Samosa, one of the most popular Indian dishes, is a deep fried pastry filled with a spicy filling of potatoes, peas and onions, cooked with various spices. A samosa is a very popular entree, appetiser or snack, and is usually accompanied with a chutney – coriander and mint & tamarind – and some tomato ketchup.
So what exactly is the history of the samosa, and how did it get its name?
Well, the word samosa can be traced back to the Middle East prior to the 10th century, when it was called ‘sanbosag’. Samosas were brought to India from the merchants in the Middle East in the 13th or 14th century. The samosas then were filled with ghee, meat and various nuts, and were extremely popular with the maharajas.
Now-a-days, the samosa is a very popular street food, where you can stuff it in between 2 pav and top it off with chutney. They can also be served as a chaat with yogurt, green chutney, tamarind chutney and onions, and topped off with coriander and chaat masala.
The step by step recipe below shows you how to make the samosa wrapper from scratch along with the filling. These samosas are crisp and flaky on the outside, with a burst of flavour in between.
The traditional samosa has a potato filling, but you can add your own filling of Paneer (cottage cheese), lentils, chicken, or any other meat.
Ingredients (for the samosa wrapper)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp ghee/butter
½ cup water
Ingredients (for the filling)
3 medium potatoes
water, as needed (to boil the potatoes)
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp achari masala
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp ginger, grated
salt, to taste
½ tsp red chili powder
½ cup green peas, boiled
1 tsp amchur powder
Directions (to make the filling)
This is a list of the ingredients.
Boil the potatoes till tender.
Remove the skin and cut them into small cubes.
Heat the oil in the pan. When the oil is slightly warm, add jeera, achari masala, coriander powder and then ginger. Sauté for a few minutes.
Add the potatoes and stir to coat the potatoes with the above masala mixture.
Add salt and red chili powder and sauté the potatoes for about 4-5 minutes.
Add the peas and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.
Finally, add the amchur powder, mix thoroughly and take it off the heat.
Let it cool down completely before filling.
Directions (to make the dough)
These are the ingredients for the dough.
Melt the ghee in the in the microwave.
Take the flour in a large bowl, add in the salt and mix well.
Add the melted ghee to the flour and rub it in.
Finally add the water and mix to form a dough.
If you need additional water to form the dough, add 1 tbsp at a time to get it like the picture below.
Put the dough in a bowl and let it rest for an hour. Cover it with a damp cloth.
Knead it for 3-4 minutes till the dough is pliable and elastic.
Roll it out into a slab.
Divide the dough into the size you desire. This amount of dough will yield roughly 18 – 20 medium sized samosas or 10 – 12 big sized samosas.
Assembling the samosas
Before making the samosas, grease your hands.
Take one piece of the dough, roll it between your hands and flatten it out.
Roll it to out 4inch diameter circle on the work surface.
With a clean, sharp knife, cut it into 2 equal semi circles.
Take one piece, and shape it in the form of a cone.
You can seal the samosa with a mixture of 1 tbsp cornflour + 1 tbsp all purpose flour + 1 tbsp water, to make a slurry.
With the help of the small spoon, put the filling to cover ¾ of the cone.
Pinch the top to seal it completely.
Follow this method for all the samosas.
Heat oil in a wok, and deep fry the samosa on both sides till medium brown.
Serve hot.
Notes
- If you live in a hot place, you need to make a glue to seal the samosas with all purpose flour and water. Take 1 tbsp of water and mix it with 1 tbsp of cornflour and 1 tbsp of all purpose flour. The consistency should be that of a cake batter.
- To make your samosas crispy, heat the oil for 5 minutes on high, reduce the flame to medium, then cook your samosas till golden brown. This ensures that the outer crust is cooked perfectly to make them nice and crispy.
