savories

Savories

Vegetable Samosa Mung Samosa    Cauliflower Samosa    Patateos and Peas Samosa
Curried Spinach Samosa   Cauliflower Pakoras Spinach Pakoras
Eggplant Pakoras Cabbage Pakoras   Kachory

VEGETABLE SAMOSA
8 oz Potatoes, cut in even size -pieces
3/4 cups Frozen green peas
2 tb Ghee
1/2 ts Cumin seeds
1 Piece ginger root, peeled,-grated (1/2")
1/2 ts Turmeric
1/2 ts Garam Masala
1/2 ts Salt
2 ts Lemon juice
1 cup All-purpose flour
2 tb Butter
2 tb Warm milk
Ghee oil for deep-frying

In a saucepan, boil potatoes in salted water 15-20 minutes or until
tender. Drain well, return to saucepan and shake over low heat a few
moments or until dry. Mash well. Cook peas in boiling salted water 4
minutes. Drain well.
Heat oil in a skillet. Add cumin seeds, ginger, turmeric, Garam
Masala and salt. Cook gently 5 minutes. Add mashed potatoes and peas,
then stir in lemon juice. Mix well, remove from heat and cool.
Sift flour into a bowl. Cut in butter finely until mixture resembles
bread crumbs. Add milk and mix to form a stiff dough. Divide in 6
equal pieces.
Form each piece in a ball and roll each ball on a lightly floured
surface to a 6" circle. Cut each circle in half. Divide filling
equally among semicircles of pastry.
Dampen edges of pastry, then fold over and seal to form triangles
which enclose filling completely. Half fill a deep-fat fryer or
saucepan with oil. Heat oil to 375'F. (190'C.) or until a 1/2" cube
of day-old bread browns in 40 seconds. Fry samosa in hot oil, a few
at a time, 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Mung Samosa
Ghee, as necessary
1 pn Asafetida
1 ts Black mustard seeds
1/2 ts Ginger, grated
1 pn Garam masala
1 pn Green mango powder
1/2 ts Salt
1/2 ts Cayenne
4 tb Mung beans, presoaked
1 tb Cilantro, chopped
1 ea Recipe pastry dough

Heat 2 tb ghee in a skillet over low heat. Saute asafetida, mustard seeds & ginger until the golden brown. Stir in garam masala, green mango powder, salt & cayenne. Mix thoroughly. Add beans, cover the pan & cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes until the beans are tender. Stir in cilantro & remove from heat. Divide into 8 portions. Brush one half moon of pastry with water & fold into a cone. Fill each cone with 1 portion of filling & seal the top. Repeat with remaining pastry. Heat enough ghee in a wok or large skillet to deep-fry 4 samosas at once. When very hot, deep-fry the samosas for a few minutes until golden-brown on both sides. Remove from heat & drain well before serving.

Cauliflower Samosa
Ghee, as necessary
1 tsp White cumin seeds
4 tbp Cauliflower, grated
1 tbs Green peas
1 tbs Asafetida
1 tsp Green mango powder
1 tbs Garam masala
1/2 tsp Salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp Cayenne
Dough
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tbs salt
1/4 tbs black pepper
1 tbs ghee
Add water and mix and kneed the place cloth and the dough set for 15 minutes then you can role the somosa shells as needed.

Heat 1 tb ghee in a skillet. Saute the cumin seeds until golden.
Add cauliflower & peas & mix well. Mix in asafetida & mango
powder, stir. Add garam masala, salt & cayenne. Cover the pan &
cook over a moderate heat for 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat &
cool. Divide mixture into 8 equal portions. Take one half-moon of
pastry & brush the edges with water. Fold into a cone. Fill pastry
with 1 portion of cauliflower mixture & seal the top. Repeat with the
rest of the pastry. Heat sufficient ghee (or vegetable oil) in a wok
or large skillet to deep fry 4 samosas at a time. When very hot,
deep-fry each samosa for a few minutes, until golden brown, flipping
once to cook both sides. Drain on paper towels.

Potato and peas
Cut cooked potatoes into 1 cm cubes, or use mashed potato. Mix with some green peas, a few dry roasted fennel seeds, salt and chilli powder.
3 and a half cups of flour
1 cups of cold water
Salt
A little cumin powder

Put the flour in a bowl or pot and mix in some salt and cumin powder. You should be aiming for a fairly stiff, dry dough, so add the water gradually while stirring. Be careful when you think you have added almost enough water. What often happens is you add a little touch more and your dough turns to glue. If this happens you need to add more flour but then you end up with twice as much dough as you need. It's better to be careful and mix the flour and water well to see if you really need more water. When a dry powdery mix suddenly starts binding together into a dough without adding any more water, take the contents of the bowl out and knead it on a floured surface. The dough should be very stiff and not stick to your hands. If it does it's a bit wet so you should knead some more flour into it.
When you've got something workable, break off small lumps roll into balls 3-4cm in diameter. When you've done that roll the balls out into very thin circles. If you don't have a rolling pin, you can use a beer bottle for this. Make sure you cover everything well with flour to stop the dough sticking. The circles should be about 15 cm in diameter. If someone else is filling the samosas, pass the dough circle to them. If not you can pile them up if you dust them well with flour and your original mix wasn't too wet. You might not know it was too wet until all the circles have stuck together - that's life. Re-knead the lot and start again - the dough should be okay with the extra flour you've been adding.
There are a few ways to make a samosa. Some people suggest cutting the dough circles in half first, but I don't. For my method, take a whole circle, put some filling in the centre - about a dessert spoonful- and fold the edge nearest you over the filling. Now wet the other edges with some water (use a small brush if you can find one. Use a finger as a last resort) and then fold them over one at a time to make a triangle. It will be quite a scrappy looking triangle with flaps sticking out, but if you lift your samosa up, you can wet the flaps, wrap them round and smooth them down. It will take a little practice and if you have a dog it will come in really handy for eating the ones you make a real mess of. Lay the samosas side by side on a lightly floured surface.
To fry them, heat a pot or deep frying pan with in it. The Ghee is ready when a small cube of bread takes thirty seconds to go brown. Be gentle laying the samosas in the Ghee - this is a potentially very dangerous operation. Lay them in side by side. Put as many in as you can (probably six) and fry them for about five minutes each side. They should be golden rather than brown and you should watch the temperature of your ghee to see it isn't getting too hot (you'll probably have to alter the flame under the pan between batches).
Lay the cooked samosas on a few layers of paper towels and pile up layers with paper in between. This will keep the samosas warm and the weight will help to soak up excess oil. Serve hot or cold.

Curried Spinach Samosa

Dough
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup organic canola oil
pinch of salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
Filling
1 tbs sesame oil
3 medium carrots, diced
1 lb fresh spinach, washed, dried and chopped
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp curry powder   ( make sure it does not contain onions or garlic )
1 tbs tamari
1/4 cup water
1 tbs   Japanese arrowroot
Combine water, oil, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and beat the mixture with a whisk until it has a milky appearance. Add to flour in a large bowl. Gently knead the dough just until mixed well. Form into a ball and let sit for 30 minutes.
For the filling: heat oil in a skillet; sauté carrots for 1 minute. Sprinkle with salt and curry powder and add chopped spinach. Cover and steam over medium heat until spinach wilts and the carrots are tender, about 4 minutes. Season with tamari. Dissolve kudzu in 1/4 cup water, add to spinach mixture, and cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly to thicken and glaze.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Divide the dough in half and roll out until about 1/8" thick. Using a saucer or a small plate as a guide cut the dough into 4" circles.
Place 2 TB of filling in the middle of each circle. Fold over and pinch edge shut. Using a fork, poke a few holes in each samosa. Place on an oiled cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
Serve hot or cold.

Patatoe Pakora
11/2 Cups     Gram flour
1                  Green chili (chopped)
some parsley
1/2 tbs          Red chili powder
1 tbs             Black pepper
1 tbs             Salt
1 tbs             Hing
1/2 tbs         Ginger powder
2                  Large patatoes

Wash, peel and cube patatoes and set aside until batter is finished.
Mix all the ingredients, adding slowly more and more water while mixing the dough. In the end it should be a creamy substance, pancake-like.
Let it stand for about 10 minutes.
Heat Ghee in a deep pan then dip 1 inch cubed patatoes in batter covering them completely than place them one by one in the hot Ghee and fry untill golden brown.

Cauliflower Pakora

11/2 Cups     Gram flour
1                  Green chili (chopped)
some parsley
1/2 tbs          Red chili powder
1 tbs             Black pepper
1 tbs             Salt
1 tbs             Hing
1/2 tbs         Ginger powder
1/2 Head       Caulifower

Wash, peel and cube patatoes and set aside until batter is finished.
Mix all the ingredients, adding slowly more and more water while mixing the dough. In the end it should be a creamy substance, pancake-like.
Let it stand for about 10 minutes.
Heat Ghee in a deep pan then dip Cauliflower pieces ( inch cauliflower heads ) in batter covering them completely than place them one by one in the hot Ghee and fry untill golden brown.

Spinach Pakoras
11/2 Cups     Gram flour
1                  Green chili (chopped)
some parsley
1/2 tbs          Red chili powder
1 tbs             Black pepper
1 tbs             Salt
1 tbs             Hing
1/2 tbs         Ginger powder
1/2 bundle of Spinich

Wash, peel and cube patatoes and set aside until batter is finished.
Mix all the ingredients, adding slowly more and more water while mixing the dough. In the end it should be a creamy substance, pancake-like.
Let it stand for about 10 minutes.
Heat Ghee in a deep pan then dip spinach leaves in batter covering them completely than place them one by one in the hot Ghee and fry untill golden brown.

Eggplant Pakoras
11/2 Cups     Gram flour
1                  Green chili (chopped)
some parsley
1/2 tbs          Red chili powder
1 tbs             Black pepper
1 tbs             Salt
1 tbs             Hing
1/2 tbs         Ginger powder
1/2 Egg Plant cut into 1 inch cubes

Wash, peel and cube patatoes and set aside until batter is finished.
Mix all the ingredients, adding slowly more and more water while mixing the dough. In the end it should be a creamy substance, pancake-like.
Let it stand for about 10 minutes.
Heat Ghee in a deep pan then dip 1 inch cubed eggplant in batter covering them completely than place them one by one in the hot Ghee and fry untill golden brown.

Cabbage Samosa
11/2 Cups     Gram flour
1                  Green chili (chopped)
some parsley
1/2 tbs          Red chili powder
1 tbs             Black pepper
1 tbs             Salt
1 tbs             Hing
1/2 tbs         Ginger powder
1/2 Head of cabbage cut into 1 inch cubes

Wash, peel and cube patatoes and set aside until batter is finished.
Mix all the ingredients, adding slowly more and more water while mixing the dough. In the end it should be a creamy substance, pancake-like.
Let it stand for about 10 minutes.
Heat Ghee in a deep pan then dip 1 inch cubed cabbage in batter covering them completely than place them one by one in the hot Ghee and fry untill golden brown.

Kachory- deep-fried pastry with urad dal filling
Dough
l cup white flour
l tablespoon ghee
salt to taste
l/3 cup cold water
filling
l/2 cup urad dall
l/2 tablespoon salt
l/4 teaspoon hing
l/8 teaspoon cayenne
          l tablespoon ghee
To make the dough
Add salt to flour. Add gjhee. Mix thoroughly. Knead in water until the
dough is smooth and like ear-lobe consistency.
To make the filling
Soak urad dal overnight. Strain off water. Add salt. hing and cayenne.
Blend in a blender with just enough water to make a thick paste. Heat
ghee. Add urad dal paste.. Stir constantly on a medium flame until the
          paste thickens and leaves the sides of the pan.
To stuff the kachories
Divide the dough into 7 balls of equal size. Roll out l ball with a
rolling pin until it looks like a thick puri(about 2 inches in diameter).
Put a small ball of urad dal filling(about the size of a marble) in the
center of the puri. Wrap the puri around the urad dal ball. Seal with
water. Gently, with a rolling pin, roll the kachori out again until it
looks like a thick puri. When rolling, take care to prevent the urad dal
filling from breaking through the dough.
To cook the kachories
Heat ghee for deep-frying. Add a drop of water. When the ghee
sizzles, put the kachories in the ghee. Cook at a low flame until the
kachories blow up like a balloon. Remove. Bring the ghee to a higher
temperature so that it is almost smoking. Add the once- cooked
kachories. Fry them for a second time under a medium flame until they
are golden-brown. Remove the kachories from the ghee.