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madhur
14-09-2009, 08:33 AM
Hi folks,
I've tried to write the recipe for Indian samosa. Hope I've done justice. Please get back to me if there is any ambiguity.


Ingredients for the filling:
1 Potatoes 6 medium sized.
2 Cumin seeds, half a tea spoon.
3 Two table spoons full of boiled peas.
4 One fourth teaspoon red chilli powder.
5 Equal quantity of dry mango powder or juice of half a lemon (Optional)
6 One fourth teaspoon garam masala powder. You’ll find the garam masala packets in abundance in Indian stores. (About 12 black pepper corns and 12 cloves, a tbs of cumin seeds and equal quantity of coriander seeds, 2 bay leaves, 2 -3 green cardamoms one black cardamom and half an inch piece of cinnamon all powdered finely)
7 One medium sized green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped.
8 Two tbs of finely chopped fresh coriander.
9 Salt as per taste.


Ingredients for the dough
1. 250 gms fine flour (maida),
2. ˝ cup milk,
3. 2 tbs oil or ghee.
4. salt to taste.

Groundnut oil for deep frying.

METHOD:
1. Boil medium sized potatoes until they are nicely done. They should neither be too tender nor too hard. It would not matter if they crack slightly in the pressure cooker during boiling. When cool, peel them and break them up into uneven pieces so that you get about 6-8 pieces from each potato.
2. Prepare the dough by the following method. Sieve flour and salt together and massage in ghee till mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a bay in the middle and put in small quantity of milk slowly and as required. Knead to make dough. which is not very soft. Keep aside.
3. Take a shallow pan and heat a tablespoon of oil (preferably groundnut oil for Indian recipes turn out better in it. You may also use cottonseed or mustard oil as an alternative but definitely not butter.) After the ghee is heated add half a teaspoonful of cumin seeds and as soon as they sputter add the boiled potatoes at the same time reducing the heat of the stove. Add salt, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, mango powder/lemon juice, boiled peas and chopped green chilli pieces and stir for a while i.e for about 2-3 mts till all spices blend perfectly with the potatoes. (At this point you make taste the mixture to see if the salt and spices are to your liking.) You may add more spices if you want your samosas hot or vice versa by adding more boiled potatoes if the mixture is already too hot for you. Remember this mixture will have a coating of salted dough also so it is best if the potatoes are a little spicy at this stage. Set aside.
4. Make 4-5 balls from the dough. With a rolling pin roll each into a thin chapatti (Indian bread resembling a pancake). With a knife point draw a line in the centre to divide each into 2 halves. Keep aside.

IMPORTANT TIP
Do not add coriander and mint leaves until and unless potatoes have cooled down completely or else they lose their color and flavor.

If the potatoes have cooled down completely add the chopped coriander and mint leaves and toss the mixture.

Take one piece of the rolled chapatti that has been previously halved and make a cone slightly overlapping the straight edge over the remaining half straight edge. Press the seams. Into this cone put a generous quantity of potato mix and press the remaining edges to make the samosa triangles. Fold the pressed curved edges carefully to ensure the joins do not open when added to oil for frying.
Prepare all triangles as before.

ANOTHER USEFUL TIP.
If the oil is not properly heated the samosas may either stick to each other, or stick to the bottom of the vessel, and yield a typical raw oil smell. Against this, if the oil is too hot the samosa shall turn dark brown immediately the moment it is put into the oil and there would be smoke all oround.

Pour generous quantity of oil in a deep and broad vessel so that at least two samosas can be easily fried in the same. When the oil is sufficiently hot for frying , gently put not more than 2 samosas at a time. Do not stir for a while (about a minute ). Reduce the flame and fry for at lesat 4-5 minutes slowing turning sides in between so that all side are properly done and till the time the dough turns golden. Remove from oil and place them on absorbent tissues so the excess oil is absorbed.
Serve with fresh coriander chutney and ketchup.

Recipe for the green chutney
One small onion, peeled and chopped into small pieces.
One cup chopped coriander leaves including stems.
3-4 green chillies deseeded and chopped. One to 1 ˝ lemon juice.
Salt to taste.

Grind all ingredients very finely (minus the lemon juice) and put them in an airtight glass or plastic jar. Add the lemon juice. Mix properly. Put the jar in the fridge and take out only as much chutney as is required immediately before serving.

Happy eating.

Maureen L
14-09-2009, 10:03 PM
Thank you for this, Madhur! - I will have to try it when my son is here next week. However, I am having a fight with the very grand new cooking equipment in this new house, because it has eaten up my favourite clay cooking pot - lol - so I will have to make peace with it, won't I!
A very good incentive to do so.

There's an Indian supermarket fairly closeby, I will have to ask them about the Maida flour!

Pat can tat
15-09-2009, 02:14 AM
Awesome! so that's what is in garum masala!(spelling - please excuse) is the flour wheat or something else? Could I substitute something else? Is the ground nut oil perhaps peanut oil? Alas, my coriander is almost all gone by - but I can buy some in the store, so perhps it will be ok. I think I can swing 'most everything else. How big are the cones that you stuff with the potato mix?
Sounds yummy! I am sure your family looks forwards to you making this!

madhur
15-09-2009, 04:34 AM
The flour is indeed wheat flour and that too maida, as Maureen rightly quoted. I'm afraid you can't use anything else it its place as it nothing else would roll out properly without being cracked when making cones. The triangels with filling usually fit the palm, i.e abt 4 -4 1/2 inches diagonally. And yes, groundnut oil is peanot oil. Remember, the maida covering should be crisp and not limp after frying. It is for this reason oil is rubbed into the maida before it is kneaded into dough.

madhur
15-09-2009, 04:35 AM
Maureen, I recommend you try out a couple of samosas in advance before your son's arrival!

Tattips
15-09-2009, 05:25 AM
Excellent receipe! I will try it soon. You have put in a lot of effort to write it out in detail.

Susan B T
15-09-2009, 11:32 PM
I have a friend from India, we also work together...

We cheat, and use flour tortillas and a cutter for the size you want... a bit of water on the edgers to seal..... yummy......

Ridgewoman
16-09-2009, 01:00 AM
Oh my! What a lot of work; but they are so good! I became so hungry just reading the recipe. NOW if I still lived in Yuba City, CA, I could buy all the Indigents at the Indian store. My next question is: How does one make the red chutney. I'm addicted to that chutney. I can't wait to drive to Las Cruces and check out their restaurant. Thank you so much, Madur. love, bev