Beef and Mint Samosas, Potato Cutlets, and Sesame Topped Semolina Cake with Coconut

I have really enjoyed this experience for many reasons but the biggest has been that it has encouraged us to have dinner guests. We've had friends over once a week for the past few weeks and it has been great. We don't always get to make a lot of events with friends because they're usually not kid friendly and babysitters are not cheap so any excuse to hang out is always appreciated. We had friends over for this meal and, um, I'm grateful we had such good conversation to make up for other things...

 Beef and Mint Samosas

1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds. I just used ground coriander because I couldn't find seeds.

1/2 tsp black peppercorns

8 oz minced beef

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 in ginger, chopped

1 1/2 tbsps oil

2 cup fine chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped mint leaves

1 1/2 tsp salt

25-30 spring roll wrappers, cut into 2 1/2 in x 8 in strips. Spring roll wrappers are not easy to work with, btw. You should wet them quickly and then work with them before they start sticking. And they stick very easily. I didn't cut mine into strips, I just folded them into quarters. It wasn't pretty.

1 cup oil for deep frying

Grind the cumin, coriander, and peppercorns. Blend the beef with the ginger and garlic. Heat the oil and stir fry the beef for 3 minutes. Add the ground spices and continue to fry for 6 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and fry for 2 minutes.

Make your samosas. The instructions in the book made nooooo sense to me so, yeah, I just made my own shape. You do you. Fry the samosas until golden brown. I didn't; you'll see.

Potato Cutlets

3 cups water

1 1/2 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced

2 1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp oil

5 oz minced beef

1 tsp chili flakes

3 tbsps finely sliced onions

3 chilies, finely chopped

1 tsp curry powder

Egg white from one egg

Boil potatoes in salt water until tender. Mash. Heat the oil and fry the beef for 3 minutes. Add chili flakes, onion, chilies, and curry; fry for 10 more minutes. Make a potato patty the size of your palm and place a tablespoon of the beef in the center. Wrap the potato around it. Coat with the egg white and deep fry until golden.

Semolina Cake

2 1/4 cups semolina

2 1/2 cups coconut milk

2 1/2 cups water

2 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsps salt

2 eggs beaten

1/2 cup oil, heated

1/2 cup raisins

2 tbsps white poppy seeds

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Dry roast the semolina for 10 minutes until it's reddish-brown. I got impatient and dry roasted for maybe 5. In a saucepan, add the semolina, coconut milk, water, sugar, salt, beaten egg, and hot oil. Bring to a boil and cook over low medium heat for 20 minutes until the mixture comes away from the pan. Stir continuously throughout the cooking. If it begins to stick, add a teaspoon of oil at a time. Before it's done cooking, add the raisins. Pour into a greased pan, smooth the surface, sprinkle with the poppy seeds, and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for several hours before serving. 

So my samosas came out weird. They were good but very chewy. I think I should have fried them longer and I should have fried the meat less because it was kinda hard. Same thing with the potatoes. They were more like mashed potato patties. I love mashed potatoes so I was okay with it. The cake was YUMMY! It was sweet but not rich. It had the consistency of Cream of Wheat and I LOVE Cream of Wheat.

Everyone enjoyed the meal (so they said) but I enjoyed the company more. Aw, look at me, being nice. It's so weird. Like my samosas.