Baked Autumn Samosas

I ate Indian food at least twice a week when I was in college. I would pick it up on my way home from the bus stop at this amazing joint in the Commons (I think it's Sangam -- they have a location in Collegetown, too). I call it a "joint" because it was almost like fast food, just way better.

I always bought two samosas with my plate of to-go veggie curry and rice. I'd eat one right away and save the other for later. Potatoes, peas, fried dough, spices. So good. My favorite part of the meal.

This recipe is far from traditional and is baked, not fried. Still satisfies my nostalgic craving, though. I know I'll be making these again soon!

BAKED AUTUMN SAMOSAS

Filling

• 2 to 3 cups butternut squash 
• 1 head cauliflower 
• 1 white onion 
• 3 large cloves garlic 
• Olive oil 
• Salt 
• Pepper 
• Curry powder 
• Smoked paprika 

Crust

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached bread flour
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance (cold)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Water (cold)

Method for veggies . . .

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Get a rimmed baking sheet ready.
2. Chop all veggies coarsely -- into approx. 1-inch cubes. Then place them on your rimmed sheet.
3. Drizzle with olive oil (a few tablespoons) and then sprinkle with your salt, pepper, and spices. Use as little or as much as you like. I kept ours relatively tame since I wanted to give Ada some of the filling for dinner.
4. Roast in oven for an hour, stirring every 20 minutes. Then refrigerate until you're ready to make your samosas. If that's right away -- proceed to making the crust.

Method for crust . . . 

1. In a food processor, combine the flours and salt. Pulse.
2. Then add in the butter in chunks and the olive oil. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
3. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time -- pulsing again -- until the dough starts to form together.
4. Then roll into a ball and store in the fridge until you're ready to bake.

Putting it all together . . . 

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spritz a baking sheet with olive oil. Set aside.
2. Basically, you roll out the dough between two pieces of wax paper, cut it into a circle using a pot top, cut that in half, fold, fill, and press shut. See this video tutorial for details (as well as for a gluten-free and more traditional samosas recipe). It's exactly how I did it.
3. Then arrange samosas on baking sheet and prick each with the tines of a fork.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Until the crust is golden.
5. Let cool and serve with your favorite barbeque sauce.

These photos of the finished samosas aren't really my best, but you might be interested to know I shot them in total, complete darkness. Yeah. We're at that time of year when dinner is eaten long after the sun goes down.

I used my DIY light box to photograph in the past. But now I'm using my bounce flash. Stephen bought it for me for Christmas two years ago, and I'm only now getting around to using it. Not too shabby at all.

Today on Writing Chapter Three, I wrote about the magic hour when Stephen gets home from work. I feel like Ada merely tolerates me all day until she can see daddy again.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!