Vegetable samosas
Local name : समोसा
Crisp pastry triangles filled with spiced potatoes and green peas, fried or baked until golden, served with a tangy chutney.
Photo : Vis M · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Total
- 70 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Medium
Method
- Rub the flour, ½ tsp salt, ajwain and 4 tbsp oil together with your fingertips until sandy. Add the water a little at a time to form a firm dough, and rest it under a cloth for 30 minutes.
- Boil the potatoes in their skins for 20 minutes, peel them and crush roughly with a fork.
- In a frying pan with 2 tbsp oil, sizzle the cumin seeds, then brown the onion for 5 minutes with the ginger and chilli.
- Add the peas, ground coriander, amchoor, garam masala and remaining salt, then the potatoes. Stir for 3 minutes and leave to cool.
- Divide the dough into 8 balls. Roll each into a thin oval, cut it in half, then roll each half-circle into a cone, sealing the edge with water.
- Fill the cone with filling without packing too tightly, then pinch the opening firmly shut to seal the triangle.
- Fry the samosas in small batches in oil at 160 °C for 8 to 10 minutes, turning, until golden. To bake, brush with oil and cook for 25 minutes at 200 °C.
- Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot with tamarind or coriander chutney.
Gentle frying is the key to the blistered, crisp samosa crust. If the oil is too hot, the pastry colours before it cooks through and stays soft underneath.
