Vegetable Samosas
Super Crispy Vegetable Samosas that are full of peas and potatoes and infused with just enough spices and heat.
Ever since I made this east African chapatti, I have been dying to make vegan samosas – African Style, if there is such a way of making it. I have no clue why I waited this long because I simply love these snack.
Samosas are a deep fried pastry snack that originated from India and East Asia but have quickly become an African favorite especially in East (Kenya, Tanzania) and other South African Countries due to the influx of Indian immigrants to these parts of Africa. I would say it is quickly spreading to West African countries as well especially in Nigeria.
If you have never tried one before, you are in for a treat!
These savory pastry snacks are quite addictive – they can be stuffed with a variety of fillings from vegetables to proteins; can be slightly sweet or really spicy – a real crowd pleaser! These are made with potatoes and peas.
Be forewarned though, it quickly disappears off the table.
I know looking at the recipe; you might think it such a time consuming and an arduous task. Fear not! It is not that difficult to put together. You can make the filling the night before and let the flavors come together or even make the whole thing a week before and freeze.
For short cuts, you can use filo dough, instead of making your own samosas dough or use mashed potatoes.
In this Vegetable samosas recipe, I only used the spices that appealed to me, garlic, ginger, curry, smoked paprika, onions and vegetables and toned done the heat level.
Traditionally, they are made with garam masala, but that is just not my thing. Aren’t you glad you can always switch up spices that does not appeal to you when cooking at home? Yes, this is why homemade always taste great. Serve this with this super easy and tasty African sauce.
Enjoy!
Watch How To Make It
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Samosas (Vegan)
Ingredients
Dough
- 3 cups all purpose flour plus more as needed
- 1-2 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3- tablespoon ghee Clarified butter or oil
- 1 1/4 cup warm water
Filling
- ½ -3/4 pound potatoes cubed and boiled
- 1 1/2 cup frozen peas thawed
- ½ large onion chopped
- ½ teaspoon pepper sauce or chili sauce
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 teaspoon ginger grated
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 2-3 tablespoon parsley or cilantro
- 1/4 teaspoon
- cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
Filling
- In a medium- large skillet, add oil, onions, garlic, ginger and sauté, for about 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent any burns.
- Then add, curry, pepper sauce and paprika, and continue stirring with a heavy wooden spoon, about 2 minutes.
- Add boiled potato cubes, and peas. Slightly smash the potatoes and peas then thoroughly mix until ingredients are fully combined, add a little bit of water to prevent any burns. Simmer for about 2 minutes. Finally throw in cilantro, adjust the seasoning, to taste. Remove from the heat and let it cool. You may prepare this a day in advance.
Dough
- In a large bowl, add flour and make a well then add sugar and salt. Followed by water, ghee or oil.
- Knead to form soft and sticky dough.
- Place dough on a heavily floured board and knead for about 5-7minutes. Continue to flour dough as needed to facilitate kneading. Be careful not to over do it. Dough should be soft, elastic and smooth.
- On a lightly floured surface, form the dough into 16 balls.
- Roll the dough using a lightly floured rolling pin; cut it half. Spoon a generous 1-2 tablespoons filling in the center of a half-circle; lightly moisten the dough edges with water or flour paste, using your finger. Fold the end over the filling to form a triangle, and then continue to fold up the strip in triangles, like you would a flag. Continue with remaining dough. Set samosas on tray.
- In a large sauce pan, pour vegetable oil, until it is at least 3 inches), and place on medium heat until oil is 350 degrees.
- When ready gently place a few samosas at a time into saucepan.
- Fry for a few minutes until the bottom side is light brown
- Turn over and fry for a few more minutes until the other side is light brown.
- Use a large spoon or something like that to take it out of the oil. Repeat the process until finish. Best serve warm with this pepper sauce.
Nutrition Information:
Can I use sweet potatoes in place of Irish potatoes?
I like the samosa very much. Thats why i tried to make it home.
I did one mistake. I took very less oil for frying the samosa. Due to that it touched the bottom of the pan.
Because of that both sides become very golden brown. So, take oil in sufficient quantity for frying.
Can these samosas be frozen?
Hi, Fizza.You can make the filling the night before and let the flavors come together or even make the whole thing a week before and freeze.
It says vegan samosa..
But Ghee is NOT vegan! It’s a type of butter.
Just putting this out to ppl who may not have know this.
*For the voiceless.. never be silent.
Wow. Who is voiceless? Mistakes are always ok and never to be judged.
It’s a great recipe. Instead of ghee, vegetable shortening works great. I recommend supplying a solution with kindness when pointing out an error.
Awesome reply
You can buy vegetable gee at asian stores.
Thank you, I did not have fresh herbs, I have added some dried mango powder, a little bit of dried chives and dill, and few slightly fried golden raisions in olive oil, and a little bit of chilies. just another dimension. served with sweet sweet chili sauce.
Hi Manar! Wonderful to glad to hear it worked out well for you. The dried mango powder sounds interesting, am keeping my eye out for it . Thanks for taking the time to share your version with us.
Just delicious, thanks for the recipe. Definitely adopted by me.
Fantastic! Thank so much!!!
Hi, I love samosa, I have always been timid to try but with this step by step recipe I will
give them a go and thanks.
Do let me know how it works out for you . Thanks!
how many mls is ur cup pls?
About 250 ml
I want to make a few hundred of these for a sanctuary fundraiser. I’d like at least half to be gluten-free as well. Can you suggest a gluten-free dough recipe.
Hi Janelle! Unfortunately, I have not tried this with any gluten free dough or know of any that works well with this recipe.
Well then, perhaps I will break some new ground. If I come up with anything edible, I will post it!
I know it has been a while (a whole year), but I believe I have perfected this. I used the samosa filling (and I had too much a froze it) and used a vegan, gluten free pie dough. The dough recipe is here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/vegan-pie-dough
The gluten-free flour mix is here: http://alittleinsanity.com/all-purpose-gluten-free-flour-mix-recipe/
The dough is difficult to work with so I made rounds and deep fried them. After 2 days in the ‘fridge, they are still crispy on the edges and not the least bit soggy. Even though there is still air space in the pocket, the filling melded with the dough and they are even better than when first fried. I am making a very large batch and I find that the gluten-free dough lasts in the ‘fridge much better than regular dough. If I could attach a photo I would.
This, folks, is a winner!
Thank you for the GF, another one for me to try. I used cloud9, GF flour from Costco and they also turned out great. I will now have a 2nd to compare it with.
Hello,
Could i please use this dough base for African Fish roll and Southwestern egg roll recipes on this site. this dough looks simpler than the others so wanted to adapt. Will it work?
Hi! It sure will, I have tried it with various stuffing and it never fails. Just make sure it is not too thin.
Yeah Cheryl, you don’t have any excuse. Let me know how it works for you!
These look so perfect! Perfectly browned, and I love the use of newspaper for the shot. Samosas are one of my absolute favorite Indian dishes and I’ve always wanted to make them at home. Now I have no excuse!
Where is the sauce recipe!?
Recipe updated with sauce. Thanks!
I love samosas very much, thanks for the step by step instructions how to make it. 🙂
Amalia, let me know if you make it . Thanks for stopping by!
love samosas.. i like that you made your own pastry from scratch too! definitely craving Indian tonight for dinner!
Thalia, making the dough is a lot easier to make .
These look incredible! I have been meaning to try making some classic potato samosas.. I’ve done a baked version before but fried is always tastier =]
Thanks Shannon and Yes, fried always taste better.
Oh, I do love a good samoasa, Immaculate and have been thinking about making them for a while but just needed to sort out the dough – now I have it – thanks – I will probably up the heat!
Rachel, this is a really good dough. Now you don’t have any excuse …. Let me know how it works for you!
Hi .. I noticed the dough in this recipe and in the chicken samosas are a but different..any particular reason… Which one do I use?
They both work well. Slight preference given to the chicken dough because you can bake it without it being too tough.