Vegetable Samosas

Yield: 16 samosas. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the tablespoons of vegetable oil and rub it in with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Slowly add about 4 tablespoons of water - or a tiny bit more - and gather the dough into a stiff ball. Empty the ball out on to a clean work surface. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until it is smooth. Make a ball. Rub the ball with about 1/4 teaspoon oil and slip it into a polyethene bag. Set aside for 30 minutes or longer. Make the stuffing. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 5 mm dice. Heat 4 tablespoons oil in a large frying pan over a medium flame. When hot, put in the onions. Stir and fry them until they begin to turn brown at the edges. Add the peas, ginger, green chilli, fresh coriander and 3 tablespoons water. Cover, lower heat and simmer until peas are cooked. Stir every now and then and add a little more if the frying pan seems to dry out. Add the diced potatoes, salt, coriander, garam masala, roasted cumin, cayenne and lemon juice. Stir to mix. Cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring gently as you do so. Check the balance of the salt and lemon juice. You may want to add more of both. Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool. Knead the pastry dough again and divide it into 8 balls. Keep 7 covered while you work with the eighth. Roll this ball out into an 18 cm round. Cut it into half. Pick up one half and form a cone, making a 5 mm wide overlapping seam. Glue this seam together with a little water. Fill the cone with about 2 1/2 tablespoons of the potato mixture. Close the top of the cone by sticking the open edges together with a little water. Again, your seam should be about 5 mm wide. Press the top seam down with the prongs of a fork or flute it with your fingers. Make remaining samosas. Heat about 4-5 cm of oil for deep frying over a medium-low flame. You may use a small deep frying pan for this. When the oil is medium hot, put in as many samosas as the pan will hold in a single layer. Fry slowly, turning the samosas frequently until they are golden brown and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.