Day 365.. technically a year.. Celebrating with a plate of Samosas

 I’m actually breaking into song as I write this up. Albeit in my head, Frank Sinatra is crooning his timeless classic.. My Way..

Jan 1st 2012, Siri Pulipaka , the author of cookingwithsiri.com was just winding up her own daily blog ( of everyday events) and was encouraging others to experiment with similar projects. On a pure whim, I got myself a blogger page, with nary a thought about how I was to complete 366 dishes. It was never my intention to add recipes for classic day to day fare, just links  if a particular dish was made using a recipe from other sites.

But, just as a new mother forgets everything about the intensity of her labor pain after seeing her infants face, I cannot recall anything hard or negative about this annual project. In fact, the support I received from everyone of you simply increased my motivation to kick back any lethargy and support every dish I could with recipes. The effort has paid off in terms of a repository of recipes that I hope to fine tune for future use. Thank you for making me go the extra mile.

My penultimate dish is a classic snack, the Samosa. Although this is a firm favorite in every corner of India, It may be safe to say that it is definitely a recipe from North India. (Yes, there are umpteen variations, but, the classic version is what I preferred to make for the family today)

 Samosas with a Potato & Green Pea filling:

You need:

For the Casing:

1 cup All purpose flour
1/2 – 1/3 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Bishops weed (Ajwain)
Water as required

Sift the flour, salt and ajwain together, add the butter and rub the flour between your finger tips. Work in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. drizzle in the oil and just enough water to bring in the mixture together into a dough, Knead lightly and cover with a wet tea towel until you’re ready to make the samosa casings.

For the Filling:

2 large  Idaho potatoes, boiled and mashed
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed and boiled
1/2 teaspoon Dry mango powder (aamchur)
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon Chili powder
salt to taste

2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger
2  thai chiles finely minced

Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
6 green chilies with stems, slit lengthwise 
Oil for deep frying

Combine the potatoes, peas, the chile powder, salt  and the aamchur. Heat the oil in a small skillet. When it just begins to smoke add teh cumin and the coarsely crushed coriander. When the cumin seeds split, add the garam masala. Allow the spice blend to bloom before adding it to the potatoes. Mix to evenly disperse the spices. Add the lemon juice, taste and adjust for seasoning. Make 12 ping pong ball sized portions from the filling.

Divide the dough into 6 balls. Using four as required, roll out the dough into a 6 inch circle. Using a Pizza cutter divide the rolled out dough into two semi circles.. Fold each semi circle and press down on the edges to make a ‘cone. Place a portion of the filling and seal the open edges firmly to make little pyramid. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Heat 1/2 L of oil in a cast iron wok. When the oil begins to shimmer on the surface, place 2 samosas at a time into the oil. Cook on medium heat until the the samosas are golden brown. Remove the samosas using a spider skimmer onto absorbent kitchen towels. Once the samosas have been fried, add the slit green chiles to fry up in the residual heat. remove and sprinkle the chiles  with a dash of sea salt. Serve the samosas hot with a choice of spicy green cilantro mint chutney and sweet & sour tamarind chutney. Pair with  a cup of piping hot Masala Chai.