(Leftover) Mashed Potato Samosas

As usual, the Thanksgiving dinner I made was enough to feed about eight people. Since there were only three of us, that meant lots of leftovers. By Saturday night, I was tired of the same old food, although I was really enjoying not having to cook. It was time to repurpose this food! The Internet is a wonderful repository of ideas on how to transform Thanksgiving leftovers into new dishes bearing little resemblance to the original.

The mashed potato recipe that caught my interest was samosas. Samosas are deep-fried Indian pockets filled with spicy potatoes and peas. Served with cilantro chutney, the flavors would be completely different than the Thanksgiving herbs that dominated the last few days. Further research yielded instructions for making baked samosas instead of deep-fried ones.

I made these tonight using a combination of several recipes. The prep time took quite a bit longer than I had anticipated, especially since I haven't made anything that required rolling out for ages. It took me a few samosas to get in the groove. The results were very tasty although the dough didn't resemble typical samosa dough at all (nor did the shape). I suspect this is due to a combination of the recipe I put together as well as baking them instead of deep-frying them. We liked them well enough, though, to keep the recipe.


Mashed Potato Samosa Filling
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes (plain with nothing fancy or weird added)
½ onion, chopped
½ tsp oil
¼ tsp cumin seed
¼ tsp black mustard seed
1 tsp grated ginger
½ cup frozen green peas, thawed
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
2 tbs water
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbs lemon juice
3 tbs cilantro, minced

Heat a well-seasoned skillet over med-high heat. Saute onion until tender.
Move onions to outside of skillet and pour oil in the center.
Add cumin and black mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to pop, add ginger and stir for 10 seconds.
Add the peas, turmeric, coriander, cayenne, and salt. Add water to keep spices from burning.
Add the mashed potatoes and stir to mix completely. Cook until the mixture is somewhat dry.
Remove from heat. Stir in garam masala, cilantro, and lemon juice.

Samosa Dough
2 ½ cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup soymilk
2 tsp lemon juice

Stir lemon juice into soymilk.
Mix flour and salt in medium bowl. Make a well in the center.
Add soured soymilk.
Mix to make a soft dough. Add more flour if needed if dough is sticky or more soymilk if too stiff.
Knead on a floured surface for 6 minutes until smooth.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Generously oil a baking sheet.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball out into a 5-inch circle.
Put 1 1/2 tbs filling in each circle. Wet the edges of the circle and fold over like a turnover. Press edges together firmly.
Put the samosas on the baking sheet and brush with oil. Poke the top of each samosa with a fork.
Bake for 30 minutes until crispy and golden brown.
Serve with chutney.

Indian Green Chutney
2 tbs seedless tamarind
¼ cup water
1 bunch cilantro
1 pkg mint
1 jalapeno, with seeds and stem removed
1 medium onion
1 tsp salt

Soak tamarind in water for half an hour.
Clean cilantro and mint, and discard stems.
Roughly chop jalapeno and onion.
Process cilantro, mint, jalapeno and onion in a food processor until finely chopped.
Press tamarind pulp through a wide strainer, leaving skin and seeds behind.
Add to food processor with salt. Process until smooth.