Recipes: Samosa – the party food hero

Samosa are great party food but they don’t have to be Asian, Indian or even savoury.

If you’re looking for a healthy alternative to apple tart, why not give this apple samosa a try.
This hand-held dessert will go down well in a crowd and are totally delicious.

If you are after something savoury; these artichoke, feta and mint samosa are inexpensive to put together and should also be a real crowd pleaser.

Apple samosa

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 cooking apples , peeled, cored and chopped
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 tsp ground mixed spice
• 50g sultanas
• 4 sheets filo pastry
• 25g butter, melted

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan. Place the apples, sugar, mixed spice and sultanas in a saucepan with 2 tbsp water and cook, covered, for 6 mins or until the apples are soft, stirring once or twice. Tip into a shallow dish and spread out to cool slightly.
2. Cut the sheets of filo in thirds lengthways, then brush lightly with the melted spread. Place a spoonful of the apple filling at the top of each strip, then fold over and over to form triangular parcels. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 mins until crisp and golden. Serve with low-fat yogurt, if you like.

Filo triangles with artichoke, feta and mint

Serves 25

Ingredients

• 200g block feta cheese , roughly chopped
• 1 jar artichoke hearts , rinsed and roughly chopped
• 1 lemon , zested
• A small bunch of mint , chopped
• 1 pack, about 300g filo pastry
• 100g melted butter

Instructions

1. Mix the feta, artichoke, lemon and mint together.
2. Take a piece of the filo pastry, brush all over with melted butter and cut into 7cm-wide strips. Cover the remaining pastry with a damp tea towel to keep fresh. Put 1 tbsp of the mixture at the bottom of the sheet of pastry and fold this edge up to meet one side to start the shape of a triangle. Fold the bottom point of the pastry up, sealing in the filling, then complete the triangle by folding again in the opposite direction. Keep folding until you reach the top and lightly brush with more melted butter. Repeat until you have finished the filling. Chill the triangles until you are ready to cook.
3. Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C and put a baking sheet in the oven.
4. Put the triangles on the hot baking tray and cook for 15 minutes or until golden brown.