You won't miss a traditional samosa wrapper and this is as quick as defrosting some puff pastry dough and cooking potatoes. You will be able to keep them around just long enough to make that pot of tea.
Remove puff pastry from the freezer the night before and defrost in the refrigerator, or at room temperature for 45 minutes before using.
Gather all your ingredients.
Make sure your oven rack is in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 400°F (200°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
Lightly flour a clean surface and roll the dough to flatten and make it slightly thinner. If going the triangle route, you will ideally have a rectangle measuring 12 x 8, which will give you six 4 x 4 squares. You may need to do some trimming, depending on the brand of puff pastry you use. If you are making half-moon shaped samosa, cut out 4 6-inch circles, using a bowl of that size. Cut each circle in half, and then proceed as follows.
Dock the dough with a fork to prevent excessive puffing (prick lightly about every inch or so).
Place a heaping tablespoon of filling on one side. Fold the dough over the filling, pressing out any air pockets as you go. Using a fork, crimp around the edges ensuring a good seal.
Place the samosas 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. If sprinkling with carom (ajwain) seeds, make a quick egg wash with an egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of milk or cream. Brush on the top side of the samosas and sprinkle with the seeds.
Bake until nicely browned and puffed up. Start checking the samosa at the 13 minute mark. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Serve warm or at room temperature with chutney or two of your choice. You can freeze the samosas before or after baking.
Notes
For this recipe, you will need to have made some sort of filling. I have recommended a potato or ground meat filling in the ingredients.
If you have carom (ajwain/ajowan) seeds and want to give your puff pastry samosas a slightly more traditional note, add a sprinkle of these seeds for a lovely herbal note. You may want to beat an egg and give the samosa an egg wash in order for the seeds to stick a little more.
If you don’t eat onion and garlic, simply leave them out of your filling and your samosas with still be yummy.
If you decide you want a triangular samosa shape, rather then a half-moon, what is important is that you cut the dough into squares. Whether they are exactly 4-inch squares is not important; just use up as much of your dough as you can depending on the size of your puff pastry sheet.
Look for puff pastry in the freezer section of your grocery store and make sure they are made with butter, rather than oil unless you want a vegan samosa.