A small treat now and then during these hard times makes us feel so good, doesn’t it? Not that I am complaining when I say “hard times”. I do realize how fortunate we are compared to many others. Sometimes I do feel guilty about enjoying our al fresco lunches in the garden (especially lovely now with all the spring flowers and hummingbirds) and our lazy evening walks.

A beautiful piece of writing titled “It’s okay to be okay during the pandemic” by Sigal Samuel in vox.com put things in perspective for me and I do recommend reading it fully, but the author sums it up with a quote from a mindfulness teacher: “Taking care of ourselves is the first approximation of mindful compassion.”

We have not been eating out obviously but we have been doing takeaways from our favorite vegan Chinese restaurant mainly because it gives us a chance to drive somewhere once a week (the restaurant is a good 20 min drive away), support the business and get some variety in our meals. But I have also been trying to keep it interesting at home.

This baked samosa that I made as a weekend teatime snack turned out to be very addictive and was pretty easy to make. V and I devoured almost all of it over a game of Scrabble and had to forego dinner as we were so full! We used “zhoug sauce” that we got from Trader Joes as a dipping.

Recipe for Easy Baked Samosas

[Printable Recipe]

Inspired by “Baked Pea Samosas” recipe in Vegetarian Dinner Parties by Mark Scarbrough and Bruce Weinstein 

Makes around 12-15

Ingredients:

• 4-5 medium potatoes
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil + approx 1/2 cup for brushing the phyllo sheets
• 1-2 Thai green chilies chopped fine (optional)
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp salt or more to taste
• 1 package of Phyllo sheets (you will not use it all for this batch, so double the recipe or save it for later as per the package instructions)

Equipment:

• 2 rimmed cookie sheets
• 1 sharp knife

Method:

• Filling: (You can make the filling ahead of time and store in the refrigerator)
  • Wash and cut the potatoes in to quarters
  • Cook the potatoes till soft, then set aside to cool
  • Soak the frozen peas in boiling water till thawed and wash
  • Peel and coarsely mash the cooled potatoes
  • Heat 1 Tbsp vegetable oil in  a pan and add the minced green chilies if using 
  • Add the mashed potatoes and green peas, garam masala and salt and mix till heated through
• Pre-heat oven to 375C
• Remove one phyllo sheet from the package (keep the rest covered to prevent them from drying out.  Follow the instructions on the package).
• Brush the sheet with some oil, then fold it lengthwise, then into thirds as shown in the picture below brushing the sheet with some oil on each fold
• Using a sharp knife make vertical slits around 1 inch deep on all 4 sides of the folded sheet as shown
• Place about one heaping tablespoon of filling in the middle and fold the edges over the filling like a pocket.  Place it on a baking sheet
• Continue making the pockets until the filling runs out lining them up on the sheets
•  Place the sheets in the pre-heated oven.  
• If you have 2 sheets, set a timer for 9 minutes.   The total baking time is 18 minutes but you would want to rotate the trays from top to bottom half way through
• Remove after 18 minutes and let it cool a bit before enjoying with a dipping of your choice.  We thought the “zhoug” sauce from Trader Joes was excellent but you could use ketchup or sriracha as well.