Samosa

During Ramadan, samosas become a fixture of the iftar table, and extra frying stalls pop up in the late afternoon to meet the rush before sunset.

A pastry shell is filled with spiced potatoes, peas, or minced meat, folded, and deep-fried until golden and crackling-crisp. Street vendors fry them in huge batches and sell them by the piece, often with tamarind or mint chutney.

What is Samosa?

A samosa is a fried pastry with a savoury filling, folded into a triangle or cone so it can be eaten with one hand. In Pakistan and across South Asia the classic filling is spiced potato with peas, though minced meat versions are also common. Street vendors fry them in large batches and sell them by the piece with tamarind or mint chutney, and at Ramadan they are a regular part of the iftar table.

Triangular filled pastries appear in medieval Persian and Arabic sources under names such as sanbosag and sanbusak, and similar pastries were being eaten in South Asia by the 14th century. The South Asian samosa has since become its own dish, with a thick, crisp, blistered shell.

How to make potato and pea samosas

Serves 4 (10 samosas) · prep 60 min · cook 30 min

Ingredients

• For the dough: 250 g (2 cups) plain flour, ½ teaspoon salt, 4 tablespoons (60 ml) oil or melted ghee, about 110–120 ml cold water
• For the filling: 500 g potatoes (about 3 medium), 100 g (⅔ cup) peas, fresh or frozen, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger, 1–2 green chillies, finely chopped, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, ½ teaspoon turmeric, ½ teaspoon garam masala, 1 teaspoon dried mango powder (amchur) or 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1¼ teaspoons salt, 2 tablespoons chopped coriander
• A paste of 1 tablespoon flour and 2 tablespoons water, to seal the edges
• About 1 litre oil for deep-frying
• Mint or tamarind chutney, to serve (shop-bought is fine)

Method

1. Make the dough: mix the flour and salt, rub in the oil until the mixture looks like damp breadcrumbs and holds together when squeezed. Add the water a spoonful at a time and knead for 5 minutes into a stiff, smooth dough. It should be firmer than bread dough. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
2. Boil the whole potatoes in salted water for 20–25 minutes until just tender, drain, cool and peel. Cut into small cubes of about 1 cm. Cook frozen peas in boiling water for 2 minutes (fresh peas for 4–5 minutes) and drain.
3. Heat the 1 tablespoon oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds for 20 seconds, then the ginger and chillies for 30 seconds. Add the ground coriander, turmeric, garam masala, amchur and salt, stir for 10 seconds, then add the potatoes and peas. Mix gently, crushing about a third of the potatoes lightly, and cook for 3–4 minutes. Add the coriander and leave to cool completely.
4. Divide the dough into 5 balls of about 80 g. Roll each into an oval of about 18 cm and cut across the middle to make 2 half-circles; you now have 10 half-circles in total.
5. Dab the straight edge of one half with the flour paste. Bring the corners together to form a cone, overlapping the edges by about 1 cm and pressing to seal. Hold the cone in your palm, fill with about 55 g of the cool filling (roughly 2 heaped tablespoons), packing it firmly, then dab the open top edge with paste and pinch it shut.
6. Heat the oil in a deep, heavy pot (no more than half full) to about 150 °C, checking with a thermometer. Lower in 3–4 samosas gently, away from you. Never leave hot oil unattended.
7. Fry for 10–12 minutes, keeping the oil at 150–160 °C and turning now and then, until the pastry is firm and light golden. For the last 2 minutes raise the heat to about 170 °C to get a deep golden colour and the pastry feels crisp and stiff. Lift out and drain on a rack or paper towels. Serve hot with chutney.

Tips

• Keep the dough stiff and rest it. This is what gives the shell its crisp, slightly blistered surface rather than a soft, greasy one.
• Cool the filling fully before filling. Warm filling softens the dough and makes it tear.
• Fry low and slow at first (about 150 °C). If the oil is too hot, the shell browns before the inside cooks and the pastry stays doughy. If it is too cool, the samosas soak up oil.
• Pack the filling firmly with no air pockets, and press the seams well so they do not open in the oil.

Regional versions

• Meat samosas, also popular in Pakistan, use about 500 g minced beef or lamb and 1 chopped onion cooked with the same spices until fully dry and cooked through (at least 71 °C) in place of the potato and peas, then cooled before filling. Use the same quantity of dough.
• To bake, brush with oil and bake at 200 °C for 25–30 minutes, turning once. The shell will be drier and less blistered.
• Some cooks use ready-made samosa pastry sheets, which are quicker, though thinner and crisper than the traditional shell.

Questions

What is a samosa?

A fried pastry, usually triangular, filled with spiced potato and peas or with minced meat, and often served with tamarind or mint chutney.

Why are my samosas soft instead of crisp?

Usually the dough was too soft, it was not rested, or the oil was too hot or too cool. Use a stiff dough and fry low and slow at 150–160 °C so the shell dries out and stiffens before it colours.

Can I freeze samosas?

Yes. Freeze the filled, unfried samosas on a tray, then bag them. Brush off any ice and fry from frozen at about 140 °C, so the inside warms through before the shell colours; lower them in slowly because ice makes oil spit.

Are samosas vegetarian?

The potato and pea version is vegetarian, and vegan if made with oil rather than ghee. Meat versions are common as well, so check before you buy.

Roughly what's in it

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