This vegan samosa recipe is a quick and easy version of traditional potato samosas with mango chutney. Save time and lighten up your samosas by wrapping them with phyllo dough and baking instead of frying. You get all the flavours of a samosa but without the grease and in half the time!
Oh Indian food, how I love thee. An entire cuisine full of vegetarian delights and complex, exciting flavours.
I suppose it’s not really accurate to call it “a cuisine”, as there’s so much variation from one region to the next. However, most restaurant menus don’t go into the specifics of the origins of the dish, which may not even be in India at all.
I was excited when a new Indian restaurant opened two blocks from home, but skeptical at the same time since spicy food isn’t super popular in Spain (I find most dishes at Mexican and Thai restaurants quite bland since they dial back on the chili so much).
Unfortunately I was right to be skeptical as the restaurant has now morphed into some kind of shawarma-pizza-Indian hybrid thing. Apparently their original business plan didn’t work.
Fortunately, Indian food isn’t necessarily complicated to make at home; with just a few key spices and some clever substitutions when necessary, you can whip up a super tasty vegetarian meal (with as much or as little chili as you like!).
That being said let’s start with samosas.
In actual fact probably not the simplest Indian dish to tackle if you set out to make the dough from scratch. But why do things the hard way when you can cheat?
I made these easy potato samosas with phyllo pastry, which cut out the arduous task of mixing and kneading dough, but still had all the great flavours of the spiced-out potatoes.
And every vegan samosa recipe needs some kind of chutney, right? Why not take a shortcut there too and make this super simple mango chutney to go with. Serve your samosas as an appetizer or side dish to another quick and easy Indian recipe like this easy vegan dal recipe or these curried vegan black-eyed peas.
See it in action!
Vegan Samosa Recipe
This vegan samosa recipe is a quick and easy version of traditional potato samosas with mango chutney.
Ingredients
For the samosas
- 1 package phyllo pastry (about 10 sheets)
- 3 medium potatoes
- 1 green chili
- 1 ¼ cm (½ inch) piece of ginger
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- ¾ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
- 1 ½ teaspoons garam masala
- ½ teaspoon chili powder (adjust to taste)
- 1 teaspoon mango powder/amchur or a squeeze of lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 cup peas
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
For the simple mango chutney
- 2 mangoes, peeled and diced
- Half a red onion, finely diced
- ⅓ cup raisins
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
For the samosas
- Boil the potatoes in their skins until tender. Drain and set aside to cool. Once cool, remove the skins and dice.
- Dice the chili and ginger finely.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the cumin seeds and fry until they release their aroma and have turned a couple shades darker in colour. Add the chili and ginger and continue frying for about a 30 seconds to a minute until fragrant.
- Lower the heat to medium-low and add the garam masala, chili powder, fennel and coriander. Allow to cook for one to two minutes until the spices release their fragrance. Add the diced potatoes, peas and mango powder (or lemon), mix well and season with salt to taste. Sprinkle over the chopped cilantro leaves.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F). Take one sheet of phyllo pastry (cover the remaining sheets with a damp towel to prevent drying out) and place it in front of you with the long sides horizontally and the short sides vertically. Brush it lightly with olive oil (optional). Fold the bottom edge up to the middle, and then fold the top edge down over the middle to meet the fold at the bottom. Now you have one long strip of three layers of pastry.
- Place a heaping tablespoon of potatoes on one side of your phyllo strip. Take the bottom corner and fold it over the filling to meet the top edge, making a triangle. Then fold the triangle over the flat side to reverse the triangle shape. Continue folding it over itself until you reach the end of your phyllo strip. Brush the edges lightly with oil or water to seal. Repeat with the remaining phyllo pastry sheets and then bake the samosas on a baking pan for 20 minutes until golden brown, or as indicated on the phyllo pastry package.
For the mango chutney
- Simmer all the chutney ingredients in a small pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened - about 30 minutes.
Notes
Chutney recipe adapted from http://thewanderlustkitchen.com/super-simple-mango-chutney/
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10Amount Per Serving: Calories: 530Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 53mgSodium: 614mgCarbohydrates: 72gFiber: 6gSugar: 33gProtein: 13g
Michelle says
These look amazing. One thing - below the 1 teaspoon fennel seed, it just says "1 teaspoon powder." I'm guessing this should say 1 teaspoon coriander.
Melissa says
Yep, thanks for catching that:)
Shannon Burlingame says
I love love love this recipe! I have most of the ingredients and I love that it's vegan! Definitely giving these a shot!
Sakib says
Gotta be fried, who cares about healthy when eating these? 🙂
Donna says
Anxious to try.....yours look amazing, did you fry or bake?
Melissa says
Baked
Diane says
I personally would rather dice and peel the potatoes first because cutting these sticky cooked potatoes was not fun.