Spiced Meat Samosas

Mutton or goat mince samosas are relished as a delicious tea-time treat back in my hometown Bangalore. Samosas are an Indian deep fried snack - triangular shaped layers of flaky, crisp pastry can be found in shops and homes across the country with a variety of fillings, spiced potato with peas and onion samosas being the most popular. Mutton samosas are customarily made by India's Muslim community as well as the Keralites down south and are a favourite of mine. This recipe is by Sherin Mohan, who incidentally is from Kerala.

I have spotted samosas being served as fancy appetisers in restaurants in Australia, larger and slightly basterdised of course! Another example of globalisation and 'fusion' food. Goat mince gives this recipe a special something, but I could not get my hands on any and settled on Aussie lamb mince which worked well too.

Ingredients

For filling: 250 grm Mutton mince; 1 medium onion; one large tomato; 2 small green chillies; 1 tsp Turmeric powder; 1 tsp Garam masala; 1 tsp Chili Powder; 1½ tsp Salt

For dough: 200 grm flour; ½ tsp salt; 1 tblsp butter; 1 tsp Cumin seeds; ¾ cup Oil; 7 tbsp Cold water

Method: Chop the onion finely. Wash, peel and chop tomato and green chillies. Peel and finely chop ginger. In a frying pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil and fry onions for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, green chillies, ginger, chili powder, garam masala and turmeric powder and fry for two minutes. Add the mince and fry for five minutes. Add ½ cup of water and bring it to boil. Lower heat, add salt and simmer for 45 minutes till meat is dry.

For pastry, I tried spring roll pastry sheets, cutting one sheet into fours. I would however suggest that if you wish to use the ready made pastry, opt to use a whole sheet for one samosas, repeatedly folding around the stuffing to create a flakier, substantial pastry.

Ready made wrappers pale in comparison to the wholesome traditional pastry. In addition I baked my samosas as a healthier alternative, however, for crispier, perfectly golden samosas deep frying is the way to go - I have to admit deep fried samosas are simply to-die-for.

Sieve flour and ½ tsp. of salt into a large bowl. Add unsalted butter and cumin seeds and rub into the flour. Add water 1 tbsp at a time and roll into a fairly stiff dough. Shape into 8 balls and roll out on a floured board into thin rounds. Cut into half and roll into a cone pressing the ends together. Fill cone with 2 tbsp of the stuffing and seal end, brushing dough with cold water to help seal it. In a kadai (traditional Indian wok), or simply use a wok or deep frying pan, heat the oil. Add samosas, lower the heat to medium and fry for 5-6 minutes.