Samosas are a byword for events. It’s what we Indians eat recent out of a vat of scorching oil, with a wiggle within the hips able to hit the dancefloor at a marriage. It’s what my mum would fry and stack in a pyramid earlier than my dad’s colleagues got here shuffling by way of the door for dinner. And it’s what my husband Hugh and I’ve made to feed associates at home events over time, alongside a bowl of chutney, a bucket stuffed with ice-cold beers and a facet serving to of Mariah Carey and Wham!
Walnut and mushroom samosas
This recipe is customized from one in Fresh India, my second guide. A meals processor will make mild work of chopping the mushrooms and grinding the walnuts. Serving suggestion: coriander chutney.
Prep 10 min
Prepare dinner 1 hr 45 min
Makes 21
120g walnuts
600g chestnut mushrooms
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
¾ tsp mustard seeds
¾ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp nigella seeds
1 massive onion, peeled and diced
4 massive garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2cm knob recent ginger, peeled and grated
2 inexperienced finger chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp superb sea salt
¾ tsp floor pepper
1 x 220g pack filo pastry (7 sheets)
100g unsalted vegan butter, melted
Throw the walnuts in a meals processor, grind them as finely as you possibly can, then tip out right into a bowl. Break up the mushrooms, add them to the processor, chop till pea-sized and put to 1 facet (alternatively, chop them by hand).
Put the oil in a big frying pan on a medium warmth and, as soon as it’s scorching, add the mustard, cumin and nigella seeds. When the seeds begin to wriggle within the scorching oil, add the onion and saute, stirring, for about eight minutes, till mushy and beginning to brown.
Add the ginger, garlic and chillies, and fry, nonetheless stirring, for an additional 5 minutes, till the onions appear to be darkish jewels. Add the chopped mushrooms – don’t fear if they arrive proper to the brim of the pan, as a result of they’ll cut back in quantity quickly sufficient. Gently fold the combo for about seven minutes, then add the salt and pepper, and cook dinner for an additional 15 or so minutes, till all of the liquid has evaporated; there needs to be solely the tiniest hint left within the backside of the pan, in any other case you’ll have soggy samosas. Stir within the floor walnuts, cook dinner, stirring, for 3 minutes extra, then take off the warmth and depart to chill when you get a samosa station prepared.
Warmth the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/fuel 7 and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
Unroll one sheet of filo pastry and lay it on a piece floor in order that one lengthy facet is going through you. Brush frivolously throughout with melted butter, then prime with a second sheet of filo. Lower the stack of sheets in half throughout the center from prime to backside, then minimize every half horizontally into three, so you find yourself with six roughly 8½cm x 23cm strips. Make a triangular cone form at one finish of 1 strip, place 30g of the filling inside it, then, working your means alongside the strip, fold the pastry repeatedly up and over the filling, following the unique triangular form. Whenever you get to the tip of the strip, stick the ultimate bit down utilizing slightly melted butter because the glue. Pop the samosa on a tray and repeat twice extra with 4 of the remaining filo sheets. Whenever you get to the seventh and final sheet of filo, minimize it in half from prime to backside, brush with butter and lay one half on prime of the opposite. Lower this horizontally into three strips as above, fill with the final of the filling, and fold up as earlier than.
Brush each side of the samosas with the final of the butter, organize them on the trays in a single layer and bake for quarter-hour, till golden brown. Serve with a chutney of your selection.
