Sambuusa ya Mboga or vegetable samosas,  my own favorite recipe for samosas comes from my Mum, who, a true vegetarian,  made amazing vegetarian samosas, packed with potatoes, cabbage, peas, carrots, with just the right spice. I don’t think I am ever going to replicate that taste which comes from locally sourced vegetables, nor her recipe, this was one of those recipes you just saw her cook or dictate and then you went in the kitchen and gave it a go.  

She was a human machine when it came to cutting veggies, every cube of potato and carrot uniform in size, her plated food a visual delight.  I would often laugh at her and say, “who is going to even see if that cube was bigger or smaller than the other one?”, and she would reply “I would know, so cut it correctly or give me the knife”.   

Besides samosas, Mum used this veggie filling  to make “masala buns” which were simply homemade bread dough filled with the veggie mix and baked. And the creative cook Mum was her Masala Cones where she used to wrap samosa patti strips around metal cones, fry them to create crispy cones that she would stuff with the veggie mixture were just absolutely ingenious.  A sort of an open faced samosa!

I use this basic veggie filling for veggie puffs using store-bought puff pastry or for all the crust hating sandwich lovers in my house,  the old fashioned “chamcha ni sandwich” using a more modern “chamcho” that Mum purchased so that my then little ones could hold the sandwiches in their little hands.   The “chamcho” here is basically a campfire or gas top toastie /sandwich maker. 

If you are not using this to make vegetable samosas, feel free to experiment with vegetable filling, add grated paneer, sweetcorn or green beans if you like. And leave out spices or add ginger and garlic paste if you like. Experiment with stuffing it into pasta shells or cannelloni, or wrap them in phyllo pastry- put your stamp on your creations!  

Food has the incredible ability to take us back in time and these Gujarati masala  toasties take me straight back to my childhood when if not packed as portable travel foods,  sandwiches were served for a late tea or as a light supper with masala tea.

This is a versatile vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free filling.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium red or yellow onion finely chopped
• 4 Idaho potatoes or red potatoes work as well.
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• 1 cup of cubed carrots
• 4 cups of shredded cabbage
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon ginger paste
• 1tsp. green chili paste.
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon coriander & cumin powder (dhana jeera)
• ½ Kashmiri red chili powder
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup water as needed
• ½ teaspoon sugar (optional I don’t use it as peas and carrots are sweet)
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• ½ lemon squeezed1 bunch cilantro finely chopped approx.. 1 cup or more
• Lots of room temperature butter
• White bread

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium.
2. Add cumin seeds seeds and when they pop add the ginger and green chili paste, stir and add potatoes, carrots, cabbage in that order ( potatoes take longer to cook than carrots or cabbage), add the turmeric powder, salt and red chili powder, add about a ¼ cup of water or less, cover and cook until potatoes are tender and break easily, add the frozen peas in the last 6 minutes of the cooking, then gently mix everything together.
3. Turn off the heat, adjust any seasoning, then add the garam masala, and lemon juice and when slightly cool add the chopped cilantro.  Let the filling cool down before using it as a stuffing.
4. Apply butter on two slices of bread, add the spiced veggie mix on one slice of bread, cover with the other slice of bread and press slightly.
5. Grease the stove top toastie maker with butter, place the sandwich on one side of the toaster, close the lid and trim away any extra bread overhang.
6. Toast over medium gas flame until both sides are golden brown and crisp.

Leftover bread scraps? Use them to make a quick weekend breakfast or midday snack of Bread Upma!