Sunrise Vegetable Curry Samosas

Our family loves samosas. A savory filling wrapped in pastry always receives two thumbs, 8 fingers, and 10 toes up from our boys. Of all our vegan Indian recipes, this is their favorite. 

We've experimented with vegan pastry recipes and have finally perfected a light and flaky crust.  There are a few steps to making it, but it's not complicated. The keys lie in handling the dough as little as possible, using ice-cold Earth Balance vegan butter and water, and folding and refrigerating the dough to create the flaky layers. We've tried other vegan butters, but they don't work as well. I think they may have more water in them and create a tougher pastry rather than light and flaky one. 

We add spices to the dough for flavor and beauty. Although uncommon, the Aleppo crushed red pepper is worth finding. The granules are just the right size and as you roll out the dough it creates beautiful red streaks. If you don't have it, make these samosas anyway. You'll be glad you did. You can order Aleppo Pepper for next time. Here's a link: Aleppo Pepper.

Chana Dal is a split Indian garbanzo bean, or chickpea. They give the recipe an earthy, nutty depth of flavor and are definitely worth having in your pantry. You can certainly use any lentils you have on hand to make these too. Here's your link to order Chana Dal: Chana Dal.

The filling for these morsels is our Vegetable Explosion Chana Dal plus a potato. The protein, vitamins, and mineral content in these is off the charts! We developed this filling when we had leftover dal and didn't want to serve it the same way again. The added potato helps hold the filling together. If you don't have all the vegetable ingredients, go ahead and make the filling with what you have. Cooking for a family requires flexibility and efficiency!

You may be tempted to skip the tempering of the spices for the filling--don't. This brings out particular flavors in the spices, plus you'll feel like a fine chef :-)   What the heck is a tempering???See our world-fusion Vegan Indian Cooking Guide page to learn about tempering and how to make the delicious kind of Indian food you love to order in restaurants. 

Serve these Sunrise Vegetable Curry Samosas for any meal, hot or cold. Top with our tastebud tingling Cilantro-Mint Chutney. Here's the link for our homemade Garam Masala Spice Mix recipe!

(Some of the links on our page may be affiliate links. If you use them to purchase items, we may receive a small commission. It won't cost you anything and we appreciate your support!)

Making the Vegetable Explosion Chana Dal filling:

Making the pastry: 

Putting it all together: 

Jump to Sunrise Vegetable Curry Samosas Grocery List

Jump to Sunrise Vegetable Curry Samosas Nutritional Analysis

Sunrise Vegetable Curry Samosas Recipe

Prep

•  60 minutes prep
• Serves 10
• Suggested equipment: mixing bowls, grater, plastic wrap, large pot, knife, small pan, rolling pin, fork, cookie sheet, parchment paper, spray bottle or brush, cooling rack.

Ingredients

Pastry

• 1 2/3 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 cup frozen Earth Balance vegan butter
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp Garam Masala spice blend (recipe here!)
• 1 tsp Aleppo Pepper
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• ½ cup of cold water

Filling

• 2 cups Organic Chana Dal 
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 4 chopped garlic cloves
• 1 ½ Tbsp coconut oil
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup bell pepper
• ½ cup carrots
• 1 jalapeño or other hot green pepper
• 1 cup cauliflower
• 1 cup broccoli
• ½ cup kale or spinach
• 1 medium potato, diced
• ½ cup cilantro
• Juice of 1 lemon

The Tempering (spiced oil to add to the filling at the end of cooking)

• 1 Tbsp oil
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• 6 chopped garlic cloves
• 5 dried curry leaves
• 3 dried hot red chili peppers

Instructions

1. Rinse Chana Dal, cover with water, and soak while you make the pastry dough. 
2. Make your pastry: place the flour and dry spices in a mixing bowl. 
3. Grate the frozen vegan butter. Yes, really grate frozen butter. This is an important step to get your pastry light and flaky.
4. Add the butter to the dry ingredients and, using your hand, smash the butter into the flour mixture until it’s evenly lumpy.
5. Mix the apple cider vinegar and water together. Pour it over the flour and butter mixture and mix them together with your hand. Use the most minimal action to get a thoroughly mixed dough.
6. Shape into a flat disc, wrap with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator to rest for 30 minutes.
7. Make your Chana Dal and vegetable filling now! In a large pot, sauté the onions and garlic in coconut oil. Add turmeric and salt.
8. Finely chop bell pepper, carrots, and jalapeño or other hot green pepper.
9. Drain Chana Dal and put the dal and chopped vegetables in the pot with the onions and garlic. Add water to the point where water covers ingredients by 1”. Bring to a boil, cover and turn down to simmer.
10. Chop the cauliflower, broccoli, potato, and kale/spinach. After 10 minutes add them to the dal. Stir and add water to barely reach the top of the mixture.
11. To make your tempering, add oil, mustard seeds, cumin, garlic, curry, and dried red chili to a small pan. Sauté until peppers are a shade darker and mustard seeds start to pop. Turn off heat. Set aside.
12. When dal is soft, add cilantro and tempering spices and oil. Stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add lemon juice and salt to taste. Cool. Before placing the filling in the pastry, take the curry leaves and dried peppers out. 
13. Back to the pastry: Lay the pastry dough out on a lightly floured surface. Roll it in one direction to ½” thick. Fold into thirds so it is 3 similarly-sized layers thick. Wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
14. Repeat one more time. Roll, fold, refrigerate for 15 minutes. This gives you the flaky crust you’ll love!
15. Heat the oven to 400F.
16. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle ¼ inch thick and 8 inches wide. Cut into 4x4 inch squares. 
17. Place 1/3 cup of filling in the center and fold over to make a triangle. Wet the inner edges of the square so they stick together. With a fork, press the edges to seal them. 
18. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the samosas close together. Lightly brush or spray them with a little oil.  Bake for 25-30 minutes on the middle rack.
19. They're done when the pastry looks golden, crisp, and flaky. Remove from the oven and place them on a baking rack to cool. This helps to ensure the bottoms are crispy. If you don't have a baking rack, no worries! Leave them on the cookie sheet to cool. 
20. Serve with our homemade  Tangy Cilantro-Mint Chutney or Tamarind Chutney.

Chef's Notes 

The vegan pastry in this recipe is stellar and is best made following the instructions, but the filling is flexible. You can add any savory filling you want! Use what you have in your refrigerator and pantry, just make sure it's thick enough to hold its shape when you place it on the pastry. 

If you love Indian food, check out our page about cooking world-fusion vegan Indian food. In support of this recipe, you can learn about tempering, Garam Masala, Chana Dal, and more!

We hope you love this recipe as much as we do! If you have an article or recipe requests, let us know on our Facebook page: Your Vegan Family. While you're there, please like our page and share our posts!

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Written by Your Vegan Family 

Stacy and Markus live an adventurous vegan lifestyle and write articles about their experiences cooking global vegan cuisine, creating businesses, raising vegan kids, and traveling through more than 65 countries. They earned degrees in molecular biology and acupuncture, consulted over decades for healthcare companies and individuals, created businesses in Asian medicine, eco-tourism, cultural immersion, and taught yoga in myriad venues.

We’ve learned a lot from eating a plant-based diet for 25 years and are eager to share more with you. Learn more on our About Us page.

Vegan Sunrise Vegetable Curry Samosas Recipe Grocery List: 

We've provided links to purchase ingredients that may not be easy to find at your local store. We try to cast our vote for a better world when we make purchases by choosing organic and sourcing from socially and ecologically ethical, and small family-owned businesses before we go to Amazon. We help you source your ingredients with these values in mind through our links. If you see a highlighted ingredient, it's a link so you can purchase it. We may receive a small commission that won't cost you anything extra, and we deeply appreciate your support. 

Pure Indian Foods is a super company that we support for all our Indian Cuisine needs. We hope you will too. When you click on our link you will go to their home page. Use the search bar in the upper left corner to find the ingredients you want. Thank you!

• onion
• garlic cloves
• bell pepper
• carrots
• fresh jalapeño or other hot green pepper
• cauliflower
• broccoli
• kale or spinach
• potato
• cilantro
• lemon
• unbleached white flour
• Chana Dal
• Earth Balance Vegan Butter
• apple cider vinegar
• coconut oil
• Garam Masala (recipe here!)
• Pesticide-Free Aleppo Pepper
• turmeric 
• mustard seeds
• cumin seeds
• curry leaves
• dried hot red chili peppers
• salt

Sunrise Vegetable Curry Samosas Recipe Nutritional Analysis

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutritional calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. When exact ingredients are not available in this database, the closest substitution is made. 

Percentages are based on a 2,000 calorie daily diet for an adult. 

 * Some of the links in this article may be affiliate links. If you use them and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment. You will not be charged extra for this. Thank you for your support!