Sambuseh-e Sabzijaat
Persian vegetable samosas served with a coriander & mint dip
Servings: 20 (to 25)
Ingredients
Sambuseh
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 red onion (finely diced)
- 4 cloves garlic (crushed or minced)
- 1 thumb size ginger (grated)
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp dried red chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 450 g cooked potatoes (boiled and peeled) (finely diced)
- 85 ml water
- 1 cup peas
- 1 cup sweetcorn
- 1 tsp garam masala
- Juice of half a lime
- Small bunch fresh coriander (finely chopped)
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- 10 sheets lavash bread
- Vegetable oil (to fry the sambuseh)
Coriander & Mint Dip
- 70 g fresh coriander (stalks included)
- 10 g fresh mint leaves
- 6 tbsp Greek yoghurt
- Juice of 1 lime
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 tsp sugar
Instructions
- Coriander & Mint Dip:Add all ingredients to a blender / nutribullet / food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning and / or lime juice to taste. Pour into a container (i.e. jar) cover and place in fridge until you are ready to serve the sambuseh.
- Sambuseh:Place a frying pan or skillet on medium-high heat and add oil. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and heat until they start to sizzle.
- Add red onion and cook until they start to caramelise. Add garlic and stir in and repeat process with ginger, turmeric and chilli.
- Add tomato purée and stir until the mixture is evenly coated. Add the cooked, finely diced potatoes and water and stir into the mixture. Follow with peas and sweetcorn. Lower the heat and stir the mixture until the potato is a little mashed into the mixture.
- Add garam masala, lime juice, fresh coriander, salt and pepper and stir. Taste and adjust seasoning / lime juice to your preference. Turn the heat off and let it cool before filling the lavash bread pockets.
- To make the lavash bread pockets - cut into long strips about 10 cm in width. Lay the long rectangle strip on your work surface with the short edge facing you. Fold over the right half of the lavash strip to form a triangle with the long edge facing downwards, then fold the bottom of the triangle up so the long edge faces up. Then take the left corner of the triangle and fold up to the right hand corner to make the final triangle pocket. You will be left with a flap to tuck in after filling the sambuseh. Fill the sambuseh pocket with some filling, making sure not to overstuff. Then trim the flap of the sambuseh pocket and cut diagonal strip off one of the corners of the flap so you can tuck it in. Tuck the flap in and put the finished sambuseh aside until you are ready to cook. Repeat the process until you have used all the filling (makes between 20 to 25 sambuseh).
- To cook the sambuseh, half-fill a deep, heavy-based pan with vegetable oil and heat until a cube of bread dropped in sizzles and turns golden-brown in 30 seconds (please be careful with the hot oil and do not leave unattended). Fry the samosas in small batches for 4-5 minutes, or until golden-brown and crisp. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
- Serve with the mint and coriander dip, mango chutney and some chopped tomato and onion, dressed in fresh lime juice as pictured above.