Category: Potatoes

Root Vegetable Samosas for BBC Radio Leicester’s Food Friday

April 9, 2015

We Love Indian food a great deal in our house and one thing we really like is a good tasting Samosa.  We mainly opt for vegetarian ones as you always have the ingredients in but also means it costs less which is a bonus.

  For this particular Food Friday on BBC Radio Leicester,  I wanted to show just how versatile these can be.  Not to mention how incredibly easy and quick they are! On this recipe, I went with what I had in and to use up of course…and it worked perfectly. The earthy yet sweet taste that came from the celeriac among the bursting sweet petit pois was quite something and what I also love is the crunch of the pastry when you bite into these little delicacies which gives it great fun when you can’t possibly eat them without a cascade of flakey, crispy pastry going all over your Kitchen floor.

   Listen here where you will hear Myself showing Ed Stagg just how quick and easy the Samosas were to make. 

  I did send a tub full of them back to the BBC Radio Leicester team, however I don’t think they quite reached there as Ed loved them so much! 


Root Vegetable Samosas:

Ingredients: ( Makes approximately 14 samosas)

–  Approximately 4 white potatoes Diced Finely (1cm cubes)
–  1/4 Celeriac Finely diced
–  1 Carrot Finely Diced
–  1 small Parsnip finely diced or 1/2 larger one
–  100g of Petit Pois (Defrosted)
–   1 Onion finely diced
–  1 Hot Green chilli Finely Chopped or more if you wish ( Mine were a hot kind )
–  1 Level Tsp Mustard seeds (My Spices are from Spice Kitchen) 
–  1 Tsp Garam Masala
–  1/2 Tsp Hot chilli Powder
–  1 Tsp Mango Powder (Amchoor) 
–  small Handful of Chopped Fresh Coriander
–  Fresh Ginger Grated (Small finger end size)
–  Salt to season
–  A large pack (550g) of Spring Roll Pastry defrosted, keep under a damp tea towel (I Buy from Asian/Chinese Supermarket)
–  Sunflower oil for deep frying plus some for frying your onions and spices
–  2 Large Eggs beaten to use for egg wash



Method:

–  Boil Vegetables except the peas and onions for about 5 mins as you still want a little crunch to the veg.

–  Fry of the chopped onions for a minute or two to soften, then add your fresh chilli, Ginger and dry spices coating all the onions.

– Once the Vegetables are cooked add them to the spiced onion mix leaving a bit of the water they are boiled in as you will need this to loosen some of the dry spices in the Pan.
–  Add your Defrosted peas and chopped Coriander.Stir, coating everything.Put to one side to slightly cool.

–  On a clean flat surface place your Pastry sheet each one by one and slice with a knife into the middle length ways to make a rectangular shape. Using a Pastry brush, brush the edges with the egg wash.

–  Fold the bottom right hand corner to the top of the rectangle,  Diagonally left to make a triangle shape.
–  Fold again towards the left and you will have a bit of excess, this is your last flap for your Samosa. 

–  Hold the Pastry up so you can make a cone shape, Pull away the first fold and fill 1 Tbsp of your mixture. 

–  Place back down on the surface, finish with more egg wash and seal. Continue this process.

–  Once all made, deep fry for a couple of minutes until just turning golden brown. Place onto Kitchen paper to dry off excess oil.

–  Then serve with Chutneys and Pickles of your choice.


A Great affordable meal from leftovers :-) !

May 9, 2013

Ok so I was “umming and Arring” , (debating), on wether to put this recipe on.  But in actual fact I realised it was a great little number to write about.  
  Now this recipe isn’t one to “wow really” at first glance (please excuse the poor photo!),       and there are so many versions of this recipe,  just purely because I suppose it is very versatile.  However, one Vital point I have to make about this recipe, is that it is cost effective or even so, thus can be created from the brilliant leftovers from the day before! 
 One thing all of My readers out there will probably agree with, is that we all like to save a few pennies. To buy maybe the finer foods we enjoy to eat?  Or Fine wine?  Or even for that break away to maybe have them all ha ha! Here it is…

 Beef Keema Matar Curry:











Recipe: For 2-3 people (approx)

If you dont like dishes too spicy, just go easy on the chillies ok!

300g Minced Beef Or Lamb Mince (or if you had left over lamb or beef from a roast you could use)
1/2 tsp of Ginger
2 Garlic cloves finely chopped or minced
1 Onion Diced finely
salt and pepper
1 chopped green chilli (add more if you like it hot but we are adding hot chilli powder aswell)
1 tsp of hot chilli powder
1 tbsp of Mild curry powder
1/2 tbsp of Garam masala – Normally bost of these spices wouldn’t work quite well together and you could just use Tumeric powder, but I took the chance and it worked.
1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes or fresh
1/2 tbsp of Tomato puree
about 4 medium sized potatoes 
Frozen Petit pois or garden peas
A little beef stock with water just to keep a nice sauce and to enhance the Beef. Use Chicken stock or lamb if it is Lamb meat.
Chopped Coriander to serve.

Chop your potatoes into small chunks or quarters and blanch them off. Do not boil totally as you want them to still have a crunch as they are going into the curry.  Then defrost your peas.

Fry off the Onion, Garlic, Ginger, chillies and dry spices for a few minutes. Add the meat and the seasoning until the meat has browned and cooked through.  Add the Stock, Tomatoes, puree, and cook on the stove for about 10 minutes, checking that it wont go too dry or stick etc. Add the potatoes and cook for a further 5-10 mins and a few minutes before it is done, add the defrosted peas.
Serve with the chopped Coriander on top.  I served this with Basmati rice but you could just have this with lovely Chapatis…your choice!