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January 25, 2017
Burns Night menu
Crown your Burns Night menu with Tony Singh’s clootie samosas.

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns so we are celebrating with recipes for a fantastic Burns Night menu.

All three are from top Scottish chefs with restaurants on 5pm Dining.

Today, we have a good looking recipe for a clootie samosa from Tony Singh, a regular face on the telly and the man responsible for the menus at Glasgow’s Tasty and Apex Grassmarket.

Burns Night menu: three recipes

If you look back at yesterday’s blog, you will find a hearty lamb recipe from Jak O’Donnell, TV chef and the driving force at The Sisters restaurants.

And on Monday, we posted the recipe for an elegant creamed carrot and parsnip soup from Carina Contini.

Along with husband Victor, Carina runs Contini Ristorante, The Scottish Cafe and Restaurant and Contini Cannonball.

All of the recipes are easy to do although Tony’s clootie samosas will need some prep time.

For more great Burns Night menu ideas, details of events and celebrations taking place across Scotland, and other Burns-related fun including facts, games and videos, visit www.scotland.org/burns

Clootie Samosas by Tony Singh

Serves 4

We’ve divided this into four sections. The first three detail how to make the clootie filling, the samosa pastry and a sauce to go with the dish. The final section explains how they all come together.

Or should that be gang the gither?

For the Clootie filling

Ingredients

350g breadcrumbs

125g suet

250g mixed currants and sultanas

1 tbsp golden syrup

75g caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

4 tbsp of milk

Method

Rub the suet, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder and breadcrumbs together. Add the sultanas and currants.

Gradually add the eggs plus the golden syrup and mix until all the egg is incorporated.

Slowly add the milk (you may not need all the milk to obtain a good dough).

Once the mixture is ready, leave aside to rest before forming into balls

For the chocolate and whisky sauce

Ingredients

150g dark chocolate (70%)

100g milk chocolate

20g caster

45g double cream

30g whisky

Method

Melt the chocolate. Bring the cream, sugar and milk to the boil. Emulsify with the chocolate. Stir in the whisky.

For the pastry

Ingredients

250g plain flour

4 tbsp veg oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 ajwain seeds (optional)

Water to bind

Method

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add oil into the flour and mix it all by taking small handfuls of flour and oil and rubbing it between your palms. Press the mixture into a ball by making a fist. The flour should hold together unaided.

Now add water in small portions to make pastry. Once the dough comes together, work it for another 5 minutes. Rest for half an hour, covered in a damp cloth.

NB – The trick to kneading perfect dough is always add water in small portions. Dough for samosa pastry should be a little tighter than a normal short pastry.

Putting it all together

Start by rolling a lime size ball of dough into a circle using a rolling pin. The flat circle should be around 11-12cm in diameter.

Cut the big circle into two semicircles. Take about two spoons of clootie mixture, roll it into a ball and place it in the centre of the semicircle.

Now dip your finger in water and rub it at the straight edge of the semicircle to make it wet so it sticks.

Lift the pastry over the clootie ball, covering it half way. Do the same with the second piece of pastry, covering the clootie to make a triangle shape.

The two flaps should stick to each other right at the centre of the samosa.

The third side of the triangle should still be open. Use a little water to make it wet and stick the two flaps together with your finger. Repeat the process with the rest of the dough.

Fry in vegetable oil at 175°C/350°F/Gas mark 4 until golden and crispy.

Serve with the whisky sauce and vanilla ice cream.

Good luck with Tony’s clootie samosas and we hope you enjoy your Burns Night menu recipes.