To my five avid followers....two of you being my cats, I apologise for not blogging for a couple of weeks. Thought I'd keep you in suspense. Keep you wanting more! Absence makes the heart grow fonder.....okay maybe thats pushing it.
Anyway today I'm going to explain how to make Durban lamb samosas. Samosa's are a favourite Indian snack among many both here in the UK and back in SA. I know I'm probably biased but I don't think anything comes close to a Durban Samosa. The secret is definately in the filling. In Durban we generally have four different kinds of fillings. Lamb,fish,potato & vegetable.
To make the lamb filling begin by finely chopping 5 medium onions. You can use a blender its much easier. Then finely chop around 15 birds eye chilli's. Seems alot but its not a samosa unless its spicy. Sweat the onions off in a large pan with a tbl spoon of sunflower oil. Then add 1kg of lean lamb mince. Salt to taste. Add a heaped tbl spoon of ginger & garlic paste. 1 tsp of hot chilli powder, the finely chopped chilli's, 1 tbl spoon cumin powder, 1 large bunch of coriander finely chopped. Be generous with the coriander it adds amazing flavour. Finally add a tsp of turmeric powder. Mix everything thoroughly and leave to simmer on a low heat for about 20-25 min until the mince is cooked. Once cooked allow the mixture to cool.
Now to the fun part, folding the samosas. You can buy samosa pastry from any indian supermarket. You normally find it in the freezer. Allow the pastry to thaw out. Once thaw, you will need to cover the pastry with a damp tea towel in order to keep the pastry strips moist. If they dry out they are very difficult to fold and will just crumble. The next step is too make a kind of glue by adding water to a few teaspoons of flour. Mix to form a sticky glue like texture. You will use this to seal the samosa's. Peel off the first strip of pastry carefully ensuring it doesn't tear. Place it flat on the table. The idea is too make a triangle pocket as illustrated in the pictures above. Hold the pocket between your thumb and index finger. Carefully fill the pocket with the mince filling. Continue to fold from corner to corner forming a triangular shape. Just before you get to the end of the pastry strip, rub on a bit of the glue mixture and seal the samosa well. This mixture should make around 50 samosa's. They freeze very well and will keep for at least 3 months. To cook them all you have to do is shallow fry them in sunflower oil. Ensure you fry them on a low heat and turn them occasionally. Remember the mince inside needs to defrost and be piping hot before serving. Drain them on kitchen paper to drain of any excess oil. They are very tasty with a chilli sauce dip. Vegetable samosa's are just as yummy! Will give you the recipe for this filling another day.
Anyway today I'm going to explain how to make Durban lamb samosas. Samosa's are a favourite Indian snack among many both here in the UK and back in SA. I know I'm probably biased but I don't think anything comes close to a Durban Samosa. The secret is definately in the filling. In Durban we generally have four different kinds of fillings. Lamb,fish,potato & vegetable.
To make the lamb filling begin by finely chopping 5 medium onions. You can use a blender its much easier. Then finely chop around 15 birds eye chilli's. Seems alot but its not a samosa unless its spicy. Sweat the onions off in a large pan with a tbl spoon of sunflower oil. Then add 1kg of lean lamb mince. Salt to taste. Add a heaped tbl spoon of ginger & garlic paste. 1 tsp of hot chilli powder, the finely chopped chilli's, 1 tbl spoon cumin powder, 1 large bunch of coriander finely chopped. Be generous with the coriander it adds amazing flavour. Finally add a tsp of turmeric powder. Mix everything thoroughly and leave to simmer on a low heat for about 20-25 min until the mince is cooked. Once cooked allow the mixture to cool.
Now to the fun part, folding the samosas. You can buy samosa pastry from any indian supermarket. You normally find it in the freezer. Allow the pastry to thaw out. Once thaw, you will need to cover the pastry with a damp tea towel in order to keep the pastry strips moist. If they dry out they are very difficult to fold and will just crumble. The next step is too make a kind of glue by adding water to a few teaspoons of flour. Mix to form a sticky glue like texture. You will use this to seal the samosa's. Peel off the first strip of pastry carefully ensuring it doesn't tear. Place it flat on the table. The idea is too make a triangle pocket as illustrated in the pictures above. Hold the pocket between your thumb and index finger. Carefully fill the pocket with the mince filling. Continue to fold from corner to corner forming a triangular shape. Just before you get to the end of the pastry strip, rub on a bit of the glue mixture and seal the samosa well. This mixture should make around 50 samosa's. They freeze very well and will keep for at least 3 months. To cook them all you have to do is shallow fry them in sunflower oil. Ensure you fry them on a low heat and turn them occasionally. Remember the mince inside needs to defrost and be piping hot before serving. Drain them on kitchen paper to drain of any excess oil. They are very tasty with a chilli sauce dip. Vegetable samosa's are just as yummy! Will give you the recipe for this filling another day.
No comments:
Post a Comment