My 25th recipe, “Vegetable Samosa | Potato Samosa”, a favorite snack / popular street food of every Indian. The one snack you could find whether you are in the South, North, East or West corner of India and whether you are standing at a road side tea stall / street vendors or dining at a multi-star restaurant. An undisputed king of the Indian cuisine. A fitting recipe to feature on my blog as the 25th post (a happy silver jubilee 🙂 ) to celebrate the special occasions
When I was in India, I would have probably devoured a countless number of samosas. Either along with some yummy green chutney / mint chutney and sweet tamarind chutney or as a yummy samosa chaat. A good samosa is most favorite afternoon snack specifically on a rainy day along with a cup of hot chai.
But since I moved to US, I never find the perfect samosas anywhere here. It is just like the 3 Roses tea ad (whomever is familiar with). If the samosa crust is crispy and delicious, the stuffing is bad. If the potato filling tastes good, the samosa crust is oil and soggy. And when the crust and stuffing is good, the samosa is old and cold. What bad luck. The only ones which come even a little closer to the delicious samosas from back home are those Punjabi Samosa I find at my local India grocery stores. I heat them up in my air fryer in the intention of using a little oil.
So I eventually got into the mission of making the perfect samosas in my kitchen. Though there are a myriad of different ways to make the best samosa this one is what satisfied my South Indian taste buds. I wouldn't call it an easy samosa recipe, since the process was little labor intensive since doing for the first time, but the end result was just divine. The perfectly crisp samosas with the best stuffing I have ever tasted. Simply delicious to have with my evening cup of Tea along with . Keeping this homemade samosa recipe as base, we can experiment on the samosa filling and the possibilities are just endless.
Vegetable Samosa | Potato Samosa
Vegetable Samosa
Ingredients
- Oil - For frying
For Samosa dough (Outer layer)
- 2 Cups All purpose flour | Maida
- 2 Tbsp Rava | Sooji | Semolina
- 2 Tbsp Ghee
- 2 tsp Oil
- ½ tsp Salt
- Water - as needed
For stuffing
- 2 tsp Oil
- 2 tsp Jeera | Cumin seeds
- 1 Tbsp Coriander seeds
- ¼ tsp Red chilli powder
- 1 tsp Garam masala
- ¼ tsp Coriander powder
- ¼ tsp Turmeric powder
- 2 small Green chillies (Finely Chopped)
- 1 Tbsp Ginger (Finely grated)
- 1 Tbsp Garlic (Finely grated)
- 1 medium Onion (Finely Chopped)
- 1 medium Carrot (Par boiled and finely chopped)
- ¼ Cup Green peas
- 2 large Potato (Boiled and roughly mashed)
- 5 Cashews (Finely Chopped)
- ¼ Cup Coriander leaves (Finely Chopped)
- 1 tsp Salt (Adjust per taste)
Instructions
- First lets start with the dough for the samosa outer layer. In a large bowl, combine flour with all the the other ingredients mentioned under "For samosa dough". Mix them thoroughly by crumbling the flour between the palms. Thereby the mixing will be even. If you are able to gather the mixture, then that's the right consistency. If not, add some more oil to bring it to the right consistency.
- Now add water little by little to the mixture and make a dough which should be harder than poori dough. I used around ¼ cup of water. Do adjust the water quantity accordingly. Keep the dough covered and leave it to rest for about 30 minutes.
- While the dough is resting, we will move on preparing the stuffing. Heat a pan with oil, add the jeera. Once its color starts to change, add the garlic, ginger, green chilli, onion and saute till the onion becomes translucent. Add the red chili powder, turmeric, coriander powder and coriander seeds and saute for 1 minute.
- Add the carrot, peas, cashews, salt and saute for a minute. Then add the mashed potato and garam masala, mix thoroughly until the masala gets mixed evenly. Keep stirring for 2 minutes.
- Turn off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves and mix. Let the mixture get cooled and come to room temperature.
- Now, moving back to the outer layer for the samosa. Start kneading the rested dough on a floured surface, until it feels like a soft dough. Divide it into equal sized balls (medium size). Start rolling them into a circular shape with a rolling pin, without adding flour. Do not roll into thin sheets, the sheets should be thick.
- Now cut them into two equal half so you get two equal semi circles. Take one half, make the samosa folding.
- Seal the sides of the sheets by applying water while folding. Once you are finished with the samosa cone, stuff the cone with the prepared masala stuffing and seal it nicely.
- Heat a frying pan with oil. Once the oil is hot, turn down the flame to low. Oil should not be over hot while frying. Fry the samosas in batches for about 10-12 minutes in low flame. Once they turn into golden brown color, remove from oil using a slotted spoon and drain the excess oil on a tissue paper | paper towel
- Enjoy hot with imli chutney, coriander chutney or ketchup.
Notes | FAQ
- To get a crispy perfect samosa outer layer, without any bubble, like restaurant style, the dough should be in right consistency.
- Do follow the process as instructed above without missing any step. Take extra care while adding water to dough, best to add little water at a time.
- We do not want our dough to be sticky or too dry. It should be mostly a firm dough.
- Tightly pack the samosa cones with stuffing. It will help the samosa hold its cone shape.
- While frying the samosa, they will not float in oil and instead they will settle down in the pan leading to a burnt bottom. So keep stirring at regular intervals.
- Dont drop the samosa in hot oil, because samosa color will change soon before the samosa is cooked through. So fry the samosa in low heat to medium heat. You can check the oil temperature by dropping a small piece of dough in the oil first.
- While frying, do turn the flame to low and fry till the color changes to golden brown. For me it took about 12 minutes per batch of samosa (2-3 samosa in a batch).
- You can alternatively use Whole Wheat Flour instead of Maida as well, but taste and texture would differ.
- For best results use a neutral oil for deep frying like canola oil | sunflower oil | vegetable oil.
- You can optionally add carom seeds | Ajwain seeds to the dough
- Optionally add mango powder (Amchur power) or lemon juice to the potato filling for a slight tang.
- The technique of how to fold samosa is important so that filling doesnt come out during frying process. Refer to my youtube video here
Submitted this recipe to the event What's with my cuppa, by The Veggie Indian.
Danielle says
What's the purpose of the semolina? Is it okay to leave it out or sub it?
revifood says
Hi Danielle, semolina is for texture. Feel free to skip it, if needed.
sai pavan says
Hi Revathi,
Can I use your photograph for one of my articles?
I shall appropriately acknowledge you.
Please let me know.
Thanks,
Sai
revifood says
Yes sure.