Chicken samosa cups
As delicious as they are, you might not have the time or the will to make authentic Punjabi samosas. You might not even want to go to the fuss of wrapping samosas using shop-bought samosa wrappers. Samosa cups are an ideal and easy-to-prepare substitute and make an excellent starter or snack with pre-dinner drinks. You could fill the samosa cups with whatever you like but here I have used the same filling as in my Punjabi samosas. To save you having to flip back and forth between pages, that recipe is here too. Although this recipe serves 5–10 people, if you have any leftover keema, you could always just bake up a couple of these samosa cups for a light snack.
This recipe is an extract from Curry Guy Chicken: Deliciously Spiced Recipes From South And Southeast Asia by Dan Toombs (Quadrille).
Next, why not try one of our tempting chicken curry recipes from the House & Garden archive?
Total Time
45 minutes
Yield
Serves 5-10
Ingredients
For the keema
For the samosa cups
To serve
Step 1
Add the oil or ghee to a pan over a medium–high heat. When the ghee or oil has a glossy, shimmering appearance, stir in the cumin seeds and let them infuse for 30 seconds. Then add the onion and salt and fry for about 5 minutes or until soft and translucent. Stir in the garlic and ginger paste and chopped chillies and fry for another 30 seconds, then add the diced tomato and ground spices. Stir together.
Step 2
Now add the chicken and 250ml (1 cup) of water. As the water comes to a simmer, break down the minced (ground) chicken until you see no lumps. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 15 minutes, lift the lid and continue simmering until the water has evaporated and the chicken is beginning to brown. Add the coriander (cilantro) and season with salt to taste, then transfer the filling to a plate to cool while you prepare the wrappers.
Step 3
When you’re ready to bake the samosa cups, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Lay out your filo pastry sheets on a clean surface and brush each of the sheets with some of the melted butter or ghee. Stack the sheets neatly so that you have two stacks of three filo sheets. Use a cookie cutter or similar, which is around 10cm (4in) diameter, to cut your samosa cup rounds and cut as many as you can get from your filo sheets. I get about 12 but the number will depend on the size of your pastry sheets.
Step 4
Brush a 12-hole cupcake tin lightly with some of the melted butter or ghee and fill each hole with one of the 3-ply circles. Fill each samosa with the chicken keema and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the samosas look crisp and the meat is hot. Carefully transfer the samosas to a serving platter and garnish each with the fresh coriander (cilantro) and serve.
