I actually made this recipe in August and got around to posting it now lol. This cookbook, “Good Enough” is by Leanne Brown, author of “Good and Cheap,” which I have made several recipes before because they were good and cheap. Unlike the previous book, this does not focus on cheapness, but includes personal essays about the healing power of food, especially homemade comfort food. Some of these recipes are not for me, who loves dairy but not cooking with it nor dealing with the gastrointestinal consequences of lactose. But I was intrigued by these easy version of samosas, as they included ingredients I already had and sound tasty and relatively easy.
Ingredients Summary –easy to find at a well-stocked grocery store, or Asian grocery store
- meat/dairy: ground chicken (I used ground turkey), eggs, butter, puff pastry
- spices: cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, cilantro, salt
- veggies: potatoes, onion, garlic, peas; sweet chili sauce or other dipping sauce
Steps Summary – lengthy prep time for thawing puff pastry and filling cooling, then wrapping the samosas
Boil potatoes, brown onion and spices and peas. Mix the veggies with salt and ground meat, let cool. Roll out thawed pastry and cut into pieces, then fold pastry around a chunk of filling. Brush egg over samosas, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake until golden. Serve with sauce!
Taste Summary – tastes only slightly spicy, a bit salty, best with sauce
- Taste – The book recommended adding plenty of salt, which I did, but I felt more pepper would be more to my taste. Though there was a slight kick of curry flavor, the mellow butter pastry ensures mildness, and I liked eating the puffs better with sweet chili sauce (used for chicken or spring rolls).
- Texture – Crunchiness from the pastry with softness and chewiness from the filling, much crisper than a traditional samosa that is made of rolled dough and deep-fried.
Convenience Summary
You can freeze the baked puffs for a month, then pull them out to bake. A good amount of work and wait time for what is essentially an appetizer, but being able to defrost a batch later is a huge plus. Would I make these again? They were good, but I prefer to reserve expensive puff pastry for pate chaud. I do hate deep-frying so baking versions are easier, less dangerous and less greasy, except these samosas are made with butter puff pastry so probably not really healthier lol. If you like samosas and puff pastry, I recommend giving these a try!