Samosas

Using a scale to measure flour is important to accuracy. Did you know that a cup of flour can easily vary in weight by 10% depending on how compacted it is, and what type or brand of flour you're using?

Just squish the ingredients together. With enough squishing, the oil will be well mixed with the flour. When you crush the mix tightly in your hand, it should maintain some of it's shape.

Mix in the water, also by hand.

Knead the dough in a bowl until it comes together in a ball. This may take a few minutes of kneading.

Cover the dough ball with a kitchen towel and set it aside to rest while you make the filling.

You don't need to be meticulous here. We're just going to boil and mash these, so the shape is not important.

How to Peel and Dice Potatoes

Square one? Maybe. But you gotta start somewhere. A dice is a cubic cut. The dice shown here is probably considered a medium dice in terms of size.

Place potatoes in simmering hot water. Maintain a gentle simmer for about 15 minutes or so. When they're done, you should be able to pierce through to the center with a fork with very little resistance. Otherwise, keep cooking.

When your potatoes are done cooking, strain them out and transfer them back to a large pot. Crush them roughly with a potato masher or a wooden spoon.

Mix in the frozen peas. No need to defrost. If the hot potatoes don't take care of that, the fryer oil will.

It's always smart to collect everything ahead if following a recipe for the first time. Crush the garlic. Grate the ginger. Measure out the spices. Pick the curry leaves and chop them up.

How to Grate Ginger

How to Crush Garlic

Basic cooking techniques. Using the side of your knife.

Melt some ghee in a pan over medium heat. Add the garlic paste, the crushed ginger, and the chopped curry leaves. Cook for about 30 seconds.

Mix spices well and toast gently in the hot ghee. Note: Amchoor is crushed dried mango. It can be found at your local Indian grocery. It's really crucial here because it provides a unique tartness that is one of the key characteristics of samosa.

Mix the cooked spices into the potatoes.

Mix well and add a little salt to taste. Make it taste good. You should kinda wanna eat this stuff without the pastry crust ideally.

Having had some time to hydrate, the dough will be more elastic. Knead briefly, then divide into 6 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball.

Roll a ball of dough out to a round. This takes a little practice. I use a combination of rolling and stretching the dough in different directions.

Once you get a round, roll the dough in opposite directions until you have a circle that is about 5"-6" in diameter, about as thin as a quarter, and almost transparent.

Right down the center. Each half circle of dough will be used to wrap one samosa.

There are a number of ways to shape samosas. I favor this technique. Lightly coat half of the flat edge of the wrapper with water. Fold and pinch the moist portion over the dry portion to form a cone. Pinch the tip to seal it.

Pop open your dough cone and fill it with the potato filling. You can really pack these guys pretty full.

Moisten one half of the opening. Pinch to close.

Pour some oil into a pan. You want the oil to be at least 1/2" dip, but ideally closer to 1". Set up a thermometer if you can. You can get away without a thermometer, but it helps to monitor your temperature.

The oil is ready when it bubbles hard when a samosa goes in. I like to try and keep the oil around 340F. As you add samosas, the oil temp will drop and you'll need to turn up the heat.

Keep flipping your samosas as they cook. You're looking for a nice, even coat of crusty rich brown all around. Serve these with your favorite dipping sauce. I particularly recommend a little greek yogurt seasoned with cumin, but ketchup works fine.