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OK, when Badal reached out to me to write-up a samosa recipe for her Samosa and Mimosas campaign I immediately hit up my mom. I gave her a quick call to ask her for her samosa recipe and of course, like a typical Indian mom, she started spouting off rough measurements and a long list of ingredients. I ended up with a list of ingredients (and a couple with actual measurements!) but no recipe on how to make them. I’ve watched my mom make samosas enough times (and helped a couple of times) that I felt confident enough that I could take what she gave me and develop an actual potato and pea samosa recipe from it. I know you guys know the struggle is real getting written recipes from your parents, so this one goes out to all you guys on the strugglebus with me.
There are two types of people. People who like hte samosa filling and people who like the crust (especially the corners). I am the latter, and luckily Rhut is a filling guy. For the filling, I consulted with his tastebuds and played around with the amount of each spice to get it just right. What we figured out is that you need some sort of acid or tart component. Whether that is lemon juice, amchur, or chaat masala, it is a must!
For the flaky crust, the key is to rub the fat (ghee or oil) into the flour so that the flour molecules are coated with fat. This helps prevent too much gluten formation between the protein in the flour and creates those flaky layers!
To get that crispy, crunchy texture, my mom adds in rice flour to the dough. In addition to that, double frying also helps give you a crispy pastry. Frying the samosa at a low temperature gives you the flaky little bubbles on the outside and then refrying them again at a higher temperature makes them crispy.
If you decide to make these samosas, be sure to tag me @milkandcardamom on social media!
Samosa
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Indian spicy potato and pea mixture wrapped in a flaky pastry and fried until crispy and delicious! Makes 8 samosa.
Ingredients
POTATO AND PEA FILLING
- .5 lb Russet potato (about 1 large potato)
- 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
- pinch hing
- 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp fennel
- 1/4 tsp red chili powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp coriander powder
- 1/4 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
- 1/4 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp chaat masala
- 1/4 tsp amchur (dried mango powder)
- salt to taste
SAMOSA PASTRY
- 1 cup (148 g) all- purpose flour
- 1 tbsp (9 g) rice flour
- 1 tsp ajwain
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp (23 g) ghee
- 5 tbsp (74 mL) water
Instructions
Potato and Pea Filling
- Wash and place the potato into a saucepan and cover completely with water. Place on stove and bring to a boil on high heat. Turn down the heat to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the potato is cooked completely. You can check if it is done by stabbing the potato with a knife and if the potato slides off the knife easily on its own, then the potato is done. Drain the water off and cool the potato for a few minutes or until cool enough to handle. Peel the potato and roughly chop the boiled potato into small bite-size pieces.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot add hing and cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds start sputtering, turn down the heat to low and add fennel, red chili powder, turmeric, crushed coriander seeds, coriander powder, and cumin powder. Saute for 10 seconds and add potatoes. Mix until well combined and mash some of the potatoes with a spatula. Cook for 2 minutes. Add peas, garam masala, chaat masala, amchur and salt to taste. Mix well and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and set aside to cool completely.
Samosa Pastry
- Add all-purpose flour, rice flour, ajwain and, salt into a mixing bowl. Whisk until well combined. Add ghee and use your fingers to rub the ghee into the flour for at least 5 minutes, this helps give you that flaky texture. The dough will have a sandy- coarse texture. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and mix until the dough JUST comes together and there are no dry bits of flour. The dough will look very shaggy and feel very stiff. Cover with a wet tea towel and rest for 30 minutes.
Assemble
- Take a walnut-size piece of dough (55 g) and roll it into a ball the best you can. Roll the dough out into a thin circle on a clean surface until it is 7 inches in diameter. Cut the circle in half. Take one half of the dough and place it on the palm of your hand so that the straight cut is on top and the curved edge is on the bottom. Take a wet finger and wet the edge of straight-cut side. Then fold the straight sides so that they overlap slightly and you have a cone shape. Gently pinch the top of the cone and down the seam to make sure it’s sealed tightly. Hold the pastry cone like it’s an ice cream cone and fill it with your potato and pea mixture (about 25 g or 2 tbsp). Then wet the curved open edges with water and pinch them shut. Place on a plate but do not cover. Repeat until all your samosas have been made.
Fry
- Heat a wok or pot with oil to 350°F. Drop the samosas in without overcrowding them and fry for 2 minutes or until slightly golden, but not dark. Remove from the oil. Repeat until all the samosas have been fried.
- Increase the heat of the oil to 375°F and then fry the samosas again until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. Serve with chutney and chai while hot!
- Prep Time: 60 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: Indian
