Samosas!

Well, I am not sure how much of a fist post this will be, but I am looking forward to getting this blog up and running, so I might as well start somewhere! As you know, Karen, Dad is visiting me in the Netherlands. We were invited to a party last night for one of my graduation Seniors. It was supposed to be a vegetarian buffet, so I made some Samosas. last week, I went to dinner at my friend Kim's, and her husband Aaron made samosas that were to die for.  I wanted to clone them (and make them a bit spicier), so Dad and I went shopping for phyllo dough and I got busy with experimenting!  What follows is mostly approximate.  I am hoping that this blog will make me measure things a bit more.  I'm pretty bad about that.

Chickpea Samosas:

2 packages of phyllo dough (thawed)

2 big cans of chick peas, drained (3 or 4 cups)

1 small onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 bunch cilantro

curry powder

cayenne pepper

cumin

chili-garlic oil

Sauce:

yoghurt

fresh Mint

Garnish:

cilantro

chopped red onion

Make the sauce. Chop lots of fresh mint and mix with plain yoghurt.  Chill.

Put the chickpeas in the food processor with some of the chili-garlic oil (enough to help it run smoothly-- a couple of Tablespoons, probably). Leave some chunks in for texture. Dump this mixture into a big mixing bowl.

Chop the onion and garlic finely in the food processor.  Transfer to a skillet over medium heat and saute in olive oil.  When translucent, add to the bean mixture and combine.

Add curry powder, cayenne and cumin to taste.  I probably used 2 tablespoons of curry, 1 teaspoon of cayenne and 1/2 tsp of cumin.  Just keep tasting it.  Alternately, you could use finely chopped fresh chilis instead of the cayenne.  It's up to you.

Finely chop the cilantro (I used the same food processor I used for the chickpeas and the onion mixture-- no need to wash it out.)  Stir into mixture.

At this point, you can let the mixture sit for a few hours or over night.  The heat will develop as it sits, so keep that in mind.

When you are ready put the samosas together, lay out your sheets of thawed phyllo dough.  Mine comes in sheets that are about 12x12 inches.  Brush one side of the sheet with chili-garlic oil (or whatever you like-- my chili-garlic oil isn't very spicy so it works here).  Fold the sheet over.  You now have a rectangle of phyllo with a layer of oil sandwiched inside it.  Turn the rectangle so that it is facing away from you (the long way).  Place a big spoonful of the bean mixture at the end closest to you.  Turn the end of the phyllo up in a triangle shape by grasping the bottom left corner and pulling it to meet the right side of the dough.  Then, just keep flipping the triangle up until you get to the top.  If there is a tab of phyllo left, just brush it with some more oil and flip the triangle on top of it.  If this sounds complicated, its not!  Just play with it-- you'll get the hang in a hurry.

Lightly brush the tops of the samosas with more chili-garlic oil and bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. 

Sprinkle with garnish (if desired) and serve with yoghurt sauce.  These are also nice with some chutney on the side.

These were a big hit and so yummy!  The filling was really savory and spicy, the phyllo was crispy, and the yoghurt mint sauce is the perfect accompaniment.