afelia's kitchen
My cooking is often a fusion of things that I enjoy eating, this Aloo Satni and Cheese Pastries recipe is a prime example of this. Aloo Satni or Aloo Bortha is a traditional dish made from mixing together cooked potatoes (either boiled or pan roasted), finely sliced onions, coriander and chillies (either green or dry roasted, ie. hukna morris) and eaten alongside plain rice. It’s comfort food that is quick to throw together and is always welcome as a starter when I’m entertaining. I’ve added a few extra things to my Aloo Satni in this recipe to boost the flavour, ie. coriander seeds and spices, because sometimes it’s good to change things up a little.
I originally tested this recipe back in 2019, the year I had no kitchen (we were renovating), but never got round to sharing the recipe and haven’t really had a chance to test it a lot before sharing with you all, so please read through these notes to get the best results.
I’m always trying to invent fillings for snacks that require little to no cooking, take my Tuna & Cheese Pyramids for example, especially when making fillings for pastries, as they’re quite cumbersome to make as is. So I wanted to create a filling that involves minimal cooking and these Aloo Satni and Cheese pastries were the result. And guess what? They’re so delicious and vegetarian too, win win!
I found when I baked the pastries this time around, the filling leaked a little, I don’t recall if this was an issue before and can only put that down to the fact I mashed the potatoes till they were smooth. I reckon keeping them a little chunky would prevent this from happening and also making sure you remove as much excess moisture from the onion, coriander and green chillies mixture before adding the mashed potatoes. Boiling potatoes also tends to make them saturated with water, to minimise the filling leaking next time I think I’ll be baking or microwaving the potatoes as this would reduce the water content in them. A theory you guys could definitely explore (and report back to me, lol).
The amounts in this recipe will make A LOT of filling, enough to fill about 60 pastries, which is perfect for stocking up the freezer but if you don’t need as many pastries, I would suggest halving all of the ingredients. Other than some of the pastries leaking, these were perfect, I can’t wait for you guys to try the recipe and let me know what you think of them, so let’s get started…
You will need: for Aloo Satni and Cheese Pastries
1 kg white potatoes
2 small red onions
handful of coriander (be generous with this)
6 – 8 green chillies (adjust to taste)
250g mature cheddar
2 tbsp whole coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder (optional for extra spice, I didn’t end up adding this)
3/4 – 1 tsp salt (adjust to taste)
4 x ready rolled puff pastry (if you halve the filling recipe you’ll only need 2 rolls)
1 egg for sealing and egg washing
Method:
Start by bringing a half filled pan of cold water to boil, once this is at a rolling boil (rapidly bubbling) add 1 tsp salt.
While the water is coming to a boil, peel and roughly cut the potatoes into smaller pieces.
Add the cut rinsed potatoes to the salted boiling water and cook for 10 – 12 mins until soft and cooked through.
While the potatoes cook prep the remaining ingredients, peel and finely slice and dice 2 red onions, chop a handful of coriander.
Finely chop 6 – 8 green chillies, I ended up using only 6 as these were fairly spicy.
Using a pestle and mortar lightly pound 2 tbsp of whole coriander seeds.
Grate 250g of mature cheddar.
Once the potatoes are cooked, drain and cool them before mashing. I would recommend keeping the potatoes a little chunky and NOT mashing till completely smooth, hopefully this will help prevent the filling from leaking when baking the pastries.
In a large bowl place the diced red onions, chopped coriander and green chillies, to this add 3/4 – 1 tsp of salt (adjust to taste).
Using your hands mix this well until the juices from the ingredients start to flow. If you’re not used to handling green chillies like this, you may want to wear gloves in case your hands burn afterwards.
Keep mixing and squeezing these 3 ingredients till the mixture is moist, squeeze out as much liquid as you can and discard.
Now add the mashed potatoes and 1/2 tsp coriander powder.
Add 1/2 tsp cumin powder and 2 tbsp of pounded coriander seeds.
Mix everything together.
At this point have a taste and adjust the salt if you need to. I didn’t feel like I wanted any more spice so decided against adding the chilli powder but you may add this should you want a bit more heat.
Add 1/2 tsp chilli powder (only if you want more heat) and add the 250g grated mature cheddar, make sure the mashed potatoes are cool (else the cheese will melt) and mix through.
Your filling is now ready to use.
I’m using puff pastry that is ready rolled, many supermarkets offer ones that contain no alcohol and use concentrated lemon juice instead. You will need to take it out of the fridge 10 minutes before using so it has time to come to room temperature so it lays flat easily. You will also need one egg for sealing and egg washing.
Using a knife or pizza cutter (this is my kitchen hack for cutting pastry, so much easier), first cut the pastry lengthwise into 3 equal strips.
Next cut the pastry width wise and cut into 5 equal strips. You should have 15 squares in total.
Applying egg to seal the pastries is quicker and less messy when there is no filling in the pastry, so use a brush and apply whisked egg to two sides of each square.
The bottom right hand photo shows you how to apply the egg to the squares.
Add a small amount of filling to each square (about 1 tsp).
Pull over the other side of the pastry and then crimp down the edges using a fork.
Using the fork poke some holes into the top of each pastry too.
Brush the tops of each pastry with egg wash, this add a lovely golden colour to the tops of the pastries.
I place my pastries on flexible chopping boards to freeze, they make releasing the pastries much easier when frozen and rock hard. Leave to freeze overnight.
Once frozen, I place the pastries in resealable bags and take out what I need when baking.
When you’re ready to bake, place the pastries on a baking tray with some greaseproof paper underneath.
Bake in a preheated oven at 220℃, 200℃ fan oven or gas mark 7 for 15 – 20 mins. Keep an eye on them as they bake, if you notice any of the filling starting to leak just take the pastries out.
You may grill the tops under a grill/broiler if you want them to be more golden on top, I did this for a few minutes.
Some of my filling did leak but if you make a note of the tips I’ve mentioned in the intro, I’m hoping you won’t experience any problems.
These pastries are delicious served just as or with some sauce for dipping. They can be eaten hot or cold and are perfect for parties or picnics.
- 1 kg white potatoes
- 2 small red onions
- handful of coriander (be generous with this)
- 6 - 8 green chillies (adjust to taste)
- 250g mature cheddar
- 2 tbsp whole coriander seeds
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- ½ tsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp chilli powder (optional for extra spice, I didn't end up adding this)
- ¾ - 1 tsp salt (adjust to taste)
- 4 x ready rolled puff pastry (if you halve the filling recipe you'll only need 2 rolls)
- 1 egg for sealing and egg washing
- Start by bringing a half filled pan of cold water to boil, once this is at a rolling boil (rapidly bubbling) add 1 tsp salt.
- While the water is coming to a boil, peel and roughly cut the potatoes into smaller pieces.
- Add the cut rinsed potatoes to the salted boiling water and cook for 10 - 12 mins until soft and cooked through.
- While the potatoes cook prep the remaining ingredients, peel and finely slice and dice 2 red onions, chop a handful of coriander.
- Finely chop 6 - 8 green chillies, I ended up using only 6 as these were fairly spicy.
- Using a pestle and mortar lightly pound 2 tbsp of whole coriander seeds.
- Grate 250g of mature cheddar.
- Once the potatoes are cooked, drain and cool them before mashing. I would recommend keeping the potatoes a little chunky and NOT mashing till completely smooth, hopefully this will help prevent the filling from leaking when baking the pastries.
- In a large bowl place the diced red onions, chopped coriander and green chillies, to this add ¾ - 1 tsp of salt (adjust to taste).
- Using your hands mix this well until the juices from the ingredients start to flow. If you're not used to handling green chillies like this, you may want to wear gloves in case your hands burn afterwards.
- Keep mixing and squeezing these 3 ingredients till the mixture is moist, squeeze out as much liquid as you can and discard.
- Now add the mashed potatoes and ½ tsp coriander powder.
- Add ½ tsp cumin powder and 2 tbsp of pounded coriander seeds.
- Mix everything together.
- At this point have a taste and adjust the salt if you need to. I didn't feel like I wanted any more spice so decided against adding the chilli powder but you may add this should you want a bit more heat.
- Add ½ tsp cumin powder and 2 tbsp of pounded coriander seeds.
- Mix everything together.
- At this point have a taste and adjust the salt if you need to. I didn't feel like I wanted any more spice so decided against adding the chilli powder but you may add this should you want a bit more heat.
- Using a knife or pizza cutter (this is my kitchen hack for cutting pastry, so much easier), first cut the pastry lengthwise into 3 equal strips.
- Next cut the pastry width wise and cut into 5 equal strips. You should have 15 squares in total.
- Applying egg to seal the pastries is quicker and less messy when there is no filling in the pastry, so use a brush and apply whisked egg to two sides of each square.
- The bottom left hand photo shows you how to apply the egg to the squares.
- Add a small amount of filling to each square (about 1 tsp).
- Pull over the other side of the pastry and then crimp down the edges using a fork.
- Using the fork poke some holes into the top of each pastry too.
- Brush the tops of each pastry with egg wash, this add a lovely golden colour to the tops of the pastries.
- I place my pastries on flexible chopping boards to freeze, they make releasing the pastries much easier when frozen and rock hard. Leave to freeze overnight.
- Once frozen, I place the pastries in resealable bags and take out what I need when baking.
- When you're ready to bake, place the pastries on a baking tray with some greaseproof paper underneath.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 220℃, 200℃ fan oven or gas mark 7 for 15 - 20 mins. Keep an eye on them as they bake and if you notice any of the filling starting to leak, just take the pastries out.
- You may grill the tops under a grill/broiler if you want them to be more golden on top.
- These pastries are delicious served just as or with some sauce for dipping. They can be eaten hot or cold and are perfect for parties or picnics.
