Sweet Potato Samosas are delicious pastry triangles that are baked (not fried!), and filled with a savory mixture of sweet potatoes, butternut, and Indian spices; with three dipping sauces from which to choose. Perfect as an appetizer, light lunch, or packing in a picnic.
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What's the Story Behind this Recipe?
Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook was my first vegetarian cookbook. (If you are a vegetarian-leaning sort of person of a “certain age,” there’s a good chance it was your first, too.)
Opening the cover on Moosewood is like taking a step back in time: hand-lettered pages are filled with wonderful, rich, easy-to-prepare vegetarian recipes, wrapping you in a comforting, laid-back-to-your-roots granola sort of vibe. These Sweet Potato & Butternut Samosas are inspired by one of my favorite Moosewood recipes.
My current copy of The Moosewood Cookbook (15th Anniversary Edition) is over 30 years old.
The most obvious change I made was to traditional samosas was to magically change the peas (which I avoid) to butternut squash (which I love), and the white potatoes to white sweet potatoes, because I think they go with the butternut better. I added some curry powder and a shake of nutmeg to boost the butternut squash flavor, too.
And they are baked, not fried!
These little pillows of deliciousness make a great appetizers, or you can make them bigger and serve them as savory hand-pies. They are perfect for picnicking, too! Whatever you do, be sure to serve them with at least one of the dipping sauces.
What Goes into this Recipe
Filling Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
Fresh is always best for this recipe.
★ Sweet Potatoes: We recommend using white-fleshed sweet potatoes. We have made this recipe with orange sweet potatoes, and they tasted fine, but the white sweet potatoes lend a more traditional potato texture to the finished samosas.
★ Butternut squash: You can sub in any orange or yellow winter squash for the butternut. (Or peas, if that's your thing.)
Butternut squash are famously difficult to cut. Be careful and take your time.
★ Onions: We prefer to use yellow or white onions for this recipe; however, any onion will work.
★ Ginger: Use fresh ginger if you can. You can substitute ½ teaspoon of dry ginger if you can't find fresh.
★ Garlic: Fresh garlic is always best; however, in a pinch, you can sub in ½ teaspoon of garlic powder or granulated garlic.
Samosa Dough Ingredients & Options
The dough recipe included here is based on the original yogurt-based dough from the Moosewood Cookbook.
You can use any kind of resilient pastry dough to make baked samosas, including puff pastry, phyllo dough, and premade pie dough. (Note that you may have to adjust the baking time and temperature.)
How to Make Baked Sweet Potato Samosas
Sweet Potato & Butternut Filling
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the cubed butternut squash, and sauté until it just begins to soften.
Add the onion, and stir until the squash is tender and the onion is soft and translucent.1
Add the garlic, ginger, mustard seeds, coriander, curry, nutmeg and salt. Stir over medium heat for a minute or two to release the flavors of the spices.2
Put the cubed sweet potatoes into a medium saucepan and cover with water.
Bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the potatoes are tender; about 15 minutes.3
Drain and mash very lightly – just break them into pieces. You want them to be very chunky: not a smooth mash.4
Combine squash mixture with mashed sweet potatoes. Stir in lemon juice.5
Allow the filling to cool at least 15 minutes before filling the pastries.6
Moosewood Dough
Mix the flour and salt together. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and add the yogurt.7
Mix with your hand to form a smooth dough. Add extra flour if you need to keep the dough from being sticky.8 Knead the dough for about five minutes, then cover until the filling has sufficiently cooled.9
Assembling Pastries
Preheat oven to 425°F | 220°C.
Roll out the samosa dough and cut nine 6-inch circles.10 Cut each circle in half.11
I cut the circles using a 6-inch hand-pie maker. Cutting around the outside of a small bowl works too.
Holding one half circle of dough in your palm, wet half of the straight edge with a fingertip of water.12 Fold the edges together to form a cone.13-14
Fill the cone with about a tablespoon of filling.15
Wet half of the top of the cone with water, then pleat the side opposite the seam and pinch the top edge together in the middle.16
Roll the top edge over slightly to seal.17 It works best when the seam/roll is placed opposite the straight sealed edge.18
Baked, Not Fried
Place the prepared samosas rolled side down on a parchment-lined baking tray.19
Bake at 425°F | 220°C for about 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Moosewood Dipping Sauce (optional)
Place all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Simmer 10 minutes to reduce slightly.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Note: I couldn’t find the Moosewood Dipping Sauce recipe in the current (40th Anniversary) edition, and it is delicious, so you're welcome.
Mint Chutney (optional)
Put mint, cilantro, ginger, lime, water, salt and pepper in a food processor and process until it becomes a sauce. (It’s OK if there’s still little leaf bits.)
Heat canola oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and fry until you hear popping; about a minute.
Add fried mustard seeds to sauce dipping sauce and serve.
Tamarind Dipping Sauce (optional)
Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add cumin seeds, garam masala, and ginger. Cook and stir for about a minute to activate the spices.
Stir in the water, and then the sugar and tamarind paste.
Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes; until the mixture turns deep brown. (It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.)
FAQs & Expert Tips
Leftover Pastry: Spread the leftovers bits of pastry on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with sugar and bake while you assemble the samosas. It will take about 15-20 minutes at 425°F | 220°C.
Easy! Sub in vegan yogurt for dairy-based yogurt in the dough. That's it.
Nearly all of the sweet potatoes found in the US fall into two categories: (1) golden skin with creamy white flesh, and (2) brown or copper skin with an orange flesh.
Orange sweet potatoes have a sweet, smooth, soft texture. White sweet potatoes, on the other hand, have a milder flavor and crumblier, more potato-like texture when cooked.
FYI: True yams are almost impossible to find in the States. Those things you grew up calling 'yams' were almost certainly orange sweet potatoes.
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Sweet Potato & Butternut Samosas
Equipment
- 1 6-inch hand-pie cutter optional; or a small bowl
- 1 Small Skillet optional; for dipping sauces
- 1 small saucepan optional; for dipping sauces
Ingredients
Sweet Potato & Butternut Samosa Filling
- 1 tablespoon canola oil or olive oil
- 1 cup butternut squash peeled and cut into ¼-inch cubes; about 5½ ounces
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne optional; to taste
- 2 whole white flesh sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes; about 1 pound
Moosewood Dipping Sauce (optional)
- ½ cup cider or rice wine vinegar
- ½ cup water
- 3-4 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Mint Chutney (optional)
- 1 cup fresh mint leaves
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger chopped
- ½ lime
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon canola oil or olive oil
- 1 teaspoons mustard seed
Tamarind Dipping Sauce (optional)
- 1½ teaspoons canola oil or olive oil
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- 1 cup water
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1½ tablespoons tamarind paste
Instructions
Sweet Potato & Butternut Filling
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the cubed butternut squash, and sauté until it just begins to soften. Add the onion, and stir until the squash is tender and the onion is soft and translucent.
- Add the garlic, ginger, mustard seeds, coriander, curry, nutmeg and salt. Stir over medium heat for a minute or two to activate the spices.
- Put the cubed sweet potatoes into a medium saucepan and cover with water.Bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the potatoes are tender; about 15 minutes. Drain and mash very lightly – just break them into pieces. You want them to be very chunky: not a smooth mash.
- Combine squash mixture with mashed sweet potatoes. Stir in lemon juice. Allow the filling to cool at least 15 minutes before filling the pastries.
Moosewood Samosa Dough
- Mix the flour and salt together. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and add the yogurt.
- Mix with your hand to form a smooth dough. Add extra flour if you need to keep the dough from being sticky. Knead for about five minutes, then cover until the filling has sufficiently cooled.
Assemble Pastries
- Preheat oven to 425°F | 220°C.
- Roll out the samosa dough and cut nine 6-inch circles. Cut each circle in half. I cut the circles using a 6-inch hand-pie press. Cutting around the outside of a small bowl works too.
- Holding one half circle of dough in your palm, wet half of the straight edge with a fingertip of water. Fold the edges together to form a cone.
- Fill the cone with about a tablespoon of filling. Wet half of the top of the cone with water, then pleat the side opposite the seam and pinch the top edge together in the middle.Roll the top edge over slightly to seal. (It works best when the seam/roll is placed opposite the straight sealed edge.)
Bake (No Frying!)
- Place the prepared samosas rolled side down on a parchment lined-baking tray. Bake at 425°F | 220°C for about 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Moosewood Dipping Sauce (optional)
- Place all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Simmer 10 minutes to reduce slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Mint Chutney (optional)
- Put mint, cilantro, ginger, lime, water, salt and pepper in a food processor and process until it becomes a sauce. (It’s OK if there’s still little leaf bits.) Heat canola oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and fry until you hear popping. Add fried mustard seeds to sauce dipping sauce and serve.
Tamarind Dipping Sauce (optional)
- Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add cumin seeds, garam masala, and ginger. Cook and stir for about a minute to activate the spices.
- Stir in the water, and then the sugar and tamarind paste.Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes; until the mixture turns deep brown. (It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.)
Notes
Nutritional information includes only values for the Sweet Potato Samosas. It does not include any information for dipping sauces.
Nutrition
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
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Originally Published January 13, 2015. This post has been updated with new content, images, and recipe instructions to improve reader experience.
Michele says
Renée-
I loved this recipe but the phyllo didn't want to cooperate. Likely user-error though since I've not really used the stuff before. Ended up laying some of the sheets like a lasagna with the filling in the middle. Any suggestions on handling the phyllo if I give it another try? In the meantime, the filling is awesome and I think I might try forming it into patties and baking it.
Michele
Renée ♥ says
So sorry that you are having trouble with the phyllo. It is temperamental in very dry climates. You can try covering it with a very damp cloth, uncovering it as you use each sheet. I don't know what brand you are using, but I've had great luck with Athens. Or you could just throw in the towel completely (pun intended) and just use a sheet of puff pastry. The pastry texture will be different, but it will be no-hassle, and the result will be light, flaky and delicious. So glad you like the filling. Best of luck. 🙂
kelsey says
oooh yum! i love samosas and butternut squash... the perfect combo!
Laura says
Kudos on tackling samosas! I love them but am forever intimidated.
Geoff (Steep Stories) says
I love sweet potatoes. I love samosas. I wish I knew how to cook. I should pass on this recipe to a sibling that DOES know how to cook so I could eat all of it.
Catherine says
I love Moosewood (I make a version of their Shepherd's Pie all the time), so you had me at that inspiration! I pinned these to make soon. They look amazing.
Renée ♥ says
Mollie Katzen is my culinary hero. (In fact, I have a post about that very topic scheduled for later this year.) She has done so much to advance plant-based cooking into the mainstream American diet, and I'm always so inspired by her.
Melinda says
These look delicious! Of course, convincing my husband to eat squash is a bit of an undertaking, but maybe I just wouldn't tell him it is there....
Renée ♥ says
As far as cooking is concerned, what he doesn't know won't hurt him! I used to get my kids to eat new things like that way all the time!
Kim (Feed Me, Seymour) says
I cannot explain how much I am obsessed with these! They look amazing. Samosas are probably one of my favorite things on Earth and this twist is fantastic.
Pech says
Moosewood cookbooks are still my favorite vegetarian cookbooks for the variety of recipes and simplicity!