Samosas with Tamarind Chutney

My first introduction to these satisfying little snacks was in Southern India. Potatoes were an unintimidating meal for an exotic food-fobic girl when I was living there. I remember traveling overnight by train and being woken up frequently by the chaiwallas calls at each stop. You could purchase a handful of these little pastries, wrapped in grease spotted paper, through your window for the price of a few rupees.

Not so Humble Samosa Recipe

Filling:
5-6 medium sized potatoes (little under a pound)
1 medium onion diced
2 tablespoons oil
3 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 green thai chili (optional)
1 jalapeno
1/2 cup green peas
3 teaspoons pealed and grated ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
salt
cayenne pepper

Pastry:
4 cups flour
5 tablespoons ghee
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

For the pastry, combine flour, salt and ghee with your hands until well combined and mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add warm water, a few tablespoons at a time until the mixture forms a dough. Kneed the dough for about 5 minutes till smooth and wrap in plastic and set aside at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

Boil potatoes till fork tender. Allow the potatoes to cool then peel and cut into small cubes.

Dry toast cumin and coriander in a skillet over medium heat until the mixture darkens slightly and becomes fragrant. Grind half of the spice mixture into a fine powder and set aside.

Add oil to the skillet and saute onion till golden brown. Add cumin and coriander, ginger, peas and diced seeded chilies and saute for a minute then reduce heat. Add potatoes, turmeric and garam masala and combine. Remove from heat and add cilantro and lemon juice, mix and season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

Allow mixture to cool.

Roll out portions of dough into thin 9 inch rounds and cut in half. Pinch together a cone from each half and fill with two to three tablespoons of filling. Seal the top of the cone and set aside to deep fry.


Fill a wok with a couple inches of oil and fry the samosas, a couple at a time until golden brown.







Serve with your favorite chutney or raita