Samosa Pie

The other night I was in a particularly crave-y mood. I wanted meat and potatoes meets spice. I happened to remember these Wholly Wholesome pie crusts I picked up from Whole Foods and the samosa pie was born.

When I was preparing it it felt totally wrong, like a terrible bastardization of traditional cuisine. It was going to be a dirty little secret. No one needed to know. Then we ate it and it blew me away. Maybe it’s because I was so hungry and crave-y..but maybe not because it tasted just as mind-blowing the next day.

If you think about it it’s not to different from a samosa, the pastry is just arranged a little differently. Maybe I’m rationalizing but you have to try it. Not only is it super tasty but it was so easy to prepare.

Ingredients

• 1 lb grassfed beef (this is just what I used – you can of course use conventional)
• 1 medium sized potato diced into very small cubes
• 1/4 cup of frozen peas
• 1 small red onion diced
• 1 cm or 1/2 inch knob of ginger finely diced or mashed (optional – I forgot to do this but I think it would have made it better)
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp curry powder (optional – I grabbed the curry powder instead of the turmeric so ended up with both.)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (optional but recommended – the seeds add so much dimension)
• 1/4 tsp cardamom
• cayenne to taste
• salt to taste

Instructions

• Take pie shell out to defrost.
• Preheat oven to 425 F / 220 C
• Dice the potato and put it to boil in a pan with enough water to just cover it, that way when the potatoes are boiled you can pour the whole contents of the pot into the beef mixture. The starchy potato water will thicken into a gravy.
• Sauté the onion with the cumin seeds (if using) on very low heat until softened and aromatic.
• Increase heat to medium and add the beef. Break it apart as it cooks so it’s smooth and even.
• When the beef is evenly broken apart add the potatoes with potato water and the peas.
• Cook just until any remaining liquid has reduced into a nice thick gravy.
• Pour contents of pan into pie shell. For me the recipe was enough to fit into one pie shell. I also put my pie shell onto a cookie sheet before filling to make it easier to move into the oven.
• Bake for 50-60 minutes until edges are slightly golden.
• If you can wait (unlike those of us with no impulse control) give it about 10-15 minutes rest before cutting in or the beef filling will ooze out everywhere and you won’t be able to cut pie like pieces out of it.

If you like this you may also like Chana Aloo Masala Pie.