bind together creating a dough. On a floured surface kneed the dough a few times. Then create a ball and set aside to rest for 30min.

The filling

Ingredients:

1 cup thawed frozen peas or canned

2 cooked turnips chopped

2 cups of chopped cooked sweet potato

1 white onion chopped

1 small green chili (serrano)

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 cloves garlic chopped

2 inches grated ginger (about 2 tbs)

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp cumin

2 tsp garam masala (I found this at my ethic store, you may have to order online)

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/4 tsp cardamom

about 1tsp salt or to taste

In a bowl combine all of the ingredients and mix well.

Note: if you have extra filling you can make latke-style pancakes and pan fry. Sooooo good! Maybe for breakfast?

Assemble

Take your ball of dough and form into smaller balls about the size of a lemon. On your floured surface, roll the balls out to about 1/8" thickness in an oblong shape. Then cut the oval in half.

Take the straight edge of the dough and fold in half, pinching together along the seam. You should now have a cone shaped pocket. Fill this with some filling, leaving enough of an edge to seal. Now pinch together the edges to seal in the filling.

Place on a cookie sheet and bake in an oven that has been preheated at 400. Bake for 15 min, keep a close eye on them. Depending on the oven they may need more or less time. I would also brush the samosas with a bit of veg or olive oil so that they come out golden and shiny.

I too some of these to work the next day and they were a huge hit. You can also modify the recipe to use any filling. Try cooking some "meat" crumbles and mix with peas, carrots, and potato for a Shepherd's Pie version.

Coming Soon...Saag Tofu "Paneer"