Paneer & Vegetable Samosas

Samosas with chutney and green chilies from West Bengal, India

Ingredients For Dough:

• 1 cup of plain flour or 130 g
• ½ tsp. of ajwain seed/cumin seeds
• ¼ tsp. of salt
• 3 tbsp. of oil
• water to knead the dough, around ½ cup

For the filling:

• 150 g of sweet potatoes, roasted, peeled and mashed
• 100 g of garden peas
• 150g of diced paneer
• 1 onion (chopped)
• coriander leaves ¼ bunch
• green chillies 1 – 2 (chopped)
• ½ tsp. of madras
• salt to taste
• ¼- ½ tsp. of chilli powder
• 1 tsp. of coriander powder
• 1 tsp. of cumin seeds
• oil for frying
• 2of oil
• ½of finely chopped ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

Method

For the dough:

1. Mix together flour, cumin/ajwain seeds and the salt.
2. Add the oil and then start mixing with your fingers. Rub the flour with the oil until the oil is well incorporated in all of the flour.
3. Start adding water, little by little and mix to form a stiff dough. Don’t overwork the dough, it should be firm.
4. Cover the dough with a moist cloth and let it rest for about an hour. I usually soak a sheet of kitchen roll in water and then squeeze out all the water and then cover my dough with that. While the dough is resting, start working on the filling.

For the filling:

1. Heat 2 tbsp. of oil in a pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and fry for a minute.
2. Add the chopped onion and fry for about 3 minutes.
3. Add the chopped ginger, garlic and the green chilli and fry for a minute.
4. Add the coriander powder, madras, red chilli powder, and salt. Mix to combine.
5. Add the green peas and fry for 1 minute.
6. Add the roughly mashed sweet potatoes and mix everything together.
7. Once all is well mixed, remove the pan from the heat and let the filling cool down.

Assembling and cooking:

1. Now divide the dough into golf size balls, roll into a thin round circle.
2. Heat a frying pan/tawa. Once heated place the rolled-out shape on the pan for a few seconds on one side only. Lift it out and set aside.
3. Cook each of the remaining rolled circles and place in a pile.
4. Cut through the pile to make each one into halves.
5. Make a runny flour paste with a tablespoon of flour and water.
6. To shape the samosas, bring the two ends of the straight edge together and pinch them to form a cone. Pinch the pointed ends to make it a perfect cone shape.
7. Fill the samosa with the potato filling (around 1 to 2 tbsp). Don’t overfill the samosa.
8. Now apply the flour paste again around the edges of the cone to seal it. Pinch the edges and seal the samosa.
9. Heat the oil in a pan and deep fry until golden brown and crispy