Samosa, Sambusa, or samboksa is a fried or baked dish with a savory filling, such as spiced potatoes, peas, cheese, minced lamb or minced chicken. Its size and consistency may vary, but typically it is distinctly triangular in shape. Indian samosas are usually vegetarian, and often accompanied by a mint chutney. Samosas are a popular entrée, appetizer or snack in the local cuisines of the Arabian Peninsula, Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, the Mediterranean, the Indian subcontinent, the Horn of Africa, East Africa , North Africa and South Africa. Due to cultural diffusion and emigration from these areas, samosas in today’s world are also prepared in other regions. In India, cinema and samosa are almost synonymous. Sounds funny but let me tell you an interesting correlation between the two. Whenever we went out to watch Bollywood movies in cinemas in India the whole experience was incomplete without eating samosas teamed up with hot masala chai (tea), for me a combo to die for. In Saigon we don’t get Bollywood films in cinemas, so watching Indian films is restricted to the home. Friday nights at home are super special as they are Indian cinema nights complete with the experience of indulging in piping hot samosas and hot masala chai from my home kitchen.
Ingredients
For Making Samosa Pastry:
• 2 cups of maida or all purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons of ghee or oil
• 5 to 6 tablespoons of water
• 1 teaspoon of carom seeds (ajwain)
• Salt as required
• Oil for deep frying
For The Samosa Stuffing:
• 3 medium-sized potatoes
• 3/4 cup of green peas (fresh or frozen)
• 1 green chili + ó inch ginger, crushed to a coarse paste
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon of red chili powder
• 1 pinch of asteofoetida
• 1/2 tablespoon of oil
• Salt as required
• 1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoons of dry pomegranate seeds
or 1 teaspoon of dry mango powder
Making Samosa Pastry:
1 Place the flour, carom seeds and salt in a bowl. Mix well and add ghee or oil.
2 With your fingertips, rub the ghee/oil into the flour to get a breadcrumb-like consistency.
3 The whole mixture should clump together when joined.
4 Add 1 or 2 tbsp of water. Begin to knead adding water as required.
5 Knead to a firm dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and set aside for 30-40 mins.
Making Samosa stuffing:
1 Knead to a firm dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and set aside for 30-40 mins.
2 Peel the boiled potatoes and chop them into small cubes.
3 Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds and crackle them.
4 Add the ginger- chopped green chili sauté till the raw aroma of ginger goes away.
5 Add the peas, red chili powder, coriander seeds, dry mango powder and astofetida, stir and sauté on a low flame for 1-2 minutes.
6 Add the potato cubes and sauté for 2-3 minutes with frequent stirring. Set the filling aside to cool.
Shaping And Making Samosas:
1 Knead the dough lightly again.
2 Divide the dough to 6-7 equal pieces.
3 Take each piece and roll in your palms first to make a smooth ball.
4 Then roll it with a rolling pin.
5 Cut with a knife or a pastry cutter through the center of the samosa pastry.
6 With a brush or your fingertips, on the straight edge of the sliced pastry, apply some water.
7 Join the two ends bringing the watered edge on top of the plain edge.
8 Press the edges until they are sealed well.
9 Stuff the prepared samosa cone with the prepared potato-peas stuffing.
Frying Samosas:
1 Now heat oil for deep-frying in a wok or a deep pan. Once the oil becomes hot, gently slide the prepared stuffed samosas & quickly reduce the flame to low.
2 Turn over in between and fry the samosas till golden. Drain samosas on paper towels to remove excess oil.
3 Fry the samosas in batches. For frying the next batch, again increase the temperature of the oil, add the samosas and then lower the flame, thereby decreasing the temperature of the oil.
Serve hot with fresh coriander chutney and tamarind chutney.
