Samosa is a savory fried Indian snack that has a crispy outer crust and a spicy filling. Wondering how to make it at home? Then try my foolproof recipe.
Here are some versions of this yummy snack that you might want to try – Moong Dal Samosa, Chicken Cheese Samosa, and Sweet Samosa.
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About This Recipe
Samosa is a fried or baked snack with a crispy outer crust and a savory filling, such as spicy potatoes, peas, onions, lentils, cottage cheese, minced chicken or lamb.
The shape of the samosa varies depending on the region – triangular, cone, half-moon shaped, or square pockets.
For a samosa to qualify as a very good one, it has to pass certain standards. The crust should be crispy and crunchy and slightly flaky and the filling should be a perfect balance of spicy, tangy, and full of flavors.
Here, we are making a Punjabi Style Halwai Samosa, which is filled with delicious Aloo filling. They make for a perfect appetizer or evening snack.
I love relishing this snack on a rainy day with some spicy chutney and a hot cup of Masala Chai. I also make them a little extra so that I can make my favourite, Samosa Chaat too.
This Samosa is
- Delicious
- Vegan
- Just like the market Samosa.
- Easy to make at home
- Crispy and Flaky
- Perfect for rainy days
- Perfect to serve in your Tea parties
Ingredients
For the Outer Layer – For the outer part of samosa, you will need all-purpose flour, vegetable oil, salt and carom seeds. Carom seeds add a nice subtle flavor, so don’t miss out on this one.
For the Filling – The Samosas are filled with a spicy Potato Peas filling, which makes these just irresistible. For the masala, you will need – boiled potatoes, green peas, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, hing, fennel seeds, ginger, green chilies, coriander leaves, mint leaves, and salt.
The masala uses a lot of spices too such as kasuri methi, red chilli powder, coriander powder, anaradana powder, garam masala powder, black pepper powder, dry mango powder and roasted cumin powder.
Step By Step Recipe
Heat vegetable oil in a pan.
Once the oil is hot, add hing, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and coriander seeds and fry them for a few seconds.
Add ginger and green chilli in the pan.
Add mashed boiled potatoes and peas.
Now add Kasuri methi, anardana powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, black pepper powder, amchoor powder, red chili powder and coriander powder and mix well.
Using a potato masher. mash everything well to make a smooth filling. Add salt, fresh coriander, and mint and mix well. Remove the pan from heat and let the filling cool completely.
Mix all purpose flour, salt, ajwain (carom seeds) and oil in a bowl.
Mix well for a minute.
Add little water and knead to make a very stiff dough.
Cover with a damp cloth and keep aside for 30 minutes.
Knead the dough once again for a minute. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Make them into balls. Cover and keep aside for 10 minutes.
Roll the dough ball to make an oval.
Cut the oval from the centre. Roll and cut all the dough balls in the same manner.
Roll each half oval part a little more.
Apply little oil on straight sides and bring the two ends together to make a cone. Make sure to seal the ends tightly.
Fill 2 tbsp of potato filling in the cone.
Apply more water on the open sides and make a pleat at the centre of the round open edge.
Seal the edges to make a triangle. Press the entire samosa a little bit so that it does not puff up while frying. Make all of them in a similar manner.
Heat oil for frying in a pan. When the oil is just hot, drop a few samosas in it.
Make sure that the hot is not too hot, otherwise, the samosas will have blisters on the surface. Fry on medium-low flame until they are golden brown in color. Do not overcrowd the pan while frying and fry them in batches. Each batch will take 15-20 minutes. Once they are golden brown, tale out on a plate lined with kitchen tissue. Serve hot.
Frequently Asked Questions
To bake these in an oven, preheat the oven at 300 degrees F for 20 mins.
Arrange them on a baking tray and spray or brush them with oil.
Now bake the prepared samosas for 30 mins. Once done, serve with mint chutney.
You can air fry them if you have an air fryer handy. Air-fired samosas have a better texture than the baked ones. They taste similar to the fried ones and are not at all oily.
To air fry, preheat the air fryer at 300 degrees F for 10 minutes. Brush them with oil and put them in the air fryer. Air fry for 10-15 minutes till golden brown.
These can be frozen before frying and also after frying.
Shape the samosas and place them on a sheet pan in a single layer and freeze them.
Once frozen, store them in freezer bags.
You can refrigerate these for up to 6 months. When you want to fry them, bring them to room temperature.
If you have leftover fried samosas, wrap them in aluminum foil or plastic wrap loosely and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Reheat in the oven at 350 F for 10 mins.
You can use wheat flour instead of maida to make a healthier version.
Make sure you add more water while kneading the dough as wheat flour absorbs more water than maida.
You can follow the rest of the recipe as is.
You can use the leftover Samosas to make Samosa Chaat. Just crush the hot Samosas in a plate and top it with whisked curd, green chutney, sweet tamarind chutney, finely chopped onions and sev.
You can check out the detailed recipe here – Samosa Chaat.
You can also place them between two breads and make a sandwich with green chutney.
This happens when you fry them in hot oil. Make sure the oil is not too hot when you drop the Samosas, Fry them on medium-low heat.
Also, the dough for the Samosa should be stiff, then only Samosas will turn out crispy.
Yes, if you can’t make the outer layer from scratch, you can either use spring roll sheets, samosa patti or puff pastry sheets.
Serving Suggestions
These taste great along with Mint Coriander Chutney and Sweet Tamarind Chutney.
You can also make a Chaat out of it. Just crush the Samosa a bit, add some whisked yogurt, mint coriander chutney, sweet tamarind chutney and then top it with finely chopped onions, fine sec, and finely chopped coriander leaves.
Sprinkle a little chaat masala, red chilli powder, and squeeze some lemon juice.
Filling Ideas
Although potato is the most popular filling option for the Indian samosa, there are many other variations that you can try. Listing a few below
Paneer (Cottage Cheese): Use minced paneer with green chilies and finely chopped onion and coriander.
Vegetable: Use any mix of vegetables for the filling
Sweet: This can be made by stuffing khoya and dry fruits. I have a detailed recipe, so do check it out here.
Chicken: Use minced chicken with all the dried spices for stuffing. I also have a chicken and cheese samosa recipe here.
Dry Fruits: You can add dry fruits like cashew nuts and raisins in the filling to make them richer.
Matar: Peas or Matar makes a yummy filling for these. Do try.
Moong Dal: These are a little different samosa which is served as dry snacks with tea.
The filling is a spicy and tangy lentil filling and this samosa can be kept for a long time. Check out the blog post for the recipe here.
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Recipe Card
Samosa Recipe
Ingredients
For the crust
- 250 g All Purpose Flour
- 3 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 1 tsp Carom Seeds/ Ajwain
- 1 tsp Salt
- Oil for frying
For the Filling
- 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 1/4 tsp Hing
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 2 tsp Fennel Seeds
- 1 tbsp Coriander Seeds (Crushed)
- 2 tsp Ginger (Finely Chopped)
- 2 tsp Green Chilli (Finely Chopped)
- 3-4 Boiled Potatoes (Refrigerated for 4-6 hours.)
- 1/2 cup Peas (Boiled)
- 2 tbsp Kasuri Methi
- 2 tsp Anardana Powder
- 1/2 tsp Roasted Cumin Powder
- 1/2 tsp Garama Masala Powder
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper Powder
- 2 tsp Dry Mango Powder
- 2 tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder
- 1 tbsp Coriander Powder
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp Coriander Leaves (Chopped)
- 2 tbsp Mint Leaves (Chopped)
Instructions
For the crust
- Mix all purpose flour, salt, carom seeds and oil in a bowl.
- Mix well for a minute.
- Add little water and knead to make a very stiff dough.
- Cover the dough with a damp cloth and keep aside for 30 minutes.
- Knead the dough once again for a minute.
- Divide the dough into 4 equal parts.
- Make them into balls.
- Cover the dough balls and keep aside for 10 minutes.
- Roll the dough ball to make an oval.
- Cut the oval from the centre.
- Roll and cut all the dough balls in the same manner.
For the filling
- Heat vegetable oil in a pan.
- Once the oil is hot, add hing, cumin seeds, fennel seeds and coriander seeds and fry them for a few seconds.
- Add mashed boiled potatoes and peas.
- Add kauri methi, anardana powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, black pepper powder, dry mango powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder and mix well.
- Using a potato masher, mash everything well to make a smooth filling.
- Add salt, fresh coriander and mint and mix well.
- Remove the pan from heat and let the filling cool completely.
Assembly
- Roll each half oval part a little more.
- Apply little oil on straight sides and bring the two ends together to make a cone.
- Make sure to seal the ends tightly.
- Fill 2 tbsp of potato filling in the cone.
- Apply more water on the open sides and make a pleat at the centre of the open edge.
- Seal the samosa to make a triangle.
- Press the entire samosa a little bit so that it does not puff up while frying.
- Make all the samosa in the similar manner.
- Heat oil for frying the samosa in a pan.
- When the oil is just hot, drop a few samosas in it.
- Make sure that the hot is not too hot, otherwise the samosas will have blisters on the surface.
- Fry on medium low flame until they are golden brown in color.
- Do not over crowd the pan while frying the samosas and fry them in batches.
- Each batch will take 15-20 minutes.
- Once they are golden brown, tale out on a plate lined with kitchen tissue.
- Serve hot.
wilbrando
i hope i learn how to cook samosa
Neha Mathur
This is a very simple recipe. Do try once.
Vijay
Excellent
Neha Mathur
Thanks