Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Samosa's, Gluten free and regular.

First off, I don't eat Gluten Free, nor am I vegan, or vegetarian.    However, I do like healthy foods.

Mostly.

And since I do have some friends who are either vegetarian, pescatarian or gluten free, I try to find recipes that they can eat as well.

My assigned blog a few months ago for Secret Recipe Club was Judee Gluten Free.     I had fun going through her recipes.   And if you read this blog at all, you know I love my appetizers. 

Really, I do.  

And I had a heck of a time deciding what to make for SRC that time, there were too many recipes I wanted to try.   I ended up making the Green Goddess Hummus,  and it was very good, but I didn't stop there, I wanted to try to make these Samosa's which I decided were perfect for one of our gatherings.     So I made these up.

Eggless Buttermilk Crust:
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups of gluten free all purpose flour ( or if you are not gluten free regular flour)
1 cup buttermilk, plain yogurt or (coconut or rice milk with a teaspoon of lemon juice added)
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
Mix flour, buttermilk, and salt and work with a fork until dough can form into a ball. Dough will be soft. Refrigerate for 5-10 minutes if too soft to work with. Divide dough into quarters and roll out thinly.   Use a 4 inch cookie cutter to make circles.
This dough is hard to work with, so I took a tip I got from another website and used sheets of wax paper to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin as well as the pastry sheet.  



Sweet Potato Filling


2 large sweet potatoes, steamed and cubed
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 Tablespoon cumin seeds
1/2 cup onion , chopped small
3/4 cup tomatoes, chopped small ( or chopped tomatoes with some juice from a can)
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, grated  ( I used the ginger root I keep in the freezer, and used my Microplane to get the tablespoon of ginger needed)
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp cumin
cayenne pepper ( optional)
1 Tablespoon cilantro, chopped fine
2 Tablespoons raisins, soaked for about 20 minutes
2 tsp olive oil and olive oil spray
Directions Mix chopped onion, garlic, fresh ginger, cilantro, tomatoes, curry powder and turmeric and 2 tsp of olive oil together .

Steam sweet potatoes whole with skin until soft.  Peel and chop up a little before adding to the other ingredients.

  I put the peas, onion, garlic and tomato in a bowl, then added the warm sweet potatoes.  

   Saute cumin seeds or mustard seeds in olive oil spray in a frying pan for about 1 minute. Pour chopped vegetable mixture over cumin seeds and cook on low heat until onion and garlic are soft.
Stop for a minute and inhale, it smells so goo.
Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for another minute or so.  (Next time I make this, and I will make the filling again, I will add a little more moisture in the form of another tomato cause it did need it.  But this was my fault for not getting a juice tomato to begin with.)
Spoon 1 tsp. of mixture into each crust. Fold dough around filling and seal edges with fingers. Press edges together with fork for decoration.


  Bake for about 20-25 minutes until browned.  Although, they really don't brown, but you can put them under the broiler for just a quick second or so if you like.

Dip into Raita,

Directions below
Raita Ingredients
1 small cucumber, grated
1 cup plain yogurt 
1 tsp dried mint, crushed - if you have access to fresh mint, use it.
salt, pepper, garlic to taste

Grate your vegetables; add to yogurt  and mix well by hand
 

To be honest here, I did not like these at all, the filling was wonderful but the samosa shells, not so much.  They baked up kind of weird, and tasted funny to me.   I did serve them anyway, and some people tried them.   However, I think I need to work with gluten free flour some more and try to get something more edible out of it.   
I had so much filling left over, I hurried up and made some not-gluten free dough.

Samosa Dough
2 cups flour
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup greek yoghurt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1-3 tbsp. water

I was in a hurry so did not 'rub' the butter into the flour, I just threw the butter, yoghurt, flour and baking powder into the Kitchenaid and turned it on.  As the butter and yoghurt mixed into the flour, I dribbled in a little water to help the dough come together.   Just a couple of tablespoons.  As soon as it formed a nice ball, I changed to the dough hook and let it knead together for a couple of minutes.  I knew I wanted a soft, silky dough.  I then let it rest for ten minutes before rolling it out.
Cut circles with my cookie cutter, and filled them with the remaining filling.
Don't they look pretty?   I then placed some plastic wrap over them, and put them into the fridge for a couple of hours. 
This dough was wonderful to work with, it stretched beautifully, and is one I will make again and again. 
 

Just before our guests arrived, I heated some oil in the pan and fried them until they were golden brown, on each side.    And let me tell you, they were so good, fresh out of the pan.   I did serve them with the dip, but really, you didn't need it.





I made some Sausage Rolls as well that night.  Just cause I wanted to.

Sidsel Munkholm - Author
Sidsel Munkholm - Author

Sid loves to cook, feed people and have fun in the kitchen. She shares her successes and the involuntary offerings she sometimes gives the kitchen goddess as well. And she's still looking for the mythical fairy to help her clean the kitchen after a marathon cooking session. Currently working on a cookbook showcasing the recipes from her Danish heritage.

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