Shital's-Kitchen: Samosa

February is the time for our annual faculty retreat with meetings and learning opportunities for teachers. And, this year I have volunteered to lead a 'Samosa Making Workshop'. Oh yes, I so enjoy cooking and spreading not only my love for food, but my love for my culture to the people around me.

Before I demonstrate the entire samosa making process to my colleagues this Saturday, I wanted to exactly know the proportions I use and print a handout for them. I just don't want to eyeball the ingredients. Yesterday was the day of actual measurements and pictures to share it with everyone.

I don't need to describe a SAMOSA, do I?

Ingredients for making 16 large samosas
For the filling:
6 large potatoes (boiled and roughly mashed)
2 tbsp. ghee or oil
1 tbsp. ground ginger
1 cup green peas
1 tbsp. fennel seeds
2 tbsp. coriander seeds
Juice of 1 lime
cilantro
salt to taste
chilli powder to taste
garam masala to taste

For samosa pastry:
2+1/2 cup maida/all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. carom seeds/ajwain
4/5 tbsp. ghee or butter or oil

To make the filling:

Heat ghee or oil in a pan.
Add ginger paste and saute for a min.
Add mashed potatoes, salt, chilli powder and garam masala powder.
Add roughly ground saunf/ fennel seeds and coriander seeds to the potato filling.
Add green peas and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Turn off the heat and add chopped cilantro, and lime juice.

To make the dough:

Mix ghee to all purpose flour. Mix well to make the dough crisp and flaky
Add salt and carom seeds.
Add slightly more that 3/4 cup of water to make a stiff dough.
Add 1-2 drops of oil and knead the dough well for 3-4 minutes.
Cover and let the dough rest.

To make Samosas

Divide the dough into 8 equal parts.
Divide samosa filling into 16 equal parts.
Roll out a piece of dough in between your palms and flatten it slightly to be able to roll it using a rolling pin. Apply a bit of oil on the rolling surface to prevent the dough from sticking. Do not use dry flour. Roll the dough evenly to 8 inch diameter circle. Divide it into 2 parts.
Lift up one part. Apply water on the edge of the diameter and fold it to form a cone. Seal the edges well.
Add in the stuffing. Apply water on the edge, and pull the back flap to meet with the front and seal it tightly. This way your samosa will be able to sit upright rather than falling over. It should have a flat bottom.
Fold samosas and heat oil for deep frying.
The temperature of oil is important. You do not want the oil to be extremely hot for your samosa dough to brown soon. This will make soft and limp samosas.
You would want the samosa to fry very slowly for around 4-5 minutes till it forms golden brown to obtain a crisp and flaky texture.
Serve with cilantro and date and tamarind chutney.

Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:

For the filling:

Boil 6 large potatoes. Cool and peel them.

For the pastry/outside covering/ samosa dough:

Use 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour/maida in a bowl. Add 5 tbsp. of ghee/clarified butter and mix in well for the dough to be flaky and crisp.

Add 1 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. carom seeds/ajwain.
Carom Seeds/ Ajwain is a great digestive herb.

Add water to make a stiff dough. I used 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp. of water to make a perfectly stiff dough.

Use 2-3 drops of oil and knead the dough well for 3-4 minutes. Cover and let the dough rest for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the filling.

Roughly mash boiled potatoes.

Heat 2 tbsp. of ghee/clarified butter or oil. I tried on my electric pan, since that is the one I will be using for my Saturday demonstration. Add 1 tbsp. ground ginger and saute for a minute. Add mashed potatoes, salt, red chilli powder, garam masala powder to taste and mix it well.

To the mortal add 1 tbsp. saunf/fennel seeds and 2 tbsp. dhania/coriander seeds. Roughly grind them to break open the pod. Add it to the potato filling.

Add a cup of frozen or fresh peas and let the filling cook for 3-4 minutes.

Turn of the heat, and add chopped cilantro and fresh lime juice.

Let the filling cool.

To start folding samosas: Prepare a working station with a cup of water, rolling surface, rolling pin, knife or a cutter, (brush is optional).

Divide the dough into 8 equal parts. This will make 16 samosas.

Roll out a piece of dough in between your palms and flatten it slightly to be able to roll it using a rolling pin. Apply a bit of oil on the rolling surface to prevent the dough from sticking. Do not use dry flour. Roll the dough evenly to 8 inch diameter circle.

Divide it into 2 parts.

This will make 2 samosas.

Lift up one part. Apply water on the edge of the diameter and fold it to form a cone. Seal the edges well.

Add in the stuffing. Apply water on the edge, and pull the back flap to meet with the front and seal it tightly. This way your samosa will be able to sit upright rather than falling over. It should have a flat bottom.

Fold samosas and heat oil for deep frying.

The temperature of oil is important. You do not want the oil to be extremely hot for your samosa dough to brown soon. This will make soft and limp samosas.

You would want the samosa to fry very slowly for around 4-5 minutes till it forms golden brown to obtain a crisp and flaky texture.