Samosa galette

Samosas. One of the most popular Indian foods out there, yet one of the few things that I've never seen my mother make from scratch. She is an excellent cook, but I guess she always felt that it was easier to buy samosas than make them at home. I decided recently that I wanted to try at least once to make samosas from scratch, and found a recipe in my favorite Indian cookbook. However, as I was reading through the recipe, I started to realize that filling and shaping 20 individual samosas would be lot of work and that maybe store-bought is the way to go with samosas after all. But instead of giving up entirely, I decided to make one big galette with the traditional samosa filling, instead of shaping all of the individual pastries. It came out awesome - all the goodness of traditional samosas, but much easier to make!

Samosa galette

Adapted from Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking

Serves 6-8

Pastry dough:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into thin slices

1/2 cup cold water

Filling:

1 tbs olive oil

1 tsp cumin seed

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 tbs fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 pound red potatoes (about 3 medium or 2 large), cooked, peeled, and cut into 1/4-inch cubes

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 tbs ground coriander

1 tbs mango powder (amchur) or 1 tbs lime or lemon juice

2-3 fresh chiles, finely chopped (if you are sensitive to heat, remove seeds or omit chiles)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

To assemble galette:

1 egg, lightly beaten

Suggested accompaniments: mint chutney and tamarind chutney (available in Indian grocery stores)

Make dough: Combine flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to mix. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add water 2 tbs at a time, pulsing a couple times after each addition, until dough comes together into a mass (you may not use all the water). Transfer dough to a work surface. Form dough into a ball, and then shape into a disk 6 inches in diameter. Wrap disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 1 day.

Make filling: Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large heavy skillet. Add cumin seed, and cook for 30 seconds, stirring. Add onion and ginger and cook until onion is golden brown, about 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in remaining ingredients and remove pan from heat. Allow filling to cool for 20-30 minutes.

Assemble galette: Preheat oven to 400 deg F. Remove dough from fridge and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 15-inch round. Mound filling mixture into the center of the round, leaving a 3 inch border all around. Fold dough in to cover the outer portion of the filling, pleating and overlapping dough as necessary. Brush dough all over with beaten egg and bake in preheated oven until dough is browned and cooked through, about 40 minutes. Serve with mint and tamarind chutneys.