A few weeks ago, Tara posted a picture of a samosa pie and I just had to make one! I did look at recipes online but in the end I just used the samosa filling recipe I’ve been using for like 25 years. I got it when I was in school, probably in 7th grade! I think one of the teacher’s friends was in India and sent home the recipe. Or something.
Anyway. It’s delicious! And it worked really well as pie filling. Yum.
Ingredients:
250 gram puff pastry (most types are vegan, but check the packaging)
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
200 ml frozen peas
1 onion, chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic (or 3 if you really like garlic), minced
2 tbsp water for sautéing
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp chili
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
2 tbsp plain flour
½-1 tsp vegetable stock powder (I use Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon Reduced Salt. Tesco sell it, maybe other supermarkets too).
Preparing the filling:
Boil the cubed potatoes for 5 minutes in salted water. Remove potatoes from the water and save the water for later.
In a large pan, sautée the onion and garlic in the 2 tbsp of water until the onion becomes soft and you start to smell the garlic.
Add the spices, flour, stock powder and peas. Sautée until it starts to look golden brown.
Add the potatoes and let them absorb a bit of colour and flavour. Pour in 200 ml of the potato water you saved. Let simmer for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. If it looks dry, add a little bit of extra water. Stir frequently.
Leave to cool down.
Putting the pie together:
I used a 22 x 15 cm dish. If you use a larger dish, you will probably need a bit more pastry.
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
Roll out 2/3 of the pastry to 3-5mm thickness. Make sure that it is large enough to cover the sides of the dish, not just the bottom.
Lightly brush the bottom and sides of the dish with oil. You don’t want to soak it, just help the pie slip out easier.
Put the rolled out pastry into the dish and smooth it out along the bottom and sides. If you are using a rectangular dish you may have pastry bunching together at the corners. You can cut off some of the excess to help make the pastry smoother.
Add the filling. Fold pastry hanging over the sides towards the middle of the pie. But don’t stretch it. Only fold it as far as it will go.
Roll out the remaining pastry to the same thickness as before.
Place over the top of the pie. It should cover it. But you can patch it up with smaller bits if necessary.
Remember to make air holes in the top of the pie. Just make a few cuts with a knife.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the pastry turns a nice golden colour.
Enjoy with rice and homemade naan for example.
The pie is also very nice cold. :-)
