Indian Cookery Lessons

Vegetable Pâte:

This is a very popular vegetarian starter that can be eaten either hot
or cold. 90% of those who have eaten it have invariably asked for its
recipe! Slightly time-consuming to make but well worth the effort!

Makes 16:
Preparation Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

Pâte Dough - 500 gm (available at most super stores; picture of
packet given below.)
Oil - 4 tablespoon
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Onions, chopped - 2 medium
Green Chillies, finely chopped - 2
Tomato, chopped - 1 large
Coriander, chopped - small bunch.
Chilli Powder - 1 teaspoon
Cumin Powder - 1 ½ teaspoon
Turmeric - ½ teaspoon
Ginger paste - 1 teaspoon
Carrot, chopped - 2
Bean, chopped - ½ cup
Peas - ½ cup
Potato, boiled, peeled and mashed - 4 large
Peanuts - handful.
Salt - ½ teaspoon or to taste.
Vinegar - 1 tablespoon

Click on each picture to enlarge.

Tips!

These are an ideal snack for parties. To make them bite-size,
simply cut the rolled out dough into thirty two small pieces
instead of sixteen! Add one tablespoon of the spicy mixed
vegetable filling instead of two!

Variation: Cheese, Onion and Coriander Pâte

Use 1 tablespoon of Philadelphia soft cheese, chopped
onions, chopped fresh coriander and pepper as a filling
instead of the spicy mixed vegetable filling. It tastes
yummy!

Pâte Dough

Method:

Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds, onions, green chilli and fry for 1 minute. Add chopped tomato, coriander and fry until
the tomato has become tender.

Add chilli powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, ginger paste and mix well. Fry for 2 minutes or until slightly brown.

Add chopped carrots, beans, peas and mix well. Allow to cook for 2 minutes before adding the boiled mashed potato. Mix
well. Then add a handful of peanuts and some vinegar. Mix well and keep aside to cool.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the Pâte dough into a big square shape. Cut sixteen small pieces out of this rolled out
dough.

Roll out the smaller pieces a bit more with some flour. Put two tablespoon of the spicy mixed vegetable filling inside and
close the dough to form a Pâte shape. Repeat the same procedure for rest of the pieces.

Put them on a greaseproof tray. Pre-heat the oven to 160º C. Put the pâte's in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until slightly
brown on top. The pâte's should rise slightly. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Eat them either hot or cold!