Veggies For Me and Veggies For You: A New Favorite Around Here: The Handmade Samosa

I have discovered something about my self in the a last few weeks. I actually like cooking.

I married a man who loves to cook. for the first 4 years of our marriage that is what he did. I occasionally whipped up some sidekicks but mostly he was the chef. And then Grad school started. And Hazel was born. And Aaron was done making dinner. It is true that he will occasionally make something, or come and flavor some bland meal that I have attempted to prepare but other than that he doesn't spend as much time in the kitchen as he might like. Which was hard because up until this past year I really hated cooking.

I hated waiting for the "look" that said we were all going to have to choke down a meal, or waiting for the leftovers to be taken for lunch the next day. I just hated it.

Then I started (after 5 years) getting better, then pretty good, and now I have to say that some days I am just fabulous. I still have to follow a recipe (but even following a recipe before could end in disaster); but I am much better at picking ones our family would like, and I can put food together and pull off some delicious food. Which makes me happy.

Last night as I was preparing our meal I was actually feeling relaxed. I was enjoying it, the whole thing.

The prep:

and of course the end results:

I think all of you should try this recipe, it was a little more "hands on" than some but the bragging rights were great (I talked all night about how good my meal had been). And the actual making of the samosa was fun; though it helped that a friend had stopped by and so I had some great company while I worked. This would be a really fun recipe to make with your kids (teenager kids, definitely not preschool kids) so go ahead.

Do it.

Mildly Spiced Vegetable Samosas

(I got this recipe from my favorite kids/baby cookbook: "First Meals" by Annabel Karmel)

1/2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1/2 Onion, peeled and very finely chopped

1/2 Garlic Clove, peeled and chopped (I stopped buying fresh garlic about a year ago. I didn't even use it fast enough so it would loose its punch. I now always have a jar of Chopped Garlic. 1 tsp is a clove and it is always so flavorful which means my meals will aways be garlicy. yum)

1/4 tsp of each Curry Powder, Ground Ginger, and Ground Cumin
1 cup of Button Mushrooms, finely chopped
1 cup of Cauliflower, finely chopped
1 Carrot, finely chopped (How did I finely chop all these veggies? With my Manual Blender. I bought this for $2 at Salvation Army and I use it for EVERYTHING. I dont use a knife on onions, and look at the great job it did on the cauliflower)

2 tsp of Superfine Sugar

3 tsp of Mild Natural Yogurt

1 package of Phyllo Pastry Sheets

4 Tbsp of Melted Butter

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the Onion and Garlic. Saute for 2-3 Minutes. Stir in the spices and Saute for 1 minute. Add the vegetables and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the sugar and yogurt. Cook for 3-5 minutes (or until vegetables are soft).

Lay the Phyllo Pastry out flat and cover with a clean damp cloth (I skipped the cloth part and just got to work so the pastry wouldn't dry out). Brush first piece of pastry with melted butter. Fold in half length wise and brush again with butter.

Place 1 Tbsp of vegetable filling on one end of the strip, leaving a 2 cm border around it. Fold over the corner to make a triangle, then keep folding the parcel over on itself along the length of the pastry (think of the triangle folded notes you would send in grade 8 to your friends in class). Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling.

Place Samosas on a Parchment Paper covered cookie sheet and brush the tops with more butter. Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.