Samosa Hand Pies are excellent healthy counterparts of their traditional Samosas!
Why?
Because they are,
- Baked and not deep fried
- Wheat flour is used for encompassing the filling
- Pie crust dough and hence, flaky pastry!
Hand pies reminds me of Empanadas, a Spanish stuffed pastry and they in turn reminds me of Sweet Somas we make during festivals in Tamil Nadu, India.
It’s exciting to know that food travels the world. Although Empanada and Somas aren’t made the same way, they both look the same!
I always get twinkle in my eyes whenever I come across food that makes their way around the world. It’s the same case with Ebelskivers, a Danish pancake and Kuzhi paniyaram in southern parts of India.
Our households don’t have the habit of making Samosas at home. We buy them from shops, eat them while they are still hot and complain when they are not. That’s why I used revisfoodography’s recipe for the samosa filling. I have tried few recipes from her blog and they turn out pretty good!
My Hindi tutor ran a shop (and still do) and sometimes she used to multitask. I have only seen the sealing of triangular samosa pockets because I was so busy nerd-ing and I hardly ever concentrated on things other than learning in my teen years.
This memory came back to me when a friend asked how the street vendors roll out the dough thinly and sealing them perfectly?
I was pretty sure it was maida(All purpose Flour) because let’s face it, all the snacks are made with white flour. Of course, the curious-me asked my mother why is that so? Her answer was that white flour takes a little longer to cook and this allows the filling to have enough time to cook as well.
Also, wheat flour dough turns deep brown and they burn before the filling finishes cooking.
why pie crust dough in my recipe?
Before buying an oven, I had dreams about breads and baked vegetables. As an add-on, I wanted to know what else I can make in them. Since I was looking for healthy snack options, I decided to search for baked ones that was usually deep fried.
Samosa came up and to be honest, baked samosas didn’t quite look inviting or appetising. I was pretty sure they would be dry as well, no matter how much oil you add to the dough.
I was already comfortable with pie crust dough as I was making cookies out of them a lot.
I had butter at home and asked myself, ‘Why not?’
Thus, Samosa hand pies with pie crust dough was born.
Vegetable Samosa Hand Pies – Baked Indian Samosas/Healthy snacks/Pie crust recipes
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes, in a 16-liter OTG for two batches
Servings: 20 hand pies
INGREDIENTS
For pie crust dough
1 cup Wheat flour
1/4 cup cubed cold butter unsalted and white
4 tablespoon ice cold water can require more or less than mentioned, depends on the quality of the flour used
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon fine salt adjust according to taste
To pressure cook
1 medium carrot
1 medium white potato
1/8 cup dried green peas soaked overnight or soaked in boiled hot water for two hours
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cup water
For the filling
1 tablespoon Sunflower oil or any neutral flavour oil
1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 small red onions finely chopped
1 medium green chilli seeds removed and minced
half an inch ginger minced
2 small white garlic minced
1 tablespoon coriander leaves tightly packed and roughly chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon everyday madras curry powder
1/8 teaspoon garam masala
1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon tablesalt or fine salt
INSTRUCTIONS
Pie crust dough
- In a medium bowl, add wheat flour, salt and cold butter. Cut the butter into flour using a fork. When they resemble sand, add ice cold water gradually and loosely gather them to form a dough.
wrap the dough in cling film or cover the dough in the same bowl as before and refrigerate untill needed.
To pressure cook - Wash, peel and roughly dice carrot and potato. Rinse the soaked dried green peas in clean water once.
- Pressure cook the vegetables in 3-litre cooker with water and sea salt. Switch off the stove after three whistles.
- Open the lid after the pressure inside subsides (approx. 15 minutes), drain the water and
transfer the vegetable to a plate. Mash them roughly and set aside.
Filling - Switch on the stove with a medium-size Wok or kadai on medium flame. Add oil and let it get hot. Add mustard seeds, wait for it to splutter, then follow it with cumin seeds.
- Fry onion until transparent. Add in minced green chilli and coriander leaves. Let me turn slightly greener in colour.
- Add minced ginger and garlic. Wait for it to turn aromatic. Add the mashed vegetables and season with salt.
- Quickly sprinkle the powders- everyday madras curry powder, garam masala and turmeric powder. Mix everything well. Let it cook for three to five minutes. Take care not to burn the mixture. Switch off the
stove and let it cool.
Samosa encasing - Take out pie crust dough from refrigerator and divide it into two. Roll the dough into 1/8th of an inch, cut into round shapes with a two-inch diameter round cookie cutter.
- Pile a teaspoon of filling into the center of a round, brush the edge with water by finger and seal it with another round sheet. Press around the hand pie with a fork to ensure tight sealing and prick them on top. Brush the pies with melted butter.
- Half way through spooning the filling, preheat the over at 180 degree C for 10 minutes.
Baking
Grease a cookie sheet with butter, arrange the hand pies on top and bake in the middle rack of the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the hand pies turn brown in colour.
RECIPE NOTES
- Amount of butter can be decreased or increased, there won’t be any issues in pie crust.
- 16-liter OTG is used. Hence, hand pies are baked in two batches.
- Always adjust salt.
- Water can be sprinkled a little while cooking the filling to avoid burning.
How does it tastes?
- Filling tastes like deep fried samosas.
- Crispy outer layer tastes like butter biscuits or cookies.
That’s it, easy as a pie crust!
Leave a comment so that I know you have tried this recipe!
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Bye!
