We will start by boiling the potatoes. Boil them until they are done. They should not be mushy.
Let them cool. Peel off the skins.
Crumble them roughly. Do not make mash them to a paste like texture.
Next, we will make the dough for samosa covering.
Make samosa covering
Mix together ajwain, salt, flour and ghee/oil in a mixing bowl.
Rub the flour with the oil until the oil is well incorporated in all of the flour. Do this for 3 to 4 minutes
Once incorporated, the mixture resembles crumbs.
Take handful of flour and press down with your palm, It must hold shape and not crumble.
Now, start adding water, little by little and mix to form a stiff dough.
Don’t overwork the dough and don’t knead a soft dough.
It should just come together and form a stiff dough.
I have used 1/4th cup+ 2 tablespoons of water. It depends on the flour quality.
Cover the dough with a moist cloth and let it rest for 30-40 minutes.
Meanwhile let’s prepare our stuffing for the samosas.
Make potato filling for samosa
Heat a pan with oil.
Add cumin and crushed coriander seeds.
When they begins to sizzle, add ginger & fry until it smells good. Next add cashews if using.
Fry for a while.
Next add green peas and saute for 2 mins.
Next add potatoes.
Add red chilli powder, garam masala, coriander powder, dry mango powder and chaat masala. Add salt too.
Mix and sauté for 2 to 3 mins.
Mix in coriander leaves & set aside to cool.
Taste test and add more salt if needed.
How to make samosa
Once the dough has rested, give it a quick knead to smoothen a bit.
Divide the dough into 6 equal parts and roll each portion to ball.
Cover the dough.
Start working on a piece of dough, keep the remaining dough balls covered at all times with a moist cloth else the dough will dry out.
Grease the rolling area and then flatten a ball. Drizzle some oil.
Begin to roll to oval shape of about 7-8 inches long by 5-6 inches wide.
It should be neither too thick or too thin.
Cut it into two parts.
Take one part and smear water over the straight edge.
Now bring the two ends of the straight edges together and pinch them to form a cone.
Press gently to seal the cone from inside as well.
Pinch the pointed ends too to make it a perfect cone shape.
Fill the cone with potato masala and press down.
Around 1-1.5 tablespoons of masala per samosa is good enough. Don’t overfill the samosa.
Now again smear water all around the circumference of the cone as you have to seal it.
Start pinching from the opposite side (side opposite to where you pinched to form the cone).
Bring the edges together and make a pleat on one side. Bring back the pleat and seal it. Make sure the samosa has been sealed well.
Your samosa is now ready.
Repeat the same process with the remaining dough.
Keep the prepared filled samosa in an open plate or tray. This way the dough’s moisture will evaporate and the covering will become khasta or crisp.
Next we have to fry them.
Now heat oil in a kadai on low heat.
To check if oil is ready, drop a small piece of dough into the oil. It should not sizzle or bubble or rise immediately. It should take few seconds to come up to the surface. That means the oil is ready.
Add in 5-6 samosas in the oil depending on the capacity of the wok you are using.
Let them fry them on a low heat undisturbed for about 10-12 minutes.
The samosas will become firm and light brown in color.
Now increase the heat to medium and fry until it gets evenly and nicely browned.
Your first batch of samosas is ready.
Once you finish frying one batch, lower the heat again to low and wait until the temperature of the oil drops and then add the second batch.
If you fry samosa on high heat, they will not get crispy and the dough will remain uncooked. The samosa will also have bubbles on the crust if you oil temperature is hot while frying the samosa.
Phew!! Done with making them. Now make yourself a cup of tea to enjoy them fully.
Serve them with Mint Coriander Chutney, Tamarind Chutney or Tomato ketchup.
Or you can make chole samosa chaat too. For that break 2-3 samosas in big chunks in a plate. Top it up with prepared chole and drizzle of chutneys.
Enjoy the sinfully delicious treat!