Punjabi Samosa
Indian street style samosa that has a very flavourful delicious stuffing and a khasta layer. The combination of the two makes it taste absolutely heavenly. This recipe has all the techniques to achieve high level of perfection.
Punjabi samosa
Punjabi samosa is an Indian street style samosa. They are also called the halwai style samosa. Punjabi samosas are different from the western style samosa in terms of its outer layer as well as the stuffing. Western samosa has a thin pastry layer folded into flat triangle and stuffed with mildly spiced up potato stuffing. On the other hand, punjabi samosa has a thick khasta (crisp yet soft) layer with the potato stuffing that is spiced up with Indian spices. It has a 3D triangular shape and are comparatively bigger in size.Apart from the flavourful and spicy taste of Punjabi samosa, it is its outer layer that makes it very uniquely delicious, So the outer layer of this street style samosa is equally, rather more important than the stuffing. It is not a child's play to get that perfectly crunchy, khasta and oil-free layer. It requires a lot of techniques and a handsome amount of patience. I provide you with all the techniques and the patience you need to grow. Follow my words in the recipe and I promise you will get the same result as mine.So here is the Punjabi samosa or Indian street style samosa recipe made easy for you!
Equipment
- standard measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
For Pastry
- 1 cup refined wheat flour also called white flour or maida
- 1 cup regular wheat flour also called chapati flour
- 4 tbsp melted ghee or oil for shortening
- 5-6 tbsp water to make dough
- 1 tsp carom seeds also called ajwain
- 3/4 tsp salt adjust quantity as per your taste
stuffing
- 4 pieces medium size potatoes
- 1 cup green peas (also called matar) fresh or frozen
- 3 pieces green chillies
- 1/2 inch ginger
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp red chili powder adjust quantity as per your taste
- 1 pinch asafoetida powder (hing)
- 1/2 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp salt adjust quantity as per your taste
- 1/4 inch cinnamon stick
- 2 pieces black peppercorns
- 1 piece clove
- 1 piece green cardamom peeled or unpeeled
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 2 tsp dry pomegranate seeds can be replaced with 1 tsp dry mango powder
Instructions
Pastry dough
- Mix all dry ingredients for pastry in a mixing bowl. Add ghee.
- Mix well until the flour gets crumbly.
- Add a little water at a time and start combining the dough. The should be a bit stiff. Wrap it with a damp cloth, cover the bowl and keep aside for 1/2 an hour.
Preparing peas and potatoes
- Boil peas in water till they are cooked. Boil potatoes thoroughly. If you want to use a pressure cooker, you can cook both at one go. In that case, put around 100gr water in the cooker. Place a small ring or a stand in the middle. Now put peas in a container with some water. cover the container with a lid. Cut potatoes into small pieces and put them in the cooker too. Close the cooker with a lid and cook on medium to high flame till 5 whistles (if the cooker is small. only 1 whistle if it is a big cooker.) Drain remaining water from the potatoes.
- If you decided to boil whole potatoes, peel them and chop once they are ready.
Preparing the spice mix
- Take cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, black pepper, cumin seeds, fennel seeds and coriander seeds in a pan. Roast them on very low heat while stirring continuously. Remove them from heat as soon as they release aroma. Let them cool. Grind them to fine powder.
- Add chilli powder, salt, dry mango powder and asafoetida to the spice mix. Stir to combine well.
Making the stuffing
- Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and allow it to splatter. Fry ginger garlic paste for about 3 seconds.
- Drain access water from the peas and add them in the oil along with the prepared spices.
- Add potatoes and sauté for another two minutes or until everything mixes well. Remove from heat and keep aside.
Preparing samosa
- Knead dough till soft. Make 7 equal size balls. Flatten a ball and roll it into an oval shaped medium thin chapati.
- It should be thick enough that you cannot see your hand print when it is placed on your palm.
- Cut it at the middle width wise ( horizontally). Hence you will get a curved side and a straight side of each half. (Each half will make one samosa).
- Work with one half at a time. Wet the straight side of a half with good amount of water.
- Hold the two corners, fold them bringing them towards the center. This will make it a cone shape.
- Seal the cone at the wet side.
- Sealing the wet side will be easy if a thumb is kept underneath and pressed with a finger at the top.
- Pinch the tip of the cone to seal it thoroughly.
- Add a table spoon or a little more stuffing to fill it upto 3/4 level.
- Wet the edges of the cone all around.
- Bring edges together and seal by pressing.
- I also fold the opposite side of the first seal (where we folded the straight side) and then stick the edges together, This helps to cut down the length of the edge. But you can avoid this step if it seems to be too complicated.
- Prepare all the samosa similarly.
Frying technique
- Take a deep fry pan. Put oil as much as can immerse the samosa completely. Heat it till is slightly hotter than warm. Add as many samosas as can fit in the oil leaving some space for you to stir them around.
- Fry them from the beginning till the end on low to medium heat, stiffing frequently. It takes around 12 minutes to fry each batch. Any time taken less than 10 minutes will not give you the desired result of the layer. Frying on low heat will make them crispy. Ensure to stir them very frequently for even cooking. They should be evenly golden brown in colour all around.
