Vegetarian "Beef" Samosa

These vegetarian "beef" samosas are a 100% plant-based take on East African-style samosa; they are crispy and deliciously filled.

Prep Time30

Cook Time15

Resting Time30

Total Time1 15

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: East African, Tanzanian

Keyword: african ingredients, samosa

Servings: 16 samosas

In a bowl, measure out the flour and add in the water. Start with 1/2 cup and add more if the dough is too dry. You want it to be soft but not sticky.
knead for 5 minutes to get a soft ball
Place in well-oiled bowl and let it rest

While the wrap is resting, finely chop all your ingredients and measure out all your spices
Place the plant-based meat mice in a pot at medium heat and let it cook till it changes colour. I used the beyond meat pack so I waited for it to release all its juices and start to crisp up.
Make sure that there are no large clumps of plant-based mince
Add in the spices and chopped vegetables and leave it all to cook till the vegetables are tender (roughly 10 minutes)
Place the filling in a bowl and leave it in the fridge to cool

Roll the wrapper into a log and cut into 6 even pieces
Take one of your cut pieces and roll into a circle about 5-6 inches in diameter.
Smear a generous amount of vegetable oil on the top and sprinkle some flour and set aside.
Roll out another cut piece into a circle about the same size and stack it on top of your first rolled out circle with the oil and flour.
Repeat the above step with another piece of dough. For this final circle, do not put any oil on top. You should have a stack of three small circles. Set this stack aside
Start another stack repeating steps 2-5
Roll out each stack into larger circles, 11-12 inches in diameter
In a large pan at low-medium heat, place the rolled-out wrapper to cook. Let it cook till the top starts to turn translucent. Flip and let it cook on the other side for another minute. Repeat for the next stack.

Take it off the heat, and let it cool for about five minutes. How you want to stuff the samosa will dictate how you cut the wraps

For the strip method, cut the round wraps into three even strips. The edges will be curved because it is a circle, you can cut off the curvy parts to make sure the strip is a rectangle. Save these parts because you can fry them as chips.
Separate the strips gently
Please refer to the photos above for a good depiction
Make a paste with about 2 tbsp of flour and enough water to have a thick gluey consistency
To assemble the samosa, you will first fold one corner into a triangle, then fold it in half to get an upside-down triangle, apply the glue to the non-folded part then fold the triangle onto the glued portion.
Pick up the triangle like a cone
Fill it with the filling
Add the flour paste on the unfolded side, then fold the stuffed triangle onto the part with the fresh paste

For the quarter circle method, cut the circle across the diameter left to right then top to bottom to get four corner pieces.
Separate the strips gently
Please refer to the photos above for a good depiction
Make a paste with about 2 tbsp of flour and enough water to have a think gluey consistency
Set the sharp corner facing the top and the rounded edge facing downward.
Fold in the rounded edges to create an upside-down triangle and use your flour paste to glue the sides together
Gently pick up the triangle and hold like a cone
Stuff it well then push the shortest edge into the stuffed samosa to help seal it in place
Add your glue to the flap and fold it in to complete your triangle. Make sure all the corners are well sealed

Fill a pot with a neutral oil till about 1/3rd way up
Heat the oil at medium heat and check if it is hot enough by adding one of your scrap pieces of dough into the oil. If it floats and sizzles then the oil is ready.
Place your samosas in the oil one at a time till the pot is filled. Fry on each side till golden brown
Remove and dry on a paper towel
Best eaten hot and can be enjoyed on it’s own