I love samosas. But can I be arsed making them? And the ones you get in the freezer section in the supermarket are always a bit… well, crap. And THEN you have to fry them.
So this pie takes the filling from a veg samosa — potato, peas, onion and spinach — and whacks it into a shortcrust pastry case.
I made my own pastry with a baking block (because I’m ridiculous and it makes it vegan, not that I am). But it’s £1.60 for a ready-made block (don’t buy the ready-rolled stuff; you get less and it costs more). And the veg was all frozen, aside from the spuds.
Good though this was hot (with mango chutney and carrot bhajis), it’s even better the next day, straight from the fridge.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes
Feeds: 6
Ingredients:
- 500g block ready-made shortcrust pastry
- 2 large spuds, peeled and cubed
- Generous handful of frozen leeks or onions
- Generous handful of frozen peas
- Four blocks of frozen spinach
- 5-6 pellets of frozen mashed potato
- 1 finger chilli, finely chopped
- 1tbsp ginger paste
- 1tbsp garlic paste
- 1tsp ground cumin
- 1tsp ground coriander
- 1tsp salt
- Oil
Method:
- Heat some oil in a frying pan and add the leeks/onions, garlic, ginger and chilli.
- After a couple of minutes, add the salt and spices. Stir to combine.
- Once the onions have gone translucent, add the remaining vegetables and mashed potato. Stir to coat the veg in spices, add a splash of water, and cover with a lid.
- Stir every couple of minutes, breaking up the spinach and adding further splashes of water if it gets dry, until the cubed potatoes are tender and beginning to break. You want the potatoes to steam rather than boil, so be sparing with the water you’re adding; it’s really just there to prevent things sticking and burning.
- (I won’t explain to you how to roll out pastry, or line/butter a pie tin — if you don’t know how to do that already, I can’t help you. But you should preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan.)
- Spoon the filling into your pastry case. It should be dry — in fact, come to think of it, it would be pretty good on its own. You’re making a pie with a lid, not a tarte or quiche — so the pastry doesn’t need ‘blind baking’ before you fill it.
- Finish constructing your pie and whack into the oven for 45 minutes. You can egg wash it, but I didn’t.
- Remove from the oven and allow the pie to cool for 15-20 minutes before serving.
The Spend-Shy Chef 