Punjabi Samosa -Stepwise pictures - Blogging marathon # 27

     Today is day 1 of blogging marathon.And I am going to post dishes made for several occasions for the next 8 days.The occasions can be ,wedding,birthday,kitty party or anything.Today I am posting Punjabi samosa recipe. Samosas are prepared for any party .Birthday parties will not complete without these cuties.Though I have tried several recipes for these samosas,  Chef Harpal Singh's recipe was very apt for the filling. This post is dedicated to my friend Pooja,who is in India.The reason for my samosa preparation is she. She prepared and gave me a very tasty tamarind - Dates chutney along with these cute plates to convery her love to me, when she started to India for good.So prepared these samosas and displayed with the tamarind chutney on her lovely plates.

 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#27

 

Ingredients :
For the outer cover:
1.All purpose flour          -         2 1/2 cup
2.Ajwain  (omam)           -          1/2 tsp
3. water                            -          as required
4.Oil                                 -           4 tbsp. or ghee
5.Salt                                -           1/4 tsp



For the filling:
1.Boiled potatoes             -            4 (medium)
1.a. Onion                         -             1/2 (optional )
2.Grated ginger                -             1 tsp
3.Cumin seeds                  -             1/2 tsp
4.Turmeric powder           -              1/4 tsp
5.Curry powder                 -               1 tsp
6.Garam masala pwdr       -              1/2 tsp
7.Chaat masala                  -             1/2 tsp
8.Coriander seeds              -              1 tsp
9.Salt                                 -              to taste
10.Oil                                 -             2 tbsp.
11.Cilantro                         -             for garnishing
12.Peas                               -             1/2 cup
13.Fried cashews                -             1 tbsp

Method:
 Preparing the dough:
* Take a mixing bowl,add flour salt and ajwain seeds.Mix it well.Add oil to the flour and crumble the dough.Slowly add luke warm water to the flour and form a medium textured dough,that is,it should be non sticky yet firm dough. .It should not be too firm or too soft dough. If it is too firm ,then the samosas will become hard.If it so soft,then the samosa may get torned and sticky while rolling the dough.Let the dough rest for atleast 20 minutes .Cover the dough with a damp cloth.

Preparing the filling:
* While the dough is resting, prepare the filling.Take a pan,add oil splutter with cumin seeds ,now add the chopped ginger and stir it.(If you want to add chopped onion,then you can add them now)
Give it a toss and add turmeric  pwdr ,curry powder,garam masala pwdr ,chaat masala pwdr and toss it.Now add the boiled and mashed potatoes,peas into the pan.

* When the raw smell of the masala ,gets vanishes,add salt to the potatoes.Simultanouesly,take another pan,dry roast the coriander seeds ,till golden brown.Crush them and add it directly to the
potato mixture. We can also add some roasted cashews to the micture .Mix it well.This step is very much essential in getting restaurant style samosa filling.
Rest the filling,till it is cooled off.

Assembling the samosa:
* Take the dough and divide into equal sized balls.They should be like big lemon sized dough.Because ,we are going to make two samosa out of one single dough. Divide the filling with respective to the number of samosas ,we are going to make.


* Take a rolling pin,roll the dough into oblong shaped rotis.The thickness should be tmedium ,approximately 1/2 inch.Divide the roti into two .equal sized triangles.Wet the the triangle with water in all the sides .

Take a spoon full of filling and place it in the middle. Start from the wide side of the samosa,fold towards inside.Take the other end and press it against the first one.

* Now,we would have got a cone .Slightly,press the filling inside the cone.Now our cone is stuffed with the filling very well.Fold the back of the samosa as shown in the picture.This acts like a back bone to the samosa and makes it sit ,without falling.

Now seal the edges ,by pressing them.Trim the unwanted edges of the samosa,using a sharp knife.Adjust the shape of the samosa.Make these samosa ready and cover them with a damp cloth,if not the samosas will become hard and dry.

* Heat oil in a wide pan.Let the oil be medium hot.We can check the consistency,by dropping a pinch of dough into the dough.It should wait for a second and should come up ,with sizzling sound.This is the right consistency.Now drop the samosas in batches and fry them slowly for atleast 6 to 7 minutes

 

or until the samosas are golden brown.Don't fry the samosas in hot oil,then the samosas will get cooked just outside and the inner side will be still un cooked.Drain the excess oil,by placing the samosas in paper towels.Serve them with green chutney,tamarind chutney or ketch up.The recipe for tamarind chutney is here. The alteration ,we can do here is,just add some chopped dates and cook the sauce .The recipe for green chutney is here