Photos by Emily Caruso
I love to cook. (I'm sure you've figured that out. I probably wouldn't be writing for this blog if playing around in the kitchen wasn't my idea of a good time.) Like many who love to cook, though, I have my kitchen inhibitions. There are two things that might make me a little reluctant to prepare any given meatless dish: 1) It's loaded with calories, or 2) There's some step involved that's a royal pain.
Unfortunately, one of my favorite Indian snacks hits these two criteria right on the nose: veggie samosas (a.k.a., little pockets of spiced culinary comfort). Samosas are delicious Indian dumplings filled with spicy veggies-usually potatoes and peas, all wrapped up in dough and fried to a crisp. Obviously, with the potatoes and the frying and all, they're pretty calorically dense. Then there's the preparation. Frying with anything more than a coating of oil is a pain if you ask me, and that crispy fried exterior is a dough that you'd normally have to devote time to mixing, rolling and wrapping. And so, my beloved samosas end up right in my "foods to avoid making" category.
Samosas are incredibly delicious though, so these issues were worth solving. How could that be done? The answer turned out to be quite simple: ditch the wrapper!
Without the wrapper you're left with just that spicy veggie filling that I mentioned, and since that filling is primarily made from potatoes, it shapes into patties easily. I used traditional samosa spices in this recipe, and added some roasted peanuts, which you'll occasionally find in samosas when dining out-and which give these samosa cakes a bit of crunch. Samosas are usually served with a chutney, and since apples are bountiful and delicious this time of year, I went with a tangy apple chutney.
These were quite fun to make, and pretty painless. They're fun to eat, too; you can pile a couple on a plate as a main course, throw one or two on a bun and eat as a burger, chutney atop, or serve them to your dinner guests as a snack or appetizer, chutney on the side.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
For the Apple Chutney:
- 1 large tart apple, such as Granny Smith, peeled and finely diced (about 2 cups)
- 2 serrano peppers, seeds and ribs removed and minced
- ½ tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
For the Samosa Cakes:
- 1 ½ pounds russet potatoes, about 3 medium, diced into 1-inch cubes
- 2 ½ tablespoons grapeseed oil, or other neutral-flavored cooking oil, divided
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- ½ cup roasted and salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
- ½ cup frozen peas, thawed (or cooked fresh peas)
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground flax seeds
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup vegetable broth
- ½ cup panko bread crumbs
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
Make the Apple Chutney:
- Combine the apple, chilies, ginger, vinegar, brown sugar and salt in a small saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Allow to simmer, uncovered, until the apple is tender and most of the liquid has cooked off, about 20 minutes, while you begin working on the samosa cakes. Once the chutney is finished cooking, let it cool and then stir in the cilantro.
Make the Samosa Cakes:
- Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover them with water. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Place 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and ginger and sauté another minute, until fragrant, and then add the cooked potatoes, peanuts and peas. Sauté until the outsides of the potatoes begin to form a crust in spots, about 3 minutes. Stir in the flour, flax seeds, garam masala, turmeric, coriander, chili powder, salt, pepper, broth, panko, cilantro and lemon juice. Remove from heat.
- Allow the mixture to sit for at least 10 minutes, until cool enough to handle.
- Use a potato masher to break up any large chunks of potatoes. Shape the mixture into 8 patties, about 3 inches in diameter, pressing firmly into shape.
- Wipe the skillet clean, then set it over medium-high heat and coat it with ½ tablespoon of oil.
- Arrange patties in the skillet and cook until lightly browned on the bottoms, about 3 minutes. During cooking, use a spatula to gently press down on the top of each patty. If this causes the patty to spread out, use the spatula to draw the sides back in. Gently flip and cook until lightly browned on other side, about 3 minutes more.
- Serve with Apple Chutney.
Millie | Add A Little says
This looks wonderful, and perfect for a party appetiser - pinned!
Alissa says
These would be a great appetizer! Thanks for the pin!
Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, and Health says
i love samosas in general and these look delightful!!
Alissa says
Thanks so much Dixya!
Joana | my gut feeling says
Oh I just love Samosas!! Thank you so much for sharing!! I´ll just have to make some minor changes for it to be low FODMAP friendly. (the diet for sensitive guts 😉
Alissa says
Thanks Joana! I hope you enjoy them!!
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
These are amazing!!! Love the idea of making a healthier samosa (I'm also averse to deep frying...) and the apple chutney looks awesome!
Alissa says
Thanks Becca! The chutney was sooooo good!
Janet says
I make something similar and use it to stuff portabello mushrooms. Very delicious!
Alissa says
Ohhhh...I have to try that! Sounds like an awesome main course. 🙂
Joanne says
I've never made samoas either because HOT OIL = SCARY. I love that these aren't crazy deep fried but still have all that great samosa flavor!
Alissa says
Haha! My feelings exactly! These were so not scary to make, and delicious without the frying! 🙂
Georgina says
These look deliciosa and health y. Do you think they could be baked on parcamente paper?
Alissa says
Hi Georgina! It could work, but I haven't tried baking them myself, so I can't say for sure. If you were to bake them I think using parchment would be a good idea to help prevent sticking, though you might get a little less browning on the outsides.
Carrie says
I LOVED these! Thank you 🙂
Alissa says
Awesome!! Glad to hear it! 🙂
Julia says
i think I will mash the potatoes first, omit the flax seed and press the samosa mixture into muffin tins and bake. What do you think?
Alissa says
Hi Julia! I can't say for sure, as I haven't tried it this way. My biggest concern is that they might break when you dig them out of the tins. I tried a few versions of this, both with and without flax seeds, and they were definitely more delicate without, so I think the risk of them breaking would be higher without the flax. If you do give it a try, please let me know how it turns out. Thanks and enjoy! 🙂
Sia says
You have an amazing website! I reached here trying to find a recipe using beet greens, but found a treasure of exciting vegetarian recipes. I plan to try many of your recipes and thanks for sharing your recipes!
Alissa says
Thanks Sia! That's pretty much how I felt when I first discovered this site (obviously back before I started writing for it). Glad to hear you like what you see! Hope you enjoy the recipes!!
Susan says
Oh, yum! These are delicious and the apple chutney is divine. I made the chutney yesterday. The flavors married well, and I like it much better today. I did not miss the wrapper at all thanks to the nicely browned outsides. As always, I added more garlic, but otherwise followed the recipe as written.
Alissa says
Ha! Glad to hear someone is a bigger garlic fiend than me! I usually scale back a bit for blog recipes, as I seem to have more of a taste for the stuff than most people. 😉 Happy to hear you enjoyed these. Thanks so much for sharing!
Sharon Ann says
Hi there! I love love love the smosa cakes! I like to make large batches and eat them over the week. However, do you think they would freeze well? It would be great to always have a few on hand. Thank you kindly!!
Alissa says
Hi Sharon! Glad you're enjoying the samosa cakes! I haven't tried freezing them myself, but I've heard that the texture of potatoes usually changes after freezing, so I'm not sure that would work.