Samosa: Deep Fried Indian Pastries with Vegetable Filling

Samosa, I love it, due to my pregnancy craving I always ask my hubby to buy it from the Indian stores. Always I buy with lot of enthusiasm; you can call it crazy about thinking of eating them. And I end up disappointed. I think one should take cooking class how you shouldn’t make samosa from these stores.  I don’t know how they can spoil a simple dish, which requires only a few minimum steps to make it. They either make entirely with potato without any spice or salt or on the other hand load it with tons of chili powder. 

Most of Indian restaurant here, think if you want, just buy it, whether you like or not we don’t care, we will make it this way, rest is your headache. But in India, the street food vendors make it very tasty and appealing as they make their living by selling samosa. Furthermore there is tons of choice; where you can go and get it. Customer rules there.

Samosa originated from Central Asia before the 10th century and made its way to India during 10^th and 13^th century through the ancient trade routes.  By 14^th century samosa become Indian cuisine.  Samosa‘s ancestors are sanbusak   pastries (the pronunciation still current in Egypt, Syria, & Lebanon), Sambosa of Afghanistan, Albanian Byrek, and  South American Empanadas are closely related to each other. If you want read more about them, take a look at here.

Due to traveling and immigration from India towards various countries, samosa became a popular and famous Indian snack in other parts of world

Samosas are crispy flaky pastries deep fried; filling may be varied from potato and peas which is standard, to minced meat with herbs and spices. In West Bengal you can find sweetened reduced milk version. Whether it is spicy or sweet, samosa makes awesome combo with tea or coffee. 

Finally one day I decided to make it on my own. The first time I made it my pastry crust was very thick, so the next time I made it thin.  The first couple of times, I used slightly hot oil for frying  and ended up with blisters in the pastry crust. So the third time, I tried with slow flame and got less blisters in the pastry crust. I also went with the standard filling, potato and green peas, with whole coriander seeds, cumin seeds, garam masala, little turmeric, ginger, lemon juice and cilantro leaves. 

Trust me they are far better than what I had bought from the Indian restaurant. Even it was approved by my 2 ½ year old princess. I didn’t do any substitution with whole wheat flour as I wanted to try the original version first and then go for substitution. You can also play with various fillings as samosas are very forgiving.  Here goes the recipe. Try this it won’t disappoint to you. 

One year ago: 100%  Whole wheat bread with Oat meal and  Raisins
Two year  ago: Trinidad doubles from my kitchen

Print recipe from here

What you need

Dough

All purpose flour: 1 ½ cup

Ghee/Clarified butter: 2 tablespoon

Salt: ½ teaspoon
Cold water: 1/4 + 1/8 cup

Filling

Potato: 2 big

Green peas: ½ cup  ( I used frozen)

Ginger chopped finely: 1 tablespoon

Green chili: 1 no

Whole coriander seeds: ½ teaspoon

Cumin seeds: ½ teaspoon

Red chili powder: ¼ teaspoon

Gram masala: ¼ teaspoon

Turmeric: 1/8 teaspoon

Cilantro/coriander leaves: 2 tablespoon (chopped finely)

Lemon juice: ½ of one lemon

Salt: ½ teaspoon or to taste

Olive oil: 1 tablespoon

For frying

Canola oil: 4 cups

How I made

First make the dough covering:

Mix the flour and salt, Add the ghee and mix till you get a bread crumbs texture.

Slowly add Chilled water to this mixture and make soft dough. Knead well for about 8 minutes.

Cover and set aside to rest for at least half hour.

To make the filling:

 Boil potatoes with a pinch of salt until they are fully cooked using a pressure cooker.  Remove the skin and mashed in into thick pieces and set aside. 

 In a sauce pot heat little oil add  crushed whole coriander seeds and cumin seeds and toast for a while, then add finely chopped ginger and  green chilies saute  for a minute. Now add the green peas along with turmeric powder, red chili powder, garam masala powder, and salt.  Then add mashed potato and cook for a couple of minutes until it turns into a dry mixture. To this add chopped coriander leaves and mix once again.  Do not add water, let this cool completely. Finally add lemon juice and mix everything once again and set aside. 

To make the samosa:

First knead the pastry dough which has been sitting for 1/2 hour, divide them into 8 portions and put them under to a kitchen towel to avoid drying. Take one portion, dust the work surface with little flour and roll out into a 5 inch circular disc, then cut that into two pieces in the center. 

Take one half fold to form a cone, apply little water at the over lapping seam and glue. Fill the cone with a spoon of potato filling and again seal the open edges with water. Repeat the same process and make more samosa. 

In the mean time heat oil in a thick bottomed pan on medium flame until it reaches hot, there is no need to be smoking hot. . Deep fry the samosa in batches do not over crowd. Always fry them on low heat until they turn golden and crispy on the outside. It takes about 5 minutes to each samosa.  

 Drain excess oil with a paper towel and serve with tomato ketchup or mint coriander chutney.

Preparation time:  1 hour 30 minutes

Yield: 15 no

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: Yes I will

I am linking this samosa to  Hearth and  Soul Blog Hop 78 hosted here