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Samosa


Samosa

 (Deep-Fried Potato/Veggie Dumpling)

Samosa, a crispy and spicy deep fried snack that has an crisp and flaky outer layer made of maida and rich filling of mashed potato, peas and spices is a popular street food of India. It’s a favorite snack among people of all ages and generally served with masala tea and tamarind chutney as afternoon snack. The main thing about this snack is it can be prepared with one’s liking of perfect not too hot, tangy and spicy taste. Follow our step by step photo recipe to make this snack at home and don’t forget to read tips about double frying samosa (when making it for guests in advance).
How to Make Aloo Samosa

How to make Samosa?

Ingredients -

  • 2 cup all purpose flour
  • 2 cup refined oil
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • 1 teaspoon crushed ginger
  • 1 teaspoon green chilli
  • 1 teaspoon raisins
  • 1 teaspoon cashews
  • 5 boiled potato
1 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
  • 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
  • salt as required
  • 1 teaspoon kasoori methi leaves
  • 1 teaspoon coriander leaves
  • 1 teaspoon carom seeds
  • 2 tablespoon ghee
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 handful raw peanuts
flour, salt, carom seeds in bowl with oil and water
  • Samosa Dough Ingredients 
potatoes, ginger, oil, peas, Indian spices, cumin seeds, cilantro

Step by step instructions -

Making samosa dough

1- Start by making the samosa dough. To a large bowl, add flour, ajwain, salt and mix well.

2- Add the oil and then start mixing with your fingers.

3- Rub the flour with the oil until the oil is well incorporated in all of the flour. Do this for 3 to 4 minutes, you don’t want to rush this step.

4- Once incorporated,  the mixture resembles crumbs.

step by step picture collage of making samosa at home

5- Press some flour between your palm- it should form a shape (& not crumble) – means oil is enough and well.

6- Now, start adding water, little by little and mix to form a stiff dough.

7- Don’t overwork the dough and don’t knead a soft dough. It should just come together and form a stiff dough. I used around 6 tablespoons of water here.8- Cover the dough with a moist cloth and let it rest for 40 minutes. I usually soak a paper towel in water and then squeeze out all the water and then cover my dough with that.

While the dough is resting, start working on the filling.

step by step picture collage of making samosa at home

Make the filling

9- Boil potatoes until done.

8 to 9 whistles on high heat with natural pressure release if using stove-top pressure cooker or if using Instant Pot, high pressure 12 minutes with natural pressure release on a trivet with 1 cup water in the bottom of the pot.

10- Peel the skin and them mash the potatoes. Set aside.

11- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds, fennel seeds and crushed coriander seeds.

12- Let the seeds sizzle for few seconds and then add the chopped ginger, green chili and hing. Cook for 1 minute.

step by step picture collage of making samosa at home

13- Add the boiled & mashed potatoes and green peas to the pan.

14- Mix everything together. I use my potato masher to combine the spices and seasonings well with the potatoes and peas.

15- Add the coriander powder, garam masala, amchur, red chili powder and salt.

16- Mix to combine. Once it’s all well incorporated, remove pan from heat and let the filling cool down a bit.

step by step picture collage of making samosa at home

Shape and fry the samosa


17- Once the dough has rested, give it a quick knead. Then divide the dough into 7 equal parts of around 58-60 grams each.

Start working on a piece of dough, keep the remaining dough balls covered at all times with a moist cloth else the dough will dry out.

18- Roll one dough ball into a circle-oval kind of shape, around 6-7 inches in diameter and then cut it into two parts.

19- Take one part and apply water on the straight edge/side. I usually mix some flour with water so that it forms a nice glue.

20- Now bring the two ends of the straight edge together and pinch them to form a cone.21- Pinch the pointed ends to make it a perfect cone shape.

22- Fill the samosa with the potato filling, around 1 to 2 tablespoons. Don’t overfill the samosa.

23- Now again apply water all around the circumference of the cone as you have to seal it. Pinch the opposite side (side opposite to where you pinched to form the cone) to form a plate (see picture #23).

24- Now pinch the edges and seal the samosa.

step by step picture collage of making samosa at home

25- Your samosa is now ready. Repeat with remaining dough. Always remember to keep the filled samosa covered with moist cloth while roll and fill the others.

26- Now heat oil in a kadai on low heat. To check if oil is ready, drop a small piece of dough into the oil. It should take few seconds to come up to the surface. That means the oil is ready.

Drop the shaped samosas into the oil.

27- Fry on low heat. After around 10-12 minutes, the samosa will become firm and light brown in color.

28- At this point, increase the heat to medium and fry until it gets nicely browned.

Don’t overcrowd the kadai/wok, fry 4-5 samosas at a time. And each batch will take around 20 minutes since we fry on low heat so be patient.

step by step picture collage of making samosa at home

Once you finish frying  one batch, lower the heat again to low and wait until the temperature of the oil drops and then add the second batch.

If you fry samosa on high heat, they will not get crispy and the dough will remain uncooked. The samosa will also have bubbles on the crust if you oil temperature is hot while frying the samosa.

Enjoy hot samosas with cilantro chutney or sweet tamarind chutney! Yum!

samosa topped with green chutney and sweet chutney and placed in a plate

Tips to Make The Perfect Samosa

So here’s what I have learned over the years and I am excited to share all my tips with you guys to make the perfect samosa at home!

Mixing the oil with flour is important– rub it for good 3 to 4 minutes, do so by rubbing between your hands until the oil is well incorporated with the flour.

Don’t overwork the dough– you only need to bring the dough together. If you overwork it, the samosa will be hard.

Dough should be stiff– soft dough will not give crispy samosa.

Let the dough rest for around 40 minutes– always remember to let the dough rest for at least 30 to 40 minutes before you start making the samosa.

Roll the dough evenly and roll it thin– try to roll the dough thin and evenly. If the dough is rolled thick, it will take a long time for the dough to get cooked. Also we all like thin crispy edges of the samosa, agree?

But don’t roll it super thin too, else the dough will tear apart when you fill it.

Do not use any flour while rolling the samosa, you can apply little oil on your rolling pin.

Fry the samosa on low heat – the most important thing- always fry the samosa on low heat (not high, not medium), that way they will turn crisp.

Once they have become light brown in color (after 10 minutes or so), then you can increase the heat and fry on medium heat.

Also when you fry on low heat, they won’t get any blisters which they do when you drop them in hot oil.

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