The Samosas, generally eaten as a snack in India, they make an excellent appetizer. You may stuff them with anything you wish, although traditional stuffing is either made from spicy potatoes or ground meat. They are made of flour pasta, fried or cooked in oven. It could also be stuffed with other ingredients, for example: peas, onions, cheese, chicken etc ... Usually accompanied with tamarind chutney or curd.
Ingredients:
For about 8 samosas
For the pastry
- 225g plain flour
- ½ tsp of salt
- 4 tsp of vegetable oil (+ a bit more)
- 4 tsp of water
For the stuffing
- 725g boiled potatoes (with peel on) and allowed to cool
- 4 tbsp of vegetable oil
- 1 medium-sized onion peeled and finely chopped
- 175g shelled peas fresh or frozen (if frozen, defrost them first)
- 1 tbsp finely grated peeled fresh ginger
- 1 fresh hot green chili finely chopped
- 3 tbsp of very finely chopped fresh green coriander
- 3 tbsp of water
- 1 ½ tsp salt (or as desired)
- 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
- 1 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- Vegetable oil for deep-frying
Method:
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, add the vegetable oil and work the dough until resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Slowly add water (as much as needed) and gather the dough into a stiff bowl.
Put the dough on a clean working surface, knead it for about 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and homogeneous. Form a ball and grease it a little with a bit of oil and put it to rest in a plastic bag for about 30 minutes.
For the stuffing:
Peel the potatoes and cut them into fine dices. Heat some oil in a large frying pan over a medium flame, when hot, put in the onion and cook them until they become golden; add the peas, ginger, green chili, fresh coriander and water, until the peas are fully cooked.
Stir every now and then, add a little more of water in case it seems to dry out.
Add the diced potatoes, salt, coriander, garam masala, roasted cumin, cayenne and lemon juice and stir more.
Cook on low heat for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring gently as you do so, taste to see if you need more lemon juice or salt. Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool down.
Knead the pastry dough again and divide it into 8 balls, work it one by one keeping the rest covered, roll the balls out into 18 cm (diameter).
- Roll out the circle of balls of dough of about 5mm
- Cut in half the circles of the flat dough
- Take one half and fold the edges
- Form a cone
- Seal the flaps with water and add the stuffing inside
- Brush with water and seal the open edge by pressing firmly (like a seam)
Make 7 more samosas repeating the same process.
After you finished making your samosas, heat about in 4 or 5 cm of oil for deep-frying over a medium flame. You may use a small, deep frying pan for this or an Indian Karhai. When the oil is medium hot, put in as many samosas as the pan will hold in a single layer. Fry slowly, turning the samosas frequently until they are golden brown and crispy. Drain them on kitchen paper and serve hot, warm or at room temperatures.