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!
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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!), more recently Goan Fish Curry, and meatless wonder-dish 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;
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The other spices – nothing out of the ordinary here, everything you find at local grocery stores; and
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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 and its relative filo can make anything good. (Case in point: Chicken Pot Pie, Spinach Ricotta Rolls, Aussie Meat Pies, Sausage Rolls, Spanakopita. 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)
* Asterisk-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 😂)
Hi, Nagi! Love all your recipes, and am hoping to try this one this week, but I was unable to find fennel at the local grocery store. What would you suggest as a substitute?
This is fabulous. My whole family agreed this is a keeper! Seven prep bowls and it goes pretty quick.
Thank you Nagi ! So easy to put together and my family loved it … regular now on my family meal list ❤️
Beautiful Nagi, This is my 3rd or 4th time making this dish. I’ve got big eaters at home, so added chicken. We are from the spicy world (Sri Lanka now living in Sydney)
and added a bit more chilli. Everytime I made this, turned out to be out of this world. I made small triangles and everyone was happy. I enjoy cooking after I started watching you cook. So a big Thank You, beautiful Nagi!!
So delicious! Next time I will make 2 😆
Should we remove the kaffir leaves prior to placing pie filling in pastry? Thank you 🌷
If you prefer then yes that’s fine. N x
I made this last night and my husband and I both loved it and I have enough filling to make another pie. I used all the veg in my fridge including Brussel sprouts! Will definitely be making this again.
Just finished eating this, it was lovely! I subbed some brocollli and corn for missing cauli. Really tasty. I also used cayenne instead of chilli powder because I don’t have any. I used two packets of ready made puff pastry (UK). Most of the puff pastry in here only have one layer in a packet which is not enough for this recipe. I didn’t blind bake, it was fine, not soggy. Black mustard seeds is not easy to find here either but easy enough to order from Amazon. it looks like nigella seeds (which is what you usually see here in UK shops), but according to Google they are different taste profile. Plus side for this samosa is you don’t get the grease that you usually get from the little samosa triangles that you eat from British Indian restaurants. I forgot to butter my dish, but it still went ok, some got stuck. Really tasty dish, filling is easy to prep ahead. Thank you for the recipe. We had this with your tandoori chicken and yellow saffron rice.
Lol sorry nagi, this was suppose to be for the samosa pie!!! I’m so sorry
Hey Nagi –
Finally made this tonight. Been meaning to for ages – but had some leftover mashed potatoes that needed using – now!
Added another potato – just simmered it until al dente and added the cubes to the vegetable mix for texture. Had mushrooms that also needed to be used. Some spinach too. And a half a green capsicum. But other than that – followed the recipe to the letter… lol!
Anyway – it was perfect.
Everyone loved it – and every time I have vegetables in the crisper that are on the verge of being past their prime – this will be my go to dinner solution (the only thing I had to buy was fresh curry leaves. My little local greengrocer had ‘em – so no dramas!)
Thanks again!
my fave nagi recipe. super stoked when i cracked into it & it tasted like the local indian take away samosa. cooking is not my thing at alllll but nagi’s blog works a treat for me.
OMG! delicious and easy. Ok there’s a fair few spices but it’s not a difficult recipe. I used this filling and made puff pastry triangles. Served them with mint and coriander yoghurt sauce. YUM
This is a pretty good recipe. I left the potatos coarsely mashed so there were still some samosa-like chunks. It needed some sweetness too, so I added BBQ sauce (I was out of Worcestershire). Served with a quick mix of tazatziki and mint sauce.
Fantastic recipe, thank you Nagi. I doubled the filling ingredients and made the first pie the same day: extremely delicious. The remaining filling was frozen and used to make a relatively quick meal 2 weeks later: equally enjoyable. Served with mango chutney, Greek yoghurt and a green salad. Scrumptious, nutritious and no meat. Even my 16 year old son was a fan.
Hi Nagi, I’m a big fan of you and your recipes. Would this recipe be ok to cook in a Kmart pie maker? If so, what do you think the timing would be…15 minutes?
I couldn’t say sorry Janelle as I’ve never used one – would love to know if you try! N x
I will send you a message when I give it a go. I haven’t used it yet, either, so it will be trial and error.
Could you sub the potatoes for Sweet Potato’s?
Sure could Jace!!! N x
My family of four all had seconds (and thirds) I just hope there is enough for lunch tomorrow! I did the blind baked short pastry bottom option with a sheet of puff pastry on top. The base was as crisp as the top. Thanks again Nagi.
Love this receipt. There’s only 2 of us, so I make a small pie which is still is enough for dinner and lunch the next day. I freeze the remaining filling.
Thanks Nagi – another favourite to add to the list. I halved the recipe and made 4 individual pies in my Sunbeam pie maker sing wholemeal pastry and they came out perfectly after 15 minutes – absolutey delicious for winter lunches.
Hi Nagi! No need to reply. I just saw your measurements for the pie tin below in the recipe x
Love to know what you think once you try it Carli!! N x
Hi Nagi! What size pie dish did you use? I saw one which was 24cm x 4.8cm. It looked a bit small.