Vegetable samosas, a vegetarian recipe from India

Name: Vegetable samosas
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 250 g plain flour; 4 tbsp neutral oil for the dough, plus oil for deep-frying; ½ tsp ajwain or cumin seeds; About 100 ml warm water; 500 g potatoes; 150 g peas (frozen); 1 onion, chopped; 20 g ginger, grated; 1 green chilli, chopped; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 1 tsp ground coriander; 1 tsp amchoor (dried mango powder) or the juice of half a lemon; ½ tsp garam masala; 1 tsp salt

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.

The techniques this recipe uses

Drain and rinse
Canning liquid clouds a sauce and salts it blind: rinse until the water runs clear.

Frequently asked questions

My samosas are golden but soft. What went wrong?

The oil was too hot. At 160 °C the pastry cooks slowly and blisters crisp over 8 to 10 minutes; hotter than that it colours in two minutes while the inside is still raw, and it goes limp as it cools.

What can I use instead of amchoor?

Amchoor is dried mango powder and gives the filling a dry sourness. The juice of half a lemon gets close, but add it at the end of cooking so the potatoes do not go soggy.

How do I stop samosas bursting open in the oil?

Two causes: filling packed too tight, which swells and forces the seam apart, and a badly sealed edge. Fill the cone loosely, wet the edge and pinch the whole opening firmly. Let the filling cool before shaping as well, since steam lifts the pastry apart.

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Vegetable samosas

Method

The techniques this recipe uses

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Nutrition per serving

Frequently asked questions

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