Today in the kitchen - Samosa (June 19, 2021).

Samosa, more than the kachoris is a weakness of all foodie Indians. This is one unifying factor of the country more than any other single item.. language, caste, religion and what you have. From east to west and from north to south you will find samosas in small eateries and also in a five star hotel and price will range from Rs 5.00 per piece to Rs 1000 per plate of two. Suggesting its popularity from peasants to rich and super rich. Although there are various different filling but aloo(potato) is a de facto standard, if you look for an alternate some hard core non-vegetarians also prefer aloo over the filling of keema.

Samosa is also an every time food.. breakfast, between breakfast and lunch, between lunch and tea, at tea and sometimes even in lunch and dinner if you are at a party or in a restaurant.. like a small size samosa is a delicious part of a Gujarati thali at lunch and dinner. Then there are dry samosa that are shaped as pyramid like the original samosa but filled with daal and could be eaten like savories and stored for a longer time, however, I would call them poor imitations, it doesn't give the satisfaction of the real fresh aloo Samosa. While growing up in and around Indore although the standard breakfast was Poha but if you want complete breakfast and can afford a few bucks more you would certainly add one samosa and sometimes even two or three jalebis, any time of the year. That's not unique only to Malwa/Indore but I can sincerely talk and endorse this habit from the region.

Although born and grown with the Malwa Samosas were never made at home, since every nook and corner of every village or a city mohalla had it readily available, no one made it at home. Samosa is also an item without which a party or wedding meal is incomplete. I always use to fancy the process and it always looked complicated to me, in any case I got interested in making a little "complicated" dishes only after the advent of YouTube and more so during the "house arrest" that I have been enjoying since past 15 months. Been thinking of getting my hands on making this ubiquitous Star food item that is my favourite and before the last 15 months no stroll or outing to the market was complete without eating Samosa more so when I was with friends like Dinesh. In Indore also whenever we visit home samosa was often included in breakfast alternating with tea times. 

So when I checked on recipes there were aplenty showing the interest of chefs as well as budding experimental chefs like me/YouTube viewers. I looked at four different ones whose channels I often see and picked up a mix between Nishamadhulika and PapaMummy ki Rasoi. So let's see how I proceeded (and succeeded :). 

First the ingredients, it's easy and everything needed is usually home.

For 8 normal size Samosa.

For the covering:

Maida -250 gm

Common Salt - 1 tsp

Ajwain/ carom seeds -1tsp

Pure ghee - 3 tbsp

Water - 80ml or 3/4 th cup.

for the filling:

potato - 4 medium size (250 gm)

Green peas - 50 gm (I didn't have)

Coriander full - 2 tsp

Saunf/fennel seeds - 2 tsp

Ginger - 1" ( approx 20 gm)

Green chili : 1 or 2 

depending on your taste and size of chili

Green coriander - 20 gm

Cashew - 20 gm

Resins - 20 gm

Coriander powder - 1 tbsp

Red chili - 1/2 tsp

Garam or chat masala - 1/2 tsp

Black salt - 1 tsp

Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

Amchoor/dried mango powder -1/4 tsp

Oil - 3 tbsp

For frying samosa:

As much as required to immerse fully. For a normal size kadhai/saucepan you may need about 350-400 ml although less than 100 ml will get used.

Process:

For dough:

Take maida into a large bowl, add 1tsp salt, crush 1 tsp Ajwain in your palm and add to this. Now add liquified(room temp) 3 tbsp pure ghee and mix the contents thoroughly using both hands so that it is homogeneous. Now add less than 1/2 cup water and start kneading, add very little water quantity lest you add more and it starts flowing, we need hard/tough dough, not like the one used in roti or naan or kachori. Cover it with a wet cloth and keep away for 1/2 hour .

For filling/stuffing:

Boil the potato and allow them to cool. If you are using a pressure cooker than five three whistle and don't take out steam. Open the cooker after about 10 mins. Let it cool or dip them in cold water for 5 minutes. ( In most recipe I noticed they assume that you have boiled potato ready.) Peel them and mash them with hands into big chunks.

Take a silbatta/stone and crush 1tsp each of coriander seeds and fennel/saunf seeds, little coarse.

Also crush green chili and ginger to a paste.

Take a flat pan, put it on a low/medium flame, heat it and add 3 tbsp oil. When oil show some fumes add cumin seeds and when that starts to crackle, add ginger-green chili paste and sauté for a minute, add crushed coriander/fennel seeds and sauté for another minute, now add rest of the spices.. red chili, garam masala, amchoor/dried mango powder,  dhania/coriander powder, black salt, stir and sauté for another two minutes. Now add pieces of cashew nut (cut one nut into 4 small pieces) sauté for another minute and add mashed potato chunks ( don't mash them fine. Add coriander leaves. Add turmeric powder and sauté for 3 more minutes so that the whole filling mixture looks homogeneous, add resins and mix again for a minute. Switch off the flame, take out contents in another bowl and allow the mixture to cool.

Take the dough and work on it again for about two minutes. Roll is and make 4 balls out of it, while making the balls keep rolling them between your palms for a minute or so to smoothen the ball. Now flatten it between your palm and using a rolling pin, roll it into an oval shape, make sure it has uniform thickness in the edges and center. Do this for all the balls. As far a possible make all balls and flattened covering of the same size. Now cut ( the covering/roti) it into half and keep aside.

Now is the trickier part. Take the covering/roti and apply water on the surface that is a straight line (not the curved surface) and fold it to make a cone and press gently so that it gets sealed at the joint. Now add filling and give another fold to the opposite side on joint and seal the samosa gently from the top. Following picture shows the process but you must use some video to understand, if it is not clear.

 (above picture is taken from internet as I couldn't click with both hands occupied :))

After filling all the uncooked samosa cover it with a wet cloth and wait for another 10 minutes.

Now to fry samosa, take a kadhai/deep frying pan and pour the oil, put it on a low to medium flame and when the oil is heated (check by putting a small piece of dough or cumin seed) put the uncooked samosa one by one.. ensure they are not on the top of another. Keep the flame low of medium and don't touch anything for the next 5 minutes, now turn them and let the other side cook for another 3-4 minutes until the samosa becomes golden brown. Like in the picture.

Now take them out and let the oil drain back into kadhai. Turn off the flame and wait for five minutes to let the oil cool down. Reignite the flame to low or medium and after the oil is heated up, add the rest of the samosa and let it fry for another 5 minutes without turning, them turn and let it be there till you see a perfect golden brown colour.

Remove let it cool a bit and serve with imli/tamarind chutney and green coriander/mint chutney. Aroma of Darjeeling leaf tea will be irresistible with the hot samosa especially at even tea. I was lucky to have a cool and cloudy weather even in mid June.. just perfect to Samosa-Chai.

To avoid bubbles over the surface - ensure that you leave the dough is rested to relax the gluten and the air leaves the dough. Allow the oil to cook between the frying lots.

To avoid the cracks - Use water generously to seal the covering and press gently so that it doesn't crack. The fold on the top opposite the joint is important, you need to master that in order to get a perfect shape.