Samosa pies & pasties

This is, in principal, a variation of my earlier curry puff recipe I suppose but with a chunkier, spicier filling.  A samosa pie similar to this won the popular vote at my friend's recent Annual Pie Party (more on that in another post) so I wanted to spruce up my curry puff in the same vain. My husband and I like things spicy so I knocked it out of the park with this one, please feel free to taper the heat if you prefer a milder curry.  It is easily done in this recipe, just cut the chili and curry powder by half.  I played around with a few different sizes and presentation methods today but the folded large pasties is a good package if you wish to freeze them for another time. The individual ramekin was perfect for our evening meal and looked adorable on the plate.  Of course you can omit the heavy spice altogether and make a kid friendly version easily enough, the use of the mash potato to help bind all the other ingredients makes it simple to manipulate and it has a wonderful mouth feel.  I love a pot pie of any variety and these are no exception. Have a go and see what you can come up with!

Makes approx 12 large pasties (1/2 sheet) 
or 24 medium (1/4 sheet)

Ingredients:
2 potatoes, diced and mashed
1 sweet potato, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1/2 cup green beans, diced
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 tspn ground coriander
2 tblspn hot Indian curry powder
1 tspn chili powder
1/2 tspn turmeric
1 tblspn brown sugar
3 spring onions, diced

1/2 brown onion, diced
1 fresh red chili, diced (with or without seeds)
2 chicken breasts, poached in chicken stock with 1/2 tspn curry powder
cashew nuts, chopped (optional)
2 tbslpn freshly chopped cilantro
6 puff pastry sheets
1 egg, brushing pastry

These would be lovely without the chicken if you wanted to make a vegetarian option.


Method:

• Allow puff pastry sheets to defrost to room temperature
• Boil the potatoes in salted water, mash and allow to cool
• In a microwave safe bowl, par cook the sweet potato
• Poach the chicken pieces in chicken stock/broth with 1/2 tspn curry powder, once tender but not overly cooked, drain and set aside.
• In a pan, fry off the onion in a little vegetable oil.  Once the onion turns clear, add the spring onion and fresh chili.  I added the cooked chicken into this pan to sauté quickly with the chili powder, turmeric, sugar and ground coriander and the remaining curry powder (amount to your liking)
• Set aside and allow to cool
• Combine all the cooked vegetables, mash potato, uncooked beans and frozen peas, chicken etc in a large bowl and mix until well combined.  Stir in the fresh cilantro and cashew nuts.
• Cut pastry sheet in half diagonally (for large pasties) or in square quarters for smaller pasties.
• Preheat the oven to 425'F 
• Pierce the sides of the pastry you wish to seal with a fork, run a little egg wash over the pricks.  Place mixture on one side of the triangle fold over and fold and twists the edges to seal.  
• Brush top of pastry with egg wash and bake for approx 20-25mins or until golden brown
• Serve with sweet chili sauce or if you're game, Sriarcha hot chili sauce