Veggie Samosas

If I really tried hard, I could turn vegetarian.  Not proper vegetarian of course.  None of this no-dairy, no eggs vegan-ness (because you can't make decent cake without eggs and butter).  But one of those veggies who doesn't eat  meat, who will eat fish if they're out at someone's house for dinner.  And has the occasional bacon sarnie because if nobody you know sees you eating it then you're still a real veggie.  Yup!

I've never really been that into meat.  I'll eat it and I'll cook it.  But mostly, I can live without it.  I'd miss roast chicken dinners a bit but I only ever have those when I go home.  The only thing I'd really miss would be spag bol.  In fact, I should add spag bol to my list of things I'd eat for my last meal (see yesterday's post) because I love it.  Take me to any Italian restaurant with a huge and enticing menu and if they serve spag bol, then that's what I'll have.  It's my lucky, pre-race meal (I eat it the night before - who could run ten yards after a huge plateful, let alone 10k?).  And I'd eat it nearly every day if I could.  But the husband only tolerates it once a month.  So I guess that makes me very nearly veggie anyway.

This week, I've been mostly investigating options to use up the packet of frozen filo I bought.  And no, I won't be researching how to make my own filo this year.  I was going to try making Baklava, but Ocado failed on the pistachio front so savouries along the lines of Borek and Spring Rolls are probably in the offing.

Unfortunately, my veg bowl is rather lacking in fresh vegetables at the moment aside from about seven tonnes of onions (the mountain is slowly decreasing), some sprouting potatoes and some avocados which just will not ripen.  Or, looking at it positively, I have the makings of vegetarian samosas.

A few weeks ago, I discovered some lovely ones from Waitrose and proceeded to eat them for tea every night for about two weeks.  I may complain about the husbands lack of adventurousness, but at times, I can be nearly as bad.  But at least I snap out of it after a while.  So this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try making something that I buy but making it better.  Or more cheaply.

Veggie samosas with garlic, coriander and yogurt dip

I often get caught up in (baking-related) discussions about the expense of cooking from scratch vs buying something time-saving and passable from the supermarket.  If I had the time and money, I would totally cook as much as I could from scratch.  And now I'm committing to trying one new recipe every day, I'm starting to find that some things are just as easily made as they are taken from the packet.  The only downside is not always having all the ingredients to hand but there's always improvisation.

I found the recipe at a website called TastyAndMeatless.com.  That sounds a bit porno now I've typed it out loud.  Nevertheless, the samosas were indeed tasty and they were indeed meatless.

I loved the technique of brushing the oil onto the filo with your fingers rather than with a brush as I often manage to tear the filo when I'm being a little over-exuberant with my brushing.  Hmmm...  That sounds a bit porno too!

Okay time to stop rattling on about nothing and point you in the direction of the recipe.  And for me to potter off to bed after a ridiculously early start for my run.  Yes there are two 4.30s in a day you know!