Saturday 26 March 2011

Samosas and vegetarian cooking

Unfortunately due to my father being hospitalised for the past 3 weeks and my visiting him daily I have had little time for inventive cooking, and Jim has been working so hard on our Weight Loss software that even when I have created something he has been too busy to get the camera out in time!

While the first to admit to being a true carnivore, I have come to realise that as I go to quite a bit of trouble to prepare interesting and varied veg to accompany the meat of the day, I could actually quite happily do without the protein and just enjoy the green stuff. 

I was really surprised by the attitude of the carnivorous contestants on the recent episode of Masterchef which focused on vegetarian cuisine; they seemed daunted by the task of making tasty, attractive food without meat - don't they ever put tasty vegetable side dishes together to accompany the protein?

On a whim I bought some filo pastry the other day.  I decided to make large samosas.  I have only ever used filo pastry once before and all I could remember was painting the sheets with melted butter.  All the recipes I found on the internet this time said to brush them with beaten egg, which is what I did.

I made a delicious mix of chopped aubergine, peppers, chilli, onions, garlic and loads of spices.  When cool I dolloped a large spoonful on the top of a half sheet of pastry (cut lengthwise), then folded down making the recognisable triangular shape.  It took two half sheets to make a strong enough wrapping. 

I then deep-fried each large parcel in hot oil.  Sebastian made me a spicy mayonnaise and we served them up with a green salad.  Delicious!

Next time however, I will go back to the melted butter; the egg made the layers of filo taste like one thick sheet of pastry, while the butter would retain the individual crispiness.

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