I made these delicious little morsels a few weeks back. They came out of desperation for a slap together dinner for the hubby and the little boy. Quiche was initially on the menu but I was all egged out for the day after starting the day with fried eggs on toast. I was standing at fridge with the door opened peering into the depths and beyond wondering what I was going to make instead?

My gaze fell to the vegetable crisper and I noticed that we had a few zucchini's stock piling from the vegetable patch. My first thoughts was zucchini slice but that is just another version of quiche. I wanted something with flavour, packed full of vegetables, easy to make and tasty.
I had made a really good Rogan Josh curry the weekend just past so I had curry flavours on the mind.

I had fleeting thoughts of making a vegetarian curry with the vegetables in the crisper then that quickly turned to stuffing puff pastry with a samosa type filling. I remember eating some samosa's while waiting to board a plane on our way home from India a few years back. They were a deep fried little parcels filled with a delicious curry infused potato filling.

I jumped onto the computer and researched a few recipes and found that if I wanted to be authentic I would have to make a dough from scratch, filled with a vegetable filling and then it would be deep fried. I didn't have the time nor the energy to go to the full lengths to create something authentic. So I went with the good old puff pastry for the casing and pulled out every sad looking vegetable in the crisper to make the filling. The filling itself is super easy to make, saute a whole bunch of vegetables in a pan with some garlic and ginger until tender. Add the usual suspects of cumin and coriander and some mustard seeds. Garam Masala and Tumeric finish off the curry profile. A dash of coconut milk rounded out all the flavours nicely and added a creamy rich finish to the filling.

I cut the puff sheets into 9 small squares and filled each with a teaspoon of mixture. These made for a handy little snack to have along side a beer or wine. For a more substantial meal I cut the sheets of puff into four and placed more of the mixture into the squares. The recipe I am about to give will make a huge amount of the samosa filling. I had a few cups of the mixture leftover so I just packaged it up and froze it to use at a later date. The mixture tasted even better the next day.

If you want to avoid the puff pastry like me who is dairy intolerant I usually wrap mine up in mountain bread. Little J.D loved these. I think he enjoyed the puff pastry more than the filling but at least he is getting his serve of vegetables in a few of these little parcels. I think the samosa filling would be equally as delicious served over rice or just by itself. I had grand plans of posting this recipe for the lead up to the super bowl but here in Australia is really isn't a big deal. Plus I hadn't gotten around to properly photographing them. I found a few spare hours on Saturday morning to get behind the lens but it meant that I had a little helper while I was trying to put together the scene. There was a constant barrage of "num nums" as I plated the samosa's up and little sticky fingers trying to nab them off the plate when I was trying to photograph them. I really enjoy food photography but I am finding it increasingly difficult to try and get uninterrupted time behind the lens. Such is life with little kids I think?!

Easy Indian Samosa

By The Whimsical Wife

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes
Makes: approx 36 small/12-16 large

Ingredients

Filling

1 red onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 medium potato, peeled and diced into 1 cm cubes
1 carrot, peeled and diced into 1 cm cubes
2 cups pumpkin, diced into 1 cm cubes
1 medium zucchini, diced into 1 cm cubes
1 1/2 teaspoon cumin, ground
1 1/2 teaspoon coriander, ground
1 1/2 teaspoon brown mustard seed
3/4 teaspoon garam masala
3/4 teaspoon tumeric
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup frozen peas

Assembly

1/4 cup milk
3-4 sheets puff pastry

Instructions

Filling

Place a large fry pan over a medium heat. Add in a tablespoon of olive oil, the onions, garlic and ginger. Saute the onions until translucent and slightly caramelized.

Add the carrot, potato and pumpkin and saute for 10 - 12 minutes until tender. Add the zucchini and saute for a further 5 minutes until tender.

Add a tablespoon more of oil and add the spices and cook for 30-50 seconds until fragrant. It is important to cook out the spices so they don't taste raw.

Add in the coconut milk and peas and simmer until the coconut milk has reduced slightly and the peas have cooked through.

Spread the mixture out onto a tray and cool in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

Assemble

Preheat an oven to 180 degrees celcius (fanbake)

Pull out the puff pastry and defrost. Cut the sheets into 9 squares.

Place teaspoons of the mixture into the middle of each square. Brush milk along the edges of the square and flip the corner over the mixture to create a triangle.

Press the edges together with a fork and prick the top twice to allow heat to escape. Brush the top with milk and place onto a lined baking tray.

Repeat with the remaining mixture.

Place the tray into the oven and cook for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove and cool slightly before serving.

Cooks Notes

Any extra filling mixture can be placed into a container and frozen to be used at a later date.