Side/Pastries

Samosas

Time: 3 hr Yields: samosas Cost: $0.30 per samosa Difficulty: 9/10

From Cook with Manali, and I’m suspicious of how similar the Recipe Tin Eats version is. Adding water to the filling mixture is an adjustment suggested by Sunil at Sunil’s Spice Centre after reading over the recipe. This recipe is so extremely involved and takes so long, and doesn’t make a lot. It’s a special occasion food, the result is delightful but it takes so much work. The samosas are fried on low heat initially or else the pastry bubbles in a not very cute way. Adjust frying temperature if it isn’t working, I should have taken more notes.

Ingredients

    dough

  • Plain flour 2 cups
  • Salt 0.25 tsp
  • Caraway seeds 1 tsp
  • Vegetable oil 4 tbsp
  • Water 6 tbsp
  • Water 7 tbsp

    • filling

  • Potatoes 3 whole
  • Ginger 1 cm
  • Vegetable oil 2 tbsp
  • Cumin seeds 1 tsp
  • Fennel seeds 1 tsp
  • Coriander seeds 2 tsp
  • Hing (asafoetida) 0.25 tsp
  • Peas (frozen) 0.5 cups

    • filling

  • Coriander (ground) 1 tsp
  • Garam masala 0.5 tsp
  • Amchur 0.5 tsp
  • Salt 1 tsp

    • frying

  • Vegetable oil to fill saucepan

Steps

  1. Mix flour, salt and caraway seeds in a bowl.
  2. Push 4 tbsp vegetable oil into the flour mixture with your fingers for 4 minutes until consistency is like crumbs and a pressed clump doesn't fall apart. Don't underdo it.
  3. Add 7 tbsp water gradually, mixing until a it is a stiff dough. Don't overwork it.
  4. Cover dough with a damp teatowel and sit for 40 minutes.
  5. Now for the filling. Boil the potatoes, drain and mash very lightly.
  6. Finely chop ginger.
  7. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large pan on medium-high. Add cumin seeds, fennel seeds and coriander seeds. Fry for a 15 seconds.
  8. Add diced ginger and hing to pan and mix. Fry for 1 minute.
  9. Add potatoes and peas to pan, mix well. Add water to adjust consistency.
  10. Add coriander powder, garam masala, amchur, and salt. Mix and then remove from heat to cool.
  11. Make a water and flour slurry in a small cup, just mix a little of each until it feels vaguely gluey.
  12. Now to shape them. Knead the dough a little, then split into 7 pieces. Roll each piece out into a circle 15cm in diameter, and cut each circle in half, leaving you with 14 semicircles.
  13. Dipping a finger into the slurry, apply it along the straight edge of the semicircle. Press into a cone, pinching the end to form a point.
  14. Holding the cone in one hand like you would a tiny icecream cone, add 1-2 tbsp of filling. Apply the slurry along the top edges and press them together to seal. Repeat for each piece of dough.
  15. Now to fry them. Fill a medium saucepan with vegetable oil and heat on stove to 130 degrees. To test heat, drop a small piece of dough in and it should take a few seconds to come to the surface.
  16. Gently lower 5 samosas into the pot and fry for 10 minutes.
  17. Raise the heat to 180 degrees with the samosas still in the pot, then fry until browned, about 8 minutes.
  18. Remove samosa to dish and repeat until all samosas are cooked.