Vegetable Samosa Pie – Everything you love about Samosas…in giant pie form! Oh – and with handy store bought puff pastry and loads of extra veg. 😂 Excellent centrepiece vegetarian dinner recipe. Something different yet familiar, totally delicious with a bit of (rustic) wow factor.
Those who tried the Eggplant Curry I shared last week will love the common ingredients in this!
Vegetable Samosa Pie
I don’t hold this vegetarian pie to be in anyway authentic Indian in its construct (BIG), the filling (VEG loaded!) and the use of puff pastry instead of homemade samosa pastry (handy!).
But I do hope those of Indian background can recognise that I’ve stayed respectable of traditional Samosas by using authentic Samosa filling spices.
And while this might look a far cry from those little hand held, deep fried Samosa pastries we all know and love so much, just one bite is all it will take for you to think Ah! NOW I get why she calls it a Samosa pie!
You can substitute all the vegetables except potato and onion. Potato is used to bind the filling. Onion is for essential flavour!
What you need – Vegetables for the Filling
The ingredients list for this Vegetable Samosa Pie is fairly extensive, but that’s partly because I’ve put in a decent variety of vegetables. But in fact, other than potato and onion, all the vegetables are customisable. I could’ve just made a zucchini and potato filling to make it look far simpler! 😂
So here are the vegetables I’ve used:
If you tried the Eggplant Curry I recently shared, you’ll have all the necessary spices!
What you need – Filling Spices
And here are the flavourings for the filling. Don’t be alarmed if you don’t recognise some of these – I’ve got options for you!
- Black mustard seeds – they look like poppyseeds but have a slight wasabi-like bite to them. And they smell Indian, not Japanese!
Not spicy, more a fresh zing. It’s about $1.50 in small packs at Indian grocery stores – I go to Indian Emporium in Dee Why on the Northern Beaches, Sydney. Also sold in the Indian food section at some Woolworths (Australia) $1.70, and online! Used in an Eggplant Curry I shared last week (big hit!) and Dal. - Curry leaves – imagine curry powder, in fresh curry leaf form! Adds incredible curry perfume into anything it’s used in. Fairly accessible nowadays for Sydney-siders, sold at Harris Farms, most Coles and Woolworths. Keeps for several weeks in the fridge. This too is used in Eggplant Curry and Dal. Throw in 10 or so when cooking Curried Rice, or into this Indian Chickpea Curry or Vegetable Curry – it will really take it to a new level! Substitute: dried curry leaves (not quite the same, but it’s the best sub) or Garam Masala powder;
- The other spices – nothing out of the ordinary here, everything you find at local grocery stores; and
- Tomato paste – for a little flavour and help thicken the liquid.
Puff pastry
I’ve taken the path of least resistance with this Vegetable Samosa Pie and used store bought puff pastry – for both the base and lid. Store bought shortcrust / pie crust pastry will also work a treat.
I don’t blind bake the base in this recipe, the filling is so juicy it will be soggy regardless. But if you’re cooking to impress and want a crispy base, use store bought or homemade pie crust/shortcrust pastry for the base, blind bake it (per that recipe), then top with puff pastry.
How to make Vegetable Samosa Pie
The vegetables are simmered with the spices until soft and fragrant, then it’s all mixed up with mashed potato to make a big pot of juicy, heavenly smelling filling. Then we simply pile this into a pastry lined pie dish (I like to use a big one), top with pastry then bake until puffed and golden!
OK, I realise that summary is VERY condensed, this pie does take time to come together.
But BOY is it worth it. Just look at what comes out of the oven! ↓↓↓
Ugh, that flaky puff pastry. I swear, puff pastry can make anything good. (Case in point: Chicken Pot Pie, Spinach Ricotta Rolls, Aussie Meat Pies, Sausage Rolls. See? All good stuff!)
I like to serve it with a dollop of plain yogurt, just to add an extra dimension to the dish.
As for a side salad? Na! I’ve been having a (big!) slice of this Vegetable Samosa Pie for dinner, with no side salads or anything. This is a VEGETARIAN pie. It is jam packed with vegetables – almost 12 cups, to be exact! (PS Onion counts towards your veg intake – did you know that? 😇)
However, if you were to serve this at a dinner with family or friends and you wanted to add some more to the table, I’d probably add a couple of these salads:
Lastly – I realise this recipe has a lengthier ingredients list and more steps than my typical quick ‘n easy Monday night dinner offerings. But this pie is BIG. It will serve 6 to 8. So it’s dinner today and lunch tomorrow. Worth making! – Nagi x
PS Would also be wonderful in individual form – think: ramekins, even mini in muffin tins. Share if you try!
Watch how to make it
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Vegetable Samosa Pie
Ingredients
- 700g / 1.4lb potato , cut into 2cm / 4/5" pieces
Filling:
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1.5 tsp black mustard seeds (Note 1)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds (Note 2)
- 1 tsp fennel seeds (Note 2)
- 15 curry leaves , fresh (Note 3)
- 1 tbsp garlic , finely grated
- 1 tbsp ginger , finely grated
- 1 onion , finely chopped (brown, white, yellow)
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp curry powder (Note 4)
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder , adjust spiciness to taste ((pure ground, not US Chili Spice Mi, sub cayenne)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tomato * , chopped into 1.5cm / 1/2" pieces
- 1 zucchini * , chopped into 1.5cm / 1/2" pieces
- 1 carrot * , chopped into 1.5cm / 1/2" pieces
- 1/2 cauliflower * (small), cut/broken into small florets (~ 3 cups)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup frozen green peas *
Puff pastry crust:
- 2 sheets puff pastry (Note 5)
- 1 egg , lightly whisked
Serving:
- Plain yogurt
- Coriander/cilantro leaves , option (decorative only, pictured)
* Asteric marked - can be substituted with any vegetables that can be cooked. Use 8 cups total.
Instructions
MASHED POTATO:
- Bring a pot of water to the boil then cook potato for 12 - 15 minutes until very soft.
- Drain, mash and set aside.
FILLING:
- Sizzling spices: Heat oil in a dutch oven or pot over high heat. Add black mustard seeds, cumin and fennel seeds. Let them sizzle for 15 seconds - careful, they might pop!
- Curry leaves: Then add curry leaves and stir for 15 seconds.
- Aromatics: Add garlic, ginger and onion. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes until onion is tinged with gold.
- Tomato: Add tomato paste and tomato, cook for 30 seconds.
- Spices: Add curry powder, turmeric and chilli. Cook for 30 seconds.
- Most Veg: Add zucchini, carrot and cauliflower. Stir well to coat in the spice paste.
- Water: Add water, salt and pepper. Stir, bring to a simmer then put the lid on and reduce heat to medium low (so it's simmer gently).
- Cook & reduce: Cook for 15 minutes until vegetables are soft. Then remove lid and simmer for 5 minutes to reduce liquid a bit.
- Add mash: Remove from stove. Add peas and potato, mix through well.
- Taste: Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.
- Cool: Place lid on and cool for at least 30 minutes (even overnight is fine).
ASSEMBLY & BAKING:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types).
- Grease a large pie dish with butter, or oil spray (Note 6). Drape in a puff pastry sheet.(I don't blind bake here - see Note 5)
- Fill with Filling - slightly mounded is fine.
- Fold in the corners of the puff pastry sheet.
- Top with puff pastry sheet - turn 90 degrees to the base puff pastry sheet (see photo).
- Fold the overhang puff pastry under itself - no need to be neat here, this is a rustic pie!
- Egg wash: Brush with egg, cut a 2cm / 1" cross in the middle (to let steam escape).
- Bake 50 to 60 minutes, until the top is very deep golden and flaky.
- Stand 5 minutes then slice to serve. A dollop of plain yogurt goes well with this!
Recipe Notes:
- Brown mustard seeds
- Yellow mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp mustard powder*
- 1 1/2 tsp Garam Masala* (different flavour, but is intended to make up for absence)
- dried curry leaves (not quite the same, but it's the best sub);
- 1 tsp Garam Masala powder (add it with rest of spices).
- Puff pastry (per Chicken Pot Pies direction, in the notes): Line dish with puff pastry, place in oven at 180C/350F. After 10 min or whenever the partially cooked base starts to puff up, just push it back down. Repeat once more or as required to stop the puffing (it doesn't take much). Then once the pastry is golden, remove from oven and let cool. Proceed with recipe.
- Shortcrust / pie crust pastry: Follow directions in this Meat Pie recipe.
- Leftovers in Fridge - 4 to 5 days. To reheat and retain crispy top - stick a strip of foil over exposed filling (so it doesn't dry out), then bake in the oven at 180C/350F for 10 - 15 minutes until the top is crusty and the filling is hot.
- Leftovers for freezing - haven't tried but see no reason why it wouldn't work. Thaw then reheat per above.
- Make ahead - assemble with thawed puff pastry then either freeze (3 months) or fridge (2 days). Thaw, egg wash, bake per recipe + 10 minutes (takes longer due to chill in centre. Thawed-fridge stored / thawed-frozen-thawed puff does not rise quite as much as thawed then immediately baked, but the difference is marginal in a pie like this. Also, for those concerned, for store bought puff, thaw-freeze-thaw again poses no health issues (unlike meat).
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Dozer on site at the new RTE HQ – kitchen going in today! (PS HQ is a fancy description for my little lower ground floor to be converted into a dedicated work space 😂)
My mouth is watering at this recipe and looking forward to making it this week. Sending hubby to woolies with screen shots of the mustard seeds and curry leaves, hope he’s successful, because I think this will be a family winner!
Love love love, used puff pastry top and bottom, big pie and some filling left over so i froze for future use. Added 1/2 broccoli, 1/2 cauliflower. Only yellow mustard seeds but still a nice flavour. Thanks once again Nagi and Dozer
I wanted to make this in smaller ramekins because it’s just my husband and I, but we had a vegetarian guest so I thought it’d be perfect to make as written. I definitely had more liquid left after the simmering… maybe my gentle simmer was too gentle 🤷🏻♀️ Anyway I just scooped out most of the vegetables and kept the liquid simmering (I didn’t want the vegetables to become a mush). Then after adding the potatoes and peas and letting it cool, I used a slotted spoon to fill the pie in order to filter out some more of the excess liquid. We all thought it tasted great, but the bottom crust was just a mess. Next time I’ll be making this like RTE’s Chicken Pot Pie recipe with only a top crust. This one is a must try if you love Indian flavors.
**after simmering the liquid for additional time I added back the vegetables before adding the potatoes and peas.
I made this last night and it was wonderful! What great flavors. It was a lot of fun to go to the local Indian spice bazaar where I found fresh curry leaves, cumin seed and black mustard seeds. Milk cake…mmmm. I saved some of the filling to make some hand pies to freeze for later. Thank you for this recipe!
If I was to make hand held pasties with leftover mixture and pastry, relatively large ones, say hand size and freeze them (uncooked) how would I reheat? So thaw them and a bit of egg wash, but then how long in the oven? Thanks
Hi Kate, I’d say about 20 minutes or so until the pastry is nice and golden 🙂 N x
Cooked this today, fantastic flavours and I didnt miss not having meat. It is a BIG pie so tomorrow’s dinner sorted. I did blind bake a short crust base then egg washed when cooked and popped back in the oven for 10 mins. Sealed the base so no leakage or soggy bottom. People you must give this a go it’s great
Made these in individual pie dishes (not a pie maker) and they turned out great.
I would say that my filling was quite a bit drier than what was in the video, I will lessen the amount of mashed spud next time I think; all other ingredients were spot on. I served it with the creamy cucumber salad + lemon dressing plus the Ottolenghi baked broccolini AND also did (in the end!) bake some spuds in duck fat!
A great meal for guests.
The filling was so DELISH, I also added cumin powder, and used chicken stock instead of water. I added mint to the yoghurt to serve at the end. Great family meal.
Forgot to mention, I reduced for longer than 5 min, around 15 until It was thickened beautifully.
This was the first pie I’ve made and the both of us really enjoyed it! We used smaller ramekins and they worked perfectly. The flavour wasn’t as ‘powerful’ as we expected considering the spice list, so not sure what I did wrong but will definitely make it again! 🙂
Did you bake for the same amount of time with the smaller ramkins? I’d like to bake them in smaller ramkins as it’s just the two of us, but I wasn’t sure if the baking time would change. Thank you!
Ramekins** 🤦🏻♀️
Hi Christine, yes I did! I initially timed 45 mins but noticed that the pastry wasn’t quite as golden as Nagi’s, so left it for another 15 mins and it was perfect! The ramekins were medium sized/ oval shape, so might be less for the smaller ones but I’d just go by the pastry colour 🙂 hope that helps!
It does! Thank you so much.
My daughter & I cooked this delicious pie together last night. I prepared the food whilst she cooked…..this was sooooooOooooOoo good.
I hunted through your recipes and made some satay and tzatziki sauce dipping sauce.
It was a match made in heaven
My taste buds have been awakened! : )
Dearest Maui
Thank you for sharing these lovely recipes n good ideas
The pie is a family pleaser
I love the work you put into making food a Delicious Dream
You’re so welcome! – Nagi x
this was excellent Nagi, thankyou x
Fantastic results ! Thank you Nagi. A great lockdown recipie.
Hi Nagi, I just tried this recipe for the first time . I find the filling quite soggy, even after “resting” for 3 hours. Looking at ur video, it doesn’t seem like 2 cups of water. Can u pls confirm it’s 2 cups of water? I think I will put less water next time
Hi Suzanna, yes that’s the correct amount. Did you take the lid off whilst cooking to reduce the liquid? N x
Yes, I followed steps 7 & 8, 15mins with lid on, then 5 mins with lid off. More liquid than your video looked after the 15+5mins. Will try it with next water next time. Thanks
This recipe is amazing!!!! My husband loves Indian flavours and LOVED this pie. I loved it too even though I am more of a ‘chow mein’ person. It took a while to make but ‘rewarded’ mr fot a couple of nights of no further cooking. Thank you!
Great recipe. Used my Kmart mini pie maker. Made 12 pies
That’s great to hear John! N x