Samosas

This is an Indian dish that is absolutely delicious. When you are looking for something different, this makes a great appetizer or something to take to a party. If you have never made them before, you ought to set aside 3 or 4 hours..... and make plenty, they will go fast!


Ingredients:

Tortilla shells
Ground Beef or Turkey (about 2 lbs)
Ginger Root (2/3 cube inch)
tsp salt
1/2 tsp red pepper
one onion chopped
3 jalapeno peppers chopped
8 oz tomato sauce
flour and water for tortilla paste
Vegetable oil
a potato (medium sized) (optional)
1 Tbsp lemon juice or half a lemon+
3 Garlic cloves
(optional)curry powder
(optional) 2 cloves
(optional) coriander leaves

Optional Curry: Instead of coriander leaves, cloves, and curry powder, you can make your own curry as follows: Mix: 1 teaspoon cumin seed, 4 cloves, 1 teaspoon mustard seed, 4 teaspoon coriander seed. Grind ( alternately you can roast the ingredients in a little oil until they are brown, then crush. You cannot save this because it will probably lose its flavor.) This should give you enough mix for 3 or 4 times only use about 1 tsp of this powder for a normal recipe

Preparation:

wash/defrost meat
chop onions and jalapenos
crush ginger and garlic (very fine)
crush cloves
boil (not too soft) the potato and cube

Procedure saute onions in a little oil until they are starting to turn transparent mix in spices and peppers. mix thoroughly for about 15 seconds or until the onions turn brown.

Add the meat and mix thoroughly. Wait until meat turns brown (may take 2 to 3 minutes)

Add tomato sauce and potatoes. Mix. Cover and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally

Cook until the spices are mixed nicely, the the water is cooked out, and the potatoes are done. If the water has evaporated before potatoes are done, cook while mixing constantly but gently

At this point add the lemon juice and mix. Garnish with coriander leaves.

While letting the meat mixture cool, prepare a paste of flour and water.

Cut tortilla shells in half, making semi-circles.

Place meat mixture in shells, fold over, and seal with flour paste. I find it best to actually put the edge of the tortilla in the bowl of paste and rotate it to get the paste on all edges evenly. Don't use too much meat. If you still have trouble after several tries, cut the tortilla shells in fourths, rather than halves.

Let the samosas sit while you heat up some oil in a skillet. You don't need to use too much oil, just enough so the samosa is submerged a little over half way. I guess you could also just deep fry them for a few seconds.

Fry the samosas for 5-25 seconds on each side. Check each samosa for broken seals before placing it in the oil. Repair if necessary.

Make samosas until you get tired or run out of meat mixture. If you do not run out of the filling before you stop, the stuffing is good with some rice or for making burritos.