Spicy Potato and Pea Samosa Recipe

These little morsels are great for picnics (now that we have wonderful weather!) parties and for a lunch on the run! Okay, so I am cheating here and telling you to buy ready made filo pastry (shock horror) but I don't have the time and I'm sure you probably don't either (and there is a knack to making it which will take a few attempts and I am not here to put you off cooking but to encourage!) so use a good quality ready made filo pastry and I promise you won't go to cooking hell!

Ingredients:
1 pack of vegan filo pastry
4 tbsp of olive oil mixed with 2 tbsp of water to make a wash for the pastry
1/2 an onion sliced into small cubes
1 large potato cut into small 1cm cubes (don't use a ruler, they just need to be small enough to cook all the way through, so make em small!)
1/2 Cup of Peas (frozen is fine)
1/2 Cup of Cherry Tomatoes
1 tbsp of Mustard seeds
1 tsp of Cumin seeds
1/2 tsp of Smoked paprika
1/2 tsp of Turmeric
1/4 tsp of Cayenne pepper
Pinch of salt
Glug of olive oil
A Pastry Brush

In a pan, heat the glug of olive oil, add the onion, mustard seeds, cumin, paprika, turmeric and cayenne and gently fry. You don't want to have the pan boiling hot as this will burn the spices rather than heat them to allow the flavours to infuse with the oil. Then add the potatoes and gently fry for 10mins, stirring every few minutes so they don't stick to the pan. Turn the pan heat down, add the peas and tomatoes and gently fry for another 5-10 mins until the cherry tomatoes have popped and let out their juices to make a little sauce. With a knife, slice into one of the cubes of potatoes. They will still be firm but will not resist the knife. When they reach this stage, we are ready to do the pastry and make our samosas!

On a clean and dry counter unwrap the filo pastry and gently peel one sheet away from the rest. Take extra care doing this, as it is a very delicate pastry and breaks and tears very easily! With the rest of the pastry that we aren't yet using, roll it back up and place under a damp clean tea towel so it doesn't dry out and crack.

With your first sheet of pastry, gently give it a 'wash' of the oil and water mix using a pastry brush. This will help the layers stick together and stop the pastry drying out. Then slice it length ways into two long strips with a knife, being careful not to drag and rip the pastry.
Then place a tablespoon of your mixture into the bottom left hand corner.

Then take the top left hand corner and gently fold it over to the mixture to create a triangle shape.

Place a hand gently under the triangle and fold it over so that you are back at the beginning of the folding pattern again. Then take the bottom left hand corner and fold it upwards towards the top right hand corner. Keep folding in the triangle shape until you come to the end of the pastry strip and gently fold in any edges that are sticking out. Place on a baking tray which is non stick or has some baking parchment on it. I made around 10 samosas but keep making until you run out of mixture or pastry!

Bake in an oven at 190c for 20-30mins until they are crunchy and golden. Serve with rice, salad and mango relish or once cool, pop in a tub for lunch the next day!