Serves a Party of 4
As someone who spends a whole lot of time in the kitchen, this was the most fun I have had in a while. To have so many different beautiful and healthy ingredients in front of you ready to be prepared together for an intuitive and satisfying dinner had to be my favorite part. Not to mention the feeling I had when everything was plated and ready to serve.
At first, I thought about just making the tikka masala part of this dish with a few pieces of frozen naan bread I had in the freezer, but also remembered how badly I’ve wanted to make homemade samosas to go along with it. They turned out to be a lot more effort than anticipated, but there’s a first time for everything. When I took my first bite of this thing I already knew I would definitely be making them again.
The flour was much easier than you’d think – only featuring some all purpose flour, mustard seeds, salt, avocado oil, and a bit of water to be carefully mixed and kneaded. After the flour takes a bit of time to rise and settle, I hand picked about 7 balls of dough, which creates 14 samosas to be dipped and smothered with the tikka masala gravy.
For the filling, I took some time to mince a bunch of cloves of shaved and minced ginger, along with minced carrots to eventually be added to a boiled and mashed russet potato. All ya gotta do after that is dash in the garlic powder, garam masala, salt, and pepper and be ready to stuff them into the prepared flour. (see the pictures below)
Thanks to a good friend of mine who has a ton of experience in making meals like this, I had the knowledge and creativity to get started on the tikka masala part of this dinner. With just a bit more garlic, a red onion, tomatoes, cauliflower, and chickpeas – plus the wonderful number of spices including the turmeric, garam masala, coriander, cumin, bay leaves, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, salt, pepper, and just enough chili powder to take the edge off. Using these spices makes me want to buy a spice box for them to keep them all together. I couldn’t believe how intense they all stood out, especially with all of the veggies that they paired with.
Ingredients for the Samosa Dough:
- 2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
- 1 Tablespoon of Mustard Seeds
- Pinch of Salt
- 4 Tablespoons of Avocado Oil (plus more if you decide to fry them)
- 8 Tablespoons of Water
Add the flour, mustard seeds, and salt to a large bowl and give it a good stir.
1 tablespoon at a time, dump in the avocado oil and get your hands dirty by hand mixing the dough after each tablespoon.
Follow this same process while adding each tablespoon of water, and continue to knead for a minute or two on a lightly floured surface.
Roll the dough into a ball and let it sit in the bowl with a damp paper towel or hand towel of your choice for at least 30 minutes.
In the meantime, Get ready to prepare the filling.
Ingredients for the Samosa Filling:
- 1 Large Russet Potato
- 1 and 1/2 Cups of Green Peas
- 1 Cup of Minced Carrots
- 1/4 Cup of Minced Ginger
- 1 Teaspoon of Garam Masala
- 1 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder
- Few Pinches of Salt/Pepper (to taste)
First, boil the potato in a few cups of water until fully tender.
If you are usng frozen peas,, give those guys a good boil in some water as well.
Next, mash up the potato and add in the garam masala, garlic powder, salt, and pepper – plus the minced ginger and carrots and mix until fully combined.
By now the dough should be ready to be kneaded one last time and broken apart into 7 equal pieces.
Shape the pieces into a ball and flatten them with a rolling pin, or even just your hands if you’re feeling up to it.
As shown n the pictures aboove, cut them flattened pieces down the middle.
Take each sharp corner, and pinch them together leaving a hole in the middle ready to be stuffed with the potato filling. I found this works best if you dab your fingers in some water – it helps seal the edge of your samosa a little easier.
Take a teaspoon or less of your potato filling and drop it into the open hole of the dough, and finally seal it up on the other side using the same method with the water(it is okay if it doesn’t look too pretty, just do your best to fully seal it).
I decided to fry mine in some additional avocado oil on the stovetop, and they turned out great. They could also be just fine being popped in the oven or air fryer at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until you see the dough turn slightly brown.
Ingredients for the Tikka Masala:
- 1/2 Head of Cauliflower
- 1 Can of Chickpeas
- 6 Tomatoes
- 1 Red Onion
- 8 Cloves of Minced Garlic
- 1/2 Cup of Vegetable Broth
- 1 Teaspoon of Turmeric
- 1 Teaspoon of Garam Masala
- 1 Teaspoon of Cumin
- 1 Teaspoon of Coriander
- 1 Teaspoon of Mustard Seeds
- 1 Teaspoon of Fennel Seeds,
- 1/2 Teaspoon of Chili Powder
- 10 Dried Bay Leaves
- 2 Tablespoons of Avocado Oil
- Few Pinches of Salt/Pepper (to taste)
This part isn’t half as bad as making the samosas, I promise.
Begin by heating up the biggest saucepan you have available with the 2 tablespoons of avocado oil.
Mince the garlic, slice and dice the red onion, then drop them down on the heated saucepan for 4 to 5 minutes.
Chop the tomatoes in half and add them into the saucepan – cover the mixture for a few minutes, giving it a good stir occasionally.
When the tomatoes are fully steamed and juicy, squash them down with a wooden spoon or whatever you’re using to stir, then transfer the mixture to a blender, add in the 1/2 cup of veggie broth, and pulse it all together until you have a slightly hearty gravy.
Drop the blended gravy back into the heated saucepan and fold in all of your spices including the turmeric, garam masala, cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, chili powder, salt, and pepper and stir.
After you chop and break apart small pieces of your half head of cauliflower, drop them into the gravy as well as your strained can of chickpeas.
Cover the saucepan for a good 10 minutes, or while your samosas are finishing up.
To prepare the brown rice, i boiled 1 cup in 2 cups of water and laid the cooked rice on the bottom of the plate, followed by the cauliflower mixture and as many samosas as you’d like.
If you decide to get crazy and add in the sliced tofu, simply drain the water out of the tofu and slice 12 thin pieces of the tofu and fry them on an additional saucepan with avocado oil, salt, and paprika. Allow the pieces to fry on each side until you see the edges turn crispy.
*Feel free to pick out the bay leaves – these suckers give an outstanding flavor to the tikka masala, but can be a bit of an odd crunch*
Plant Sugar Kitchen 