Crisp Aloo Samosas With Wheat Flour

Tasty Potato Samosas With Important Tips

I’m so happy to present one of my favourite snacks today–Potato samosas or aloo samosas, but with wheat flour. Meaning, what we’re going to make are healthy aloo samosas using a mix of all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour. I also have a whole lot of tips for you for making perfect potato samosas. So do read on till the end.

Potato samosas, though easy to make, will turn out just right if you follow certain tips right from preparing the filling to frying them. They’re usually hot favourites so you’ll have to make a larder batch! These are crisp, evenly fried, and without any bubbles or blisters on their surface.

The stuffing for this recipe might remind you of the filling prepared for my Dabeli recipe. Dabeli is a lip-smacking and colourful street food. But if you haven’t checked it out yet, here’s where you could check out my chatpata Dabeli recipe.

Ingredients

Dough

1 cup maida (all purpose flour)

½ cup atta (whole wheat flour)

3 tbsp oil

¾ tsp salt

½ tsp ajwain (carom seeds)

Filling

450g potatoes (5 medium-size potatoes)

¼ cup boiled green peas

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp finely cut green chillies (4 chillies)

1 tbsp crushed ginger

½ tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp hing (asafoetida)

1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)

½ tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp pepper powder

½ tsp garam masala

1 tsp jeera powder

1 tbsp roughly crushed coriander seeds

1 tsp chaat masala

1 ¼ tsp amchur powder

(or 2 – 3 tsp lime juice)

2 tbsp of water

2 tbsp chopped cashew nuts (optional)

1 tsp sugar (optional)

A handful of chopped coriander leaves

Salt to taste (approx. ½ tsp)

Oil for deep frying

(Made 8 samosas. Around 20 % of the filling was extra. This extra filling could be enjoyed as it is with rotis / chapatis, OR you could start with 1 ¼ cup / 160g of maida and ½ cup + 2 tbsp / 80g of whole wheat flour (atta) and make 2 extra samosas.)

Procedure

1. Boil the potatoes and let them cool to room temperature. Then peel them and lightly crush them.
2. Prepare the filling by first heating the oil. Add in the green chillies, ginger, hing, and jeera, and sauté for a few seconds. Then add the other dry spices one by one (garam masala, turmeric powder, chilli powder, pepper powder, crushed coriander seeds, ground cumin, chaat masala, and amchur powder), and stir everything well. If you’re using frozen green peas, you could add these too now.
3. Add around 2 tbsp water. Sauté everything for a minute.
4. Then add the crumbled / lightly crushed potatoes and green peas. Stir everything. Add the sugar and salt to taste and also the chopped cashew nuts. Finally, add the chopped coriander and mix everything again for a minute or so and then turn off the heat. Let the stuffing cool to room temperature.
5. Next, mix the maida and atta well in a large bowl or shallow vessel. Add the salt, carom seeds, and oil. Rub the oil well into the flour mix for a minute or so. This is an important step for getting a nice and crisp outer coating.
6. Knead a tight / stiff dough using room temperature water.
7. Cover the dough and let it rest for around 15 minutes.
8. Divide the dough into 4 portions. Shape each into a ball.
9. Then roll each into a slightly oblong shape. Divide this along its width into two parts.
10. Shape each into a cone moistening half of the cut edge with a little water. Seal the pointed end of the cone and the joint well. Fill around 2 – 2 ½ tbsp of the stuffing into the cone, pushing it down firmly to make sure there are no air pockets in the cone. Seal the mouth of the cone using a little water. Shape the samosa so it has a narrow seam and also a broad enough flat base at the bottom.
11. Next, heat the oil, for deep frying the samosas, with the flame on medium.
12. Drop a tiny bit of dough into the oil. If it takes a few seconds to rise to the top, the temperature is just right. (The oil shouldn’t be too hot.)
13. Gently slide the samosas into the oil, taking care not to crowd the pan. Immediately reduce the heat to low.
14. Fry the samosas on low heat for around 6-7 minutes. Then raise the heat to medium for the last 3 minutes or so till the samosas get a nice brown colour.
15. Finally, remove the samosas to a colander lined with a kitchen towel.
16. Remember to reduce the heat to low immediately after adding the next batch of samosas to the oil. Fry this batch like the previous one.

Enjoy!

10 Tips for making perfect samosas

1. Don’t puree or mash the boiled potatoes completely, but only crush them lightly.
2. Let the stuffing cool to room temperature before filling it into the samosas.
3. Rub the oil well into the flour till it becomes crumbly to ensure the outer cover has the right texture.
4. Use cold, meaning room temperature, water for kneading the dough. The water doesn’t have to be warm or ice-cold.
5. Don’t work the dough too much. Just press it together to form a firm ball.
6. Roll each dough ball into a slightly oblong shape, in order to give the samosas a base while shaping them and also seal the seam at the bottom properly. The dough should also be rolled out a little thicker than for chapatis.
7. Don’t over-stuff the samosas, but pack the filling in tightly so they don’t have any air pockets inside them.
8. Keep the heat on medium when adding the samosas to the oil. But reduce the heat to low or medium-low as soon as you’ve added all the samosas in each batch.
9. Fry the samosas slowly on low to medium-low heat so that they have a smooth outer cover and don’t develop any bubbles or blisters on their surface.
10. For the samosas to fry evenly, add enough samosas to the oil in each batch. Don’t add too few samosas into a whole lot of oil. And on the other hand, don’t overcrowd the pan.

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