Hello friends of hive.
Last week I went to a small store to pick up water on the way to work. The nice Indian man that owns the place always tries to convince me to buy the samosas that are in a glass case. I have purchased one or two in the past. They are truly delicious. However I routinely turn him down and we chuckle as I say "thanks but not this time".
I was quite hungry last week which prompted me to give in and buy a dozen samosas to share with my work mates. It went very well and every samosa was devoured with pleasure.
I was inspired to make my own. I've done it once or twice before. I'm no expert but over all a potato samosa is not that difficult.
I start by making the dough.
Samosa dough
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup water or more
1 teaspoon ajwain (carom seeds)
1/2 teaspoon salt
For many, this would be the simplest part. For me, not so much. I have a constant battle with items containing flour.
I have learned not to follow a recipe exactly. The last time I made samosa dough, I threw it out. I had followed a specific recipe, using the amounts listed.
This time I decided to add water slowly, bit by bit until the dough was workable but still firm. The flour and oil was a basic and common ratio used in most recipes.
After adding salt and ajwain to the flour, I added the oil. I made sure the oil was mixed with as much of the flour as possible without kneading. It was like a crumbly pie mix.
I added water starting with 1/4 cup, and then a little more, until the dough could be put together.
As soon as I could roll it into a ball, I wrapped it in plastic and set it to rest.
While the dough was resting, I started the filling. These items seem to be the most common in most veggie samosas. My Indian coworker says their family does corn and cheese. I guess you could put many different items in a samosa.
Samosa filling
400g potatoes
1/4 cup peas
2 cloves garlic
2 shallots
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon amchur (mango powder)
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon fennel
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
3 or 4 green chilies
Oil for frying
I used one of my favourite potatoes, which are Yukon gold. We have decent varieties of potatoes here.
Some vegetable samosas have mashed up potatoes. I decided to cube the potatoes before cooking.
The potatoes were cooked until tender, then drained. I didn't mash them. I just slightly crushed them a little.
Many samosa recipes do not use garlic. I really like garlic so I added it.
In a pan with medium high heat, I fried the shallots, ginger, chilies, then garlic and spices until translucent and tender.
The peas were added frozen.
Now the potatoes are folded in.
I now started the samosa dough. The ball of dough was cut into even pieces to around 12 or 13 balls.
I'm sure this is the ugliest round circle that anyone has ever made with dough. I need practice.
Each half circle is folded. I used a little water to seal the edges. open the unsealed part and fill with the potatoes.
I forgot to get a photo of filling the pockets. I'm sure you get it.
I know you are probably laughing at the ugly looking little samosas. I need practice. I'm sure most of you would make beautiful ones.
When they were all filled, I sprayed them with oil and air fried them. I am not ready to consume deep fried samosas. Deep fried foods are a once in a while thing for me. I just don't feel great afterwards.
They were put in the air fryer for 10 minutes on 400c. I could have put them in the oven, however my oven is finished. It has a mind of it's owned. It rarely keeps it's temperature. I can only guess that it's jealous of my air fryer entering the home. I could asked for another one, but I don't feel like bothering my building caretaker.
It seems to me that the most common accompaniment for samosas, are tamarind chutney and green chutney. I did make tamarind chutney but also with an excess of mangoes I decided on a mango chutney.
Yes I actually had several mangoes, given to us by Marc's parents. These old folks only shop at Costco where things are bought in bulk. They often buy us random items. They never eat mangoes but they bought us a case.
It was quite welcome. I decided to use some of them, for the chutney.
Mango chutney
4 mangoes diced
1cup onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
3 green chillies
1 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon chili
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon fennel
1 teaspoon nigella seeds
Salt to taste
Saute onions until translucent. Add ginger, garlic, chilies, and spices.
Add sugar and mangoes.
Cook down until the liquid has thickened a bit. It was simmered for around 10 15 minutes.
I put it in a blender to make into more of a sauce for dipping. In many cases mango chutney seems to be kept chunky.
I also made tamarind chutney. I often use ready made tamarind concentrate, but I made mine from scratch. It was easier to find tamarind unprocessed with seeds then the prepared.
I boiled two cups of water and added a 400g package of tamarind. After soaking until soft, I put it through a sieve, discarding the seeds and fibres.
Tamarind chutney
1 cup tamarind concentrate
1 cup dates pitted
1/2 cup palm sugar
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon fennel powder
1 or 2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon of black salt or regular salt to taste
I would have used more dates and less sugar but I didn't have more dates. I was too lazy to run to the store. The dates I use do not need soaking. They are already soft. I just added everything to the pot and simmered.
When the sugar was dissolved I cooled it and put it in the blender.
I put the samosas back into the air fryer on the reheat setting for 4 minutes before serving.
I know that ideally samosas are the most enjoyable deep fried and would not be traditional if baked. However these were indeed still enjoyable
We could eat more of them since they were not dripping in oil. In that case I couldn't get past one or two maximum.
I had quite a lot of mango chutney left which will last for a while and it actually is good on toast as a snack.
