Mushroom & walnut samosas

August 29, 2024

   

Last Thursday I was trawling around for dinner ideas; I didn't seem to be in the mood for any of our usual favourites. I didn't recognise this Meera Sodha recipe for mushroom and walnut samosas at all when I found it among my bookmarks, but I liked the concept anew and gave it a go.

A large volume of mushrooms goes into the filling, and Sodha gives us the option of throwing them into a food processor rather than slowly, finely chopping the lot. It's a handy approach but I'd still recommend some patience with pulsing the mushrooms in small batches. I tried to process too many at once and ended up with an uneven, mostly very-finely-ground mixture. Filo pastry packets don't translate precisely across countries, so I just winged it with quantities that felt right and used up most of a box.

My approach generated about 30 golden packages of subtle savoury goodness. Though they're intended as an entree or snack to be shared around, we piled the samosas into shallow bowls for dinner and loved smearing them with lime pickle. The samosas also teamed brilliantly with a green bean salad that echoes the mustard seed and lime (we've been making it on and off for 18 years!). We relished two rounds of leftovers at home, where we were able to crisp up the pastries again in the oven.

   

Mushroom & walnut samosas

(slightly adapted from a recipe by Meera Sodha on The Guardian)

120g walnuts

600g mushrooms

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3/4 teaspoon black mustard seeds

3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon nigella seeds

1 large onion, finely diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon ginger, minced

2 green chillies, finely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground pepper

~220g filo pastry

spray oil or melted margarine

Grind the walnuts finely in a food processor and transfer them to a bowl. Pulse the mushrooms in a food processor in batches, until they're roughly pea-sized. (Don't over-fill the container, I did and ended up with very unevenly blended mushroom pieces.)

Set a large frypan over medium heat and pour in the oil. Add the mustard, cumin and nigella seeds. When they start to pop, add the onion and cook, stirring regularly, until soft and starting to brown (up to 10 minutes). Add the garlic, ginger and chilli, and cook for a further 5 minutes. Sodha says the onions should look like 'dark jewels'. Add the mushrooms and gently fold them through the onions, cooking for about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and cook until all the liquid is evaporated, about 15 more minutes. (Be fussy about this! Too much moisture will make for soggy samosas.) Stir in the walnuts and cook for 3 minutes. At long last, turn off the heat and allow the filling to cool.

Preheat an oven to 220°C and line two baking trays with paper.

Unwrap the filo pastry and keep the unused bits lightly wrapped in a damp teatowel as you go. Slice through all the layers to form a rectangle roughly 23 cm x 10 cm - for me, that was the bottom quarter of the sheets. Take one piece and place about a tablespoon of the filling in the corner closest to you. Wrap the pastry upwards at 45 degrees to form a triangle; keep wrapping up and up to preserve the triangle shape and use up the whole rectangle. Apply a bit of oil/margarine to the outside and give the samosa a second wrapping. Place the samosa on a baking tray and repeat the wrapping process until all the filling is used up.

Apply a bit more oil/margarine to the samosas and bake for 15 minutes, until brown and crispy. Serve with chutney or pickle.