Punjabi samosa

It is a treat to have Punjabi samosa ready made but I just don't get satisfying samosa in London. So here I go with my Punjabi samosa recipe.

If the weather gets rainy and you just want to pump up your mood go for Punjabi samosa and masala tea :). You sure will forget the rain.

Try it and you will love it.

Ingredients:

Samosa filling:
Potato: 3 large (On an average one large potato will make about 3-4 samosa depending on size)
Green peas: 1 cup
Mint leaves: handful
Coriander seeds: 1 table spoon
Cumin seeds: 2 tea spoon
Mustard seeds: 1 tea spoon
Ginger chili paste: 1-2 table spoon
Pomegranate seed powder: 1 tea spoon
Dry mango powder: 1-2 table spoon
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder: 1-2 tea spoon
Garam masala powder: 1 tea spoon
Oil: 1 table spoon

Samosa Coating:
I prefer to add little bit of wheat flour in my coating but it is entirely up to you.
Plain flour/maida: 2 cups
Wheat flour: 1/2 cup
Clarified cold butter/ unmelted ghee: 3 large spoon
Lime juice: 1 table spoon
Sugar: 1 tea spoon
[Note: lime juice, sugar and ghee combination will make the coating crispy]
Salt to taste
Ajwaeen/ carom seeds: 3 tea spoon (optional)
Oil: 1 table spoon
Water

Oil to fry samosa

Preparation:

Samosa filling:
Wash and boil potato. Peel the skin off and mesh them.
Clean and wash mint leaves and fine chop them.

Heat pan and add one table spoon of oil. Let the oil heat up. Add coriander seeds and wait till they start to change color.
Add cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Once they splutter add ginger chili paste and add turmeric. Stir for a minute.
Add this mixture to meshed potatoes. If you are using frozen peas, warm it up a bit and drain off excess water. Add this to potato.
Add rest of the ingredients like mint, salt to taste, dry mango powder, garam masala, pomegranate seed powder. Pomegranate seeds is known for its sourness and so is dry mango powder. Add little bit at a time and taste to alter the spices.
Mix well.
Take a little taste and alter the spices as per need. Mix well. Set aside for 20 minutes to absorb all the flavours.

Take small balls as it will be easier to fill them up in samosa coating.

Samosa Coating:
It is very important to get the quantity of filling and quantity of coating right. Else you will end up with left overs of either filling or coating.

In either case, just don't worry make parathas of coating or make yummy toast sandwich of the filling :).

I always make the filling in advance and depending on how many balls I get I will take flour.

Mix plain flour and wheat flour in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle and add ghee, lime juice and sugar.

Using hand mix it thoroughly with the flour.
Once that is done. Add little bit of water at a time mixing it into the flour. Idea is to make medium hard dough. So do not rush in with lots of water.

Keep mixing and take your sweet time. Once all flour start getting into solid state stop adding any more water.
Add table spoon of oil and massage the dough this time apply your force.Until you get smooth texture keep doing so.


Cover the dough with moist (not too wet) cloth for 20 minutes.
Remove it from the cloth and do massage for 2-3 minutes. Apply little oil if required. Because the dough is hard you might required to apply more force. This is the most challenging part in making best samosa. If you coating is soggy after frying you will not enjoy the taste. So give it your best.
Divide dough into small balls and its ready for filling.

Folding samosa:
Take one ball and press it. Roll it in oval shape just shown in the photo.
Cut it along the longer side.
Apply slight water on the cut edges. Water layer helps coating to join properly and avoids chance of splitting open in the oil. Fold it in a cone shape.
Add samosa filling ball and press it down.
Apply slight water again on one of the open edge from inside and joint it together. Water on flour makes a good sealing agent.
Samosa's are ready.
Repeat the same for rest of the samosa. Keep them covered to avoid drying.
Heat the oil when 4-6 samosa's are ready to be fried. Add a little bit of dough in the heating oil when you think oil is ready to fry. The dough should come up on the surface in no time that's when oil is ready.

We are going to fry samosa on low to medium flame. This will allow coating to get fried nicely. Otherwise it will remain row from inside.
Once samosa is starts to turn brownish red, take them out. Keep them on absorbent tissue before serving.
Serve with sweet tamarind chutney or tomato sauce.