Samosa Pie with Tamarind Sauce

We love samosas. Heads up…this has a kick to it so if you don’t like strong spices…make something else. If the thought of making a gajillion samosa cones does not thrill you try a samosa pie recipe. I settled on this one from Bhavna’s kitchen. You can watch the video Here. I took a few liberties with the recipe but I have the feeling Bhavna’s cool with ad libbing in the kitchen.

Ingredients:
Pie crust (top and bottom) for one pie. I cheated and just used a Pillsbury top and bottom crust…it was on sale at Safeway…I took that as a sign I was not meant to make pie crust this weekend.

Filling:
4 mediums potatoes boiled to fork tender, cooled and chopped.
2 large carrots cut into rounds, boiled to fork tender and cooled
1 1/2 c. frozen peas
1 c. finely chopped onion
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp garam masala*
1 Tbsp roasted coriander seeds
1 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp chopped fresh garlic
1/4 tsp red chili flakes
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chili powder
Juice of one whole lime
1/4 c. finely chopped fresh cilantro
salt to taste

Heat oil in a big frying pan, add the onions and sprinkle with the garam masala. Fry onions until translucent. Add the ginger, garlic and chili flakes. Add the potatoes and carrots breaking any big pieces up (it’s ok to squish it). Add the peas, turmeric, chili powder and lime juice stirring as you go. Grind in a couple teaspoons of sea salt. Add the fresh cilantro and the coriander seeds. Make sure everything is incorporated and then turn off the heat and let it cool while you prepare the pie crust. Put the bottom crust in a pie plate, add the cooled filling, top with the top crust and cut a healthy cross in the top for a steam vent. Preheat oven to 400 F and bake for 40 minutes.  When it’s done it should look like this:

*I went to buy garam masala and it was $8 for a skinny little bottle of McCormick’s brand …I read the bottle and discovered I already had all the ingredients so I made my own using this recipe Easy Garam Masala Recipe. If I had more time I would have dry toasted cumin seeds and coriander balls and ground them using my mortar and pestle and I could have peeled fresh cardamom (I have lots since my Mom never looks to see what I have in the cupboard and buys more every time she comes to visit). But…I was in a hurry to get on with my samosa pie filling. You’ll see from the photos that the filling is quite dark. I think this is because the home made garam masala had both cloves and allspice in it…plus I cooked the bejaysus out of the filling in my big cast iron frying pan so the potato got quite brown. It tasted great which is the main thing.

Home Made Garam Masala:
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves (I also added 1/2 tsp ground allspice because I initially couldn’t find my cloves)
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg.

Tamarind Sauce:
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 c. water
1 1/4 c. sugar
3 Tbsp tamarind concentrate or paste (I used paste)

I forgot to make note of the link I used for the recipe but it’s pretty simple. Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Add cumin and fennel seeds and fry until they release their aroma. Add the water, sugar and tamarind paste and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to a simmer and let it simmer for about 50 minutes (or until it gets thick enough to coat the back of a spoon). Let it cool, strain it to remove the seeds and any tamarind rind and pour into a jar. Refrigerate.