I can’t think of anything better to munch on than a samosa when it comes to snacking!

The actual process of making Samosas, especially ones where the pastry is made from scratch, can be laborious and cumbersome which often means people end up buying them instead of opting for homemade…..but that needn’t be the case!

Using tortillas instead of making your own pastry is not only quick and convenient, it tastes gorgeous because the filling is homemade. The first time my children tasted these tortilla samosas at their aunt’s house they were in love, soft in the middle with crunchy corners, it was love at first bite!

Most recipes I have come across use half a tortilla to make one large samosa – my only problem with this is that when you’re entertaining one ‘large’ samosa is never enough and you end up using a lot of filling to fill the larger ones. So I had to find a way of making the samosas smaller and making the filling relatively easy to cook because the process of folding the samosas does take time, there isn’t a magic wand you can wave to just make them all at once, unfortunately.

Whilst using spring roll pastry does work out to be more cost effective when it comes to making samosas, using tortillas adds a different texture and makes a change to the bog standard ones. You could even try flavoured tortillas for added taste, how about garlic and herb?

I love adding potatoes to my filling, sometimes I add peas or a combination of both; there’s no reason why you couldn’t add another vegetable of your choice, try sweetcorn or diced carrots instead. You could even try adding soaked lentils to the mincemeat like my mum used to.

I have used lamb mince which contains less fat for my samosa filling (costs slightly more), this eliminates the need to drain fat and saves time. The process of cooking the filling is something I’ve tried to minimise by throwing all the ingredients into the pan at once, for me there wasn’t any real noticeable difference to how I would normally cook this in several stages.

On this occasion I didn’t wash the mince which was a first for me; I normally use a sieve and wash the mince prior to use (I know lots of people don’t, but I feel the need to), this was mainly to save time for people that work and don’t have time to wash and drain the mince.

In total my filling took me approximately 20 minutes to cook which I thought was great and I was ready to start folding almost immediately. The whole process took me about an hour and I made about 40 samosas with these amounts….which is almost how long it would take you to drive to the supermarket, buy a bag of samosas and get back home! I just hope you find the recipe beneficial, time saving and as tasty as we did. 🙂

Makes approximately 40 samosas

You will need: for Cheat Tortilla Lamb Samosas 

For the filling:

700g lean lamb mince meat
2 medium onions
3 potatoes
4 – 5 cardamoms
3 – 4 bay leaves
3 – 4 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp Rajah mixed curry powder
1 tsp Bolsts curry powder (optional)
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp ground panch puran
1 – 1.5 tsp salt (adjust if necessary)
chopped coriander for garnishing

For the pastry:

2 packets of tortillas (my packs contained 8 tortillas in each packet, I used just over 1 packet)
4 – 5 tsp plain flour
water as needed

Method:

Start by peeling and chopping your onions, then peel and dice your potatoes.

In a large frying pan heat some oil, don’t add too much as some will be released from the mince itself. Add your whole spices to the hot oil; cardamoms, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks and fry to release aroma.

Add 1 tsp minced ginger and 1 tsp minced garlic and brown slightly.
Add the sliced onions….

….along with all of the spices; 2 tsp Rajah mixed curry powder, 1 tsp Bolsts curry powder (optional), 1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp chilli powder and 1/2 tsp ground panch puran.

Mix the spices with the onions and immediately add the diced potatoes (be sure to rinse first) followed by the mincemeat.

Lastly measure 1 – 1.5 tsp salt depending on your taste and sprinkle over the ingredients. Give everything a good mix, cover and leave to cook over a medium flame for 10 – 15 minutes. Check and stir occasionally.

While the mince cooks prepare your tortillas. Cut the tortillas in half.

Gather the tortillas in your hand and tap against the counter to get all the tortillas level with one another (top left photo). This step is important as it helps you to cut the tortillas as evenly as possible. Cut the tortillas again into quarters, you should find they’re mostly even and of equal size. Stack them up ready for use.

Prepare a flour paste to glue the samosas together; use 4 – 5 tsp of plain flour and combine with a little cold water to form a thick sticky paste. The consistency should be like thick PVA glue.

Check your filling and test the potatoes to see if they’re cooked by pressing between your fingers. Allow more cooking time if they’re not fully cooked. I allowed my mince to cook uncovered for a few minutes just to let some of the moisture evaporate but there wasn’t very much moisture or fat thanks to the lean mince I used. Taste the filling to check for salt and adjust if necessary.

Garnish the mince with chopped coriander and remove from heat. Mix the filling to ensure even distribution of the coriander.

Start folding your samosas by placing the pointed corner of the tortilla away from you, the curved edge pointing towards. Take some flour paste using your finger and apply along the curved edge, bring the left hand side across to the centre (bottom left photo) and then do the same for the right hand side (bottom right photo). The bottom edge should form a neat point, apply some pressure to the glued tortilla to help the flour paste bind together.

You’ve now formed a samosa cone, gently open it up using your fingers and place some mince filling inside. Glue the top of the samosa cone with more flour paste (bottom left photo), bring this corner over the front of the samosa and press down. Ta-da, you’ve made your first tortilla samosa!

Try to form the tortilla samosas as tightly and neatly as you can to avoid loose corners but you can always cover up any loose corners with some flour paste (top left photo).

If you don’t cut the tortillas evenly you may sometimes find the edges meet up unevenly (top right photo), simply fold over the excess into the samosa cone to overcome this and carry on. I encountered this problem with my first batch but didn’t have a problem with the second batch, the trick is to cut the tortillas evenly.

As you make the samosas always place them on your counter with the opening of the samosa facing downwards, this helps give the flour paste time to glue the samosa together. You can freeze these samosas and they will keep for weeks.

If you’re cooking the samosas from frozen make sure you defrost them beforehand to ensure the centre cooks through properly. When you’re ready to eat your samosas deep fry them in hot oil till golden brown. Alternatively brush them with oil and bake in a hot oven, I tested some like this in my airfryer and they came out lovely.

Serve your golden Cheat Tortilla Lamb Samosas with some sauce and feast!

Bon Appétit!!

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