Samosa

Ingredients

Pastry

• 300 gmaida or plain flour
• 5 tbspghee or oil
• 1 tspajwain, carom seeds
• 1 tspsalt
• about 120 ml cold water

Filling

• 600 gpotatoes, boiled and coarsely crushed
• 150 gpeas
• 1onion, finely chopped, optional
• 2green chillies, chopped
• 1 tbspgrated ginger
• 1 tspcumin seeds
• 1 tspcoriander seed, crushed
• 1 tspgaram masala
• 1 tspamchur, dried mango powder
• ½ tspturmeric
• 1 tspsalt
• 2 tbspchopped coriander
• 3 tbspoil

To fry

• oil, for deep frying

To serve

• tamarind chutney
• coriander and mint chutney
• with chai

Directions

1. Squeeze a handful of the rubbed mixture in your fist: it should hold its shape and not crumble apart when you open your hand. If it falls apart, work in more fat, since too little fat is the commonest reason samosa pastry comes out soft and bready.
2. Add cold water very gradually and stop the moment the dough comes together. The dough must be genuinely stiff, considerably firmer than a chapati or bread dough. Bring it together, work it for a minute, and stop. Cover the dough and rest it for thirty minutes. Now the filling, which should be dry. Boil the potatoes and crush them coarsely rather than mashing them smooth.
3. Leave lumps and pieces, since a smooth mash gives a pasty filling with no texture. Temper the cumin and coriander seeds in hot oil until they crackle, then add ginger and chilli. Add the potatoes, peas and ground spices and cook it for a few minutes.
4. Cook the filling until it is completely dry, with no moisture left in the pan. A wet filling steams inside the pastry and bursts it open in the oil, which is the classic disaster. Season it firmly and let it cool completely before filling anything. Chill it if you have time, which makes shaping far easier. Now shaping, which takes practice.
5. Divide the dough into eight balls and roll each into an oval about eighteen centimetres long. Roll them thin, about two millimetres, since thick pastry stays doughy in the middle.
6. Cut each oval in half across the middle, giving two semicircles. Now take one semicircle, brush the straight edge with water, and fold it into a cone. Press that seam properly, since it is the join that opens in the oil if it is weak.
7. Fill the cone about three-quarters full, leaving room to close it. Do not overfill, however tempting, since the pastry needs to close cleanly over the top. Brush the open top edge with water and press it closed, pleating it if you like. Stand each finished samosa on its base and check it stands upright, which means the shape is right.
8. Heat the oil to about 130 to 140°C, which is considerably cooler than for most frying. A piece of dough dropped in should sink and rise very slowly, with only a lazy trickle of bubbles. Fry them at this low temperature for fifteen to twenty minutes, turning occasionally. It cooks the pastry through gradually and gives the smooth, pale, blistered, glass-crisp shell of a good shop samosa.
9. Drain them on a rack rather than on paper. Serve them hot with tamarind and mint chutneys and a cup of chai. They can be shaped and frozen raw, and fried from frozen with a few extra minutes.

Technique

• The fat rubbed into the flour is what makes the pastry short and crisp.
• They are fried slowly at a low temperature for fifteen to twenty minutes.
• The filling must be completely dry or the pastry bursts.

Substitutions

• Oil in place of ghee, though ghee gives better flavour.
• Lemon juice for amchur only if you must, since it adds moisture.

Variations

• Keema samosa, filled with spiced minced meat.
• Punjabi samosa, larger and more heavily spiced.
• Baked rather than fried, which gives a quite different pastry.

History

Arrived with South Asian communities in the nineteenth century and became Kenya’s standard snack, filled with spiced minced beef.

Frequently asked questions

What is Samosa?

Samosa is a snack from India: fried pastry cone of spiced potatoes and peas, with chutney. Arrived with South Asian communities in the nineteenth century and became Kenya’s standard snack, filled with spiced minced beef.

How long does Samosa take to make?

Samosa takes 50 min plus 30 min resting of preparation and 40 min of cooking. The recipe makes 16 samosas. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Samosa?

Yes, within limits. Oil in place of ghee, though ghee gives better flavour. Lemon juice for amchur only if you must, since it adds moisture.

What is the most important thing to get right in Samosa?

Add cold water very gradually and stop the moment the dough comes together. The dough must be genuinely stiff, considerably firmer than a chapati or bread dough. Bring it together, work it for a minute, and stop. Cover the dough and rest it for thirty minutes. Now the filling, which should be dry. Boil the potatoes and crush them coarsely rather than mashing them smooth.