You can fill a samosa with anything - ground meat, vegetables, even fish but obviously, vegetables and fish are the low fat options here. You can really use any vegetables you like as long as they don't let out a lot of water, such as tomatoes, but the following is a fairly traditional samosa recipe using peas and potatoes.



The Filling

725g (1lb 10oz) potatoes

Medium onion

1 tbsp fresh root ginger

175g (6 oz) peas (defrosted, if frozen)

Fresh coriander

Salt to taste

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds (dry roast in a non-stick frying pan and grind in a pestle and mortar or coffee grinder)

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Lemon juice to taste (about 2tbsp)

Boil the potatoes and when cool, cut into small cubes.

Finely chop the onion and fry it until it just begins to brown in a little vegetable oil. Grate the ginger root and add to the pan with a finely chopped green chilli (seeds removed, if you prefer), the peas and a small handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped. Finally add a little water then cover and simmer the vegetables for 10 - 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water if the mixture dries out too much.

Add the potatoes and salt together with all the spices and lemon juice. Mix and cook for a few minutes, stirring. Check and adjust seasoning and allow to cool.

Filo Pastry (low fat option)

Buy frozen filo pastry. I don't think anyone in the world makes their own! Defrost the pastry. Unfortunately, for the above filling recipe you will need only two or three sheets but you can use up the rest by making Greek or Turkish cheese pies or Spanakopita (spinach and cheese pie).

Filo pastry can be very delicate so defrost then unroll very gently. Whatever you're not working with should be covered with a damp tea towel, as it dries out very quickly.

Lay out your filo pastry and if you want to increase the filling quantity, cut the whole stack into three or four equal strips, depending on the width of your pastry and the size that you want your samosas. However, anything less than about 3 inches (7.5 cm) wide and you will have great difficulty folding it.Cover all but one of the resulting stacks with a damp tea towel.

Fold the first strip of filo across the corner and place approximately a teaspoonful of the filling inside the fold. Now fold this triangle towards the remaining length of the strip of pastry thus covering one open side of the triangle. Fold back the other way keep folding in the same way until all three sides of the triangle are closed in and the strip of filo is used up. Stick the edge down with a mixture of flour and water.

Carry on making your samosas until the filling mixture is finished. If there is some left, you can freeze it for another time. Place all the samosas on an oven tray and brush each one sparingly with vegetable oil. Bake in a fairly high oven, Gas 7, 200C (or follow the instructions on the packet of filo pastry) for about ten minutes or until the samosas are crisp and golden.

You may be interested to know that two full sheets of filo pastry contain 80 calories, whereas a shortcrust pastry recipe suitable for the above amount of filling contains approximately 1287 calories, so there's really no contest if you're on a low fat or weight reducing diet. In addition, the oven baking is far less fat intensive than deep frying.

Liz Canham

As well as a love of Asian Food and Cookery, Liz helps newcomers to the world of internet marketing with tools, tips and training from her Liz-e-Biz website.