Gimme Some mo' Samosas!!

A good friend of mine introduced me to samosas, and I absolutely fell in love with them. After all, how could you not like a deep fried, vegetarian, spicy thing? So, I decided to try and make them, and while they definitely took a little tender loving care, they were well worth it.

Filling Ingredients:
- 3 to 4 Russet potatoes (cook in the microwave on the "potato" setting and then peeled and diced)
- 2 to 3 Anaheim chiles seeded and finely diced
- 1/2 to 1 cup of frozen peas
- 1 tsp. cumin seeds
- 1 tsp. coriander
- generous 1/2 tsp of garam masala (Indian spice blend)
- 1/2 tsp. chili powder
- approximately 2 tbsp. olive oil and salt and pepper to taste
- Optional: I added some chili flakes and some cayenne pepper for some extra heat

Filling Directions:
- Use a fork or knife to poke a bunch of holes in the sides of the Russet potatoes, loosely wrap a paper towel around them, and microwave one at a time on the "Potato" setting.
- Peel the skin off of the potatoes and then dice them into fairly small cubes. They don't need to be precise and it's okay if they get a little mushed.

 

- In a medium sized sauce pan, heat up the 2 tbsp. of olive oil over medium heat. 

- Drop in one cumin seed to see if the oil is hot enough. If the seed starts to bubble a bit or pop, add in the rest of the cumin seeds and stir.

- Then, add in the Anaheim chiles, the coriander, and the peas and cook for about a minute until the peas are almost cooked through.

 - Add in the potatoes, the garam masala, chili powder, and salt and pepper (be generous, potatoes need a lot of salt) and the chili flakes and cayenne pepper if you want. 

- Mix all of the ingredients together and cook over medium heat for about five minutes. Taste the mixture to see if the seasoning is correct, and adjust as needed.

- Remove the mixture from the sauce pan and place it in a bowl to cool.

Dough Ingredients: (yeilds 16 samosas)

- 1 cup of all-purpose flour

- 1 tbsp. of semolina flour

- 1/4 tsp. of salt

- 3 tbsp. canola or vegetable oil

- 1/2 cup of warm water (you may not need to use all of it)

Dough Directions:

- In a large wide bowl, use your hands to mix together the flours, salt, and oil.

- Then, pour in a little of the water at a time and continue mixing/kneading the mixture until it forms into a dough. (Should leave about 1 tbsp. of water in the measuring cup, you don't want the dough too gooey.) Use your knuckles to really knead the dough well, form it into a thick disc, and leave in the bowl to rest for about twenty minutes.

LET'S MAKE SOME SAMOSAS!!

Samosa Directions:

- Take the dough and divide it into two equal halves.

- Take one of the halves, and divide it into four equal pieces rolled into balls.

- Take on of the balls at a time and use a rolling pin to flatten it out on until it has a diameter of about 5 to 6 inches across. *DO NOT USE ANY ADDITIONAL FLOUR ON THE FLAT SURFACE OR THE ROLLING PIN! 

- Use a sharp knife to cut the circle in half right down the center.
- Pick up one of the halves, and use you finger to dab a little bit of water along the straight edge.

- Then, hold each side of the straight edge and fold them up towards each other and press/pinch them together to form a cone shape. Make sure it's pretty tightly sealed so the filling won't come out.

- Hold the cone carefully around the edge like I am in the picture above, and then carefully put one spoonful of the filling in at a time, gently pushing it down into the cone until it's filled almost to the top. *Dough is very stretchy and you don't need to leave a very big lip at the top.

- Once the samosa is filled, use you finger to dab a little bit of water around the edge, then fold in the sides over each other.

 

- Flip it over in your hands, and gently shape the samosa and then set it on a tray or cutting board until you're ready to fry it.

 - Follow the same steps for the other half of the circle, and continue to repeat the steps until all the dough has been used.

- Then, heat up your deep fryer or large pot with canola oil over medium/high heat. Take just a tiny piece of the extra dough and drop it in the oil, if it starts bubbling, you're ready to put in your samosas.

- Gently place the samosas one at a time in the oil and cook until golden brown on all sides. They really come out better if you keep the temperature of the oil at medium/high and not let it get too hot.

- Once they are golden brown, remove them from the oil and place on a paper towel to soak up any excess oil and grease.

- As soon as they've cooled down.....EAT THEM!!!!