The Diary of a Displaced Housewife is now Life In Fuchsia…


'The Diary of the Displaced Housewife' is now 'Life in Fuschia'

Friday, May 28, 2010

The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Samosas!



Remember that scene in almost every sub standard generic diasporic (yes, I like to make up my own words) Indian movie where the mother wails that her daughter doesn’t know how to make samosas?

Stop wailing mommy, and read on…

This is my updated version of the samosa. I feel life is too short to stand around frying up batches of samosas and then clean up! (unless someone else is doing the frying and cleaning for me…) This is a great recipe using a shortcut that you can make ahead and reheat in the oven for a few minutes before serving. I love the versatile filling that is quite different from the usual Punjabi samosa filling.




Urulai Somasi – South Indian Potato Samosa

What you need:

Readymade Refrigerated Biscuit dough – 1 can

Filling:
4 -5 Potatoes
1 tablespoons Fresh Coriander – chopped finely
8 – 10 Cashew Nuts - chopped
Salt to taste

Spice paste:
4 Dried Chilies
½ teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
1/2 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
¼ teaspoon Fennel Seeds
1 – 2 teaspoons Water

Glaze:
1 Egg
A couple of teaspoons of Water

Getting down to business:

Grind the spices together to form a smooth paste. If you do have the powdered versions of all these spices, you could use them to make the mix and avoid the grinding. Keep aside.

Boil the potatoes. Peel and mash coarsely. Add in the cashews, coriander, salt and spice paste. Mix well.

Pop open the biscuit can. Take each biscuit and roll out lightly. Separate each rolled out biscuit into two halves.  Place some filling in the center and wet the edges. Seal and crimp with a fork.  Alternatively, just roll out each biscuit and place some filling in the center. Fold into half moons and seal the edges as mentioned earlier.

Beat the egg with water.  Glaze the somasis with this mixture. Arrange the somasis on cookie sheets about two inches apart or as instructed on the package.

Bake as instructed on the package of the biscuit tin, till golden brown.

To Serve:
The somasis are great served with mint or coconut chutney or ketchup.

Notes:
I recommend piercing the somasis with a fork to let any steam escape and prevent them from opening during baking.
I suggest using Trader Joes Buttermilk Biscuits as they’re less sweeter than other brands.

Dough:
If you wish to use the traditional dough, here’s the recipe:

For the dough:
1 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour
½ teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Butter
Oil for frying
½ cup Water

Sift together the flour and salt. Add in the butter and mix with your fingertips till the look like crumbly breadcrumbs. Add water in gradually till you get a stiff dough.

Knead the dough till it’s smooth and pliable. Divide into 14 to 15 portions. Roll to a four-inch disc. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center. Seal edges with little water to form half moons. You can crimp the edges with a fork.

Heat oil till almost smoking. Lower heat to moderate and deep fry in batches turning frequently till golden crisp. Drain. Serve hot.

With lots of love,
The Housewife


Recipe courtesy my mom via an old Femina magazine

21 comments:

  1. this sounds good..i never tried using a biscuit dough for the samosa preparation..looks delicious and simple

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  2. yum! just had samosas a couple of weeks ago. made it into small triangular shapes. tried the traditional dough and the wonton wrappers. I wanna try this biscuit dough too... U

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  3. Biscuit dough! What a great secret!

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  4. I love samosa. Bisquit dough? Great! I love your recipe, thank you for sharing to us the secret.

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  5. What a great way to simplify a delicious meal! Looks great.

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  6. @ Prani - Hey Prani! Hope you had a good weekend! The dough is perfect for a shortcut when you're pressed for time!

    @ Mhel - Hi there! I love samosas... nice to know you tried the traditional way too. I've used wonton wrappers too and they're great for the mini samosas!

    @ Belinda - Glad to have shared this particular secret with you! :)

    @ Madin - Hi there! Thanks for coming by! :) Hope you try out the recipe...it's great for entertaining in a hurry!

    @ Kristen - Hey Kristen! I love shortcuts... anything to make life easier and have more fun! :P

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  7. Saw you on food buzz. Glad I checked out your blog. We have the same blogger template. I don't see many of them around. Great minds must think alike. Look forward to following you here.

    Cheers!

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  8. I have always wanted to make samosas but am way too lazy! This is perfect - I love the biscuit dough idea! I am totally making these this week. Yum!

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  9. I never make samosas at home because it sounds complicated and difficult...but with biscuit dough! Wow...how cool! I might give it a try!
    Thanks!

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  10. I do remember that scene :) and they are surely lovely looking samosas. Thanks for your comment of using aloe vera for my sunburn. It is burning, but I have an issue, I can't use anything oily on my face or I get pimples right away. So, anything around that issue?

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  11. from an old femina magazine?! no kidding!!

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  12. These look fabulous! I will have to try them!

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  13. Looks perfect, great idea to use biscuit dough as an alternative....

    http://treatntrick.blogspot.com

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  14. I love shortcuts! Wonderful use of pre-made biscuit dough! :) With this shortcut, I'm more inclined to try making samosas. I love to eat these but never imagined I could make them! Thanks for sharing.

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  15. I often ORDER these at our favorite Indian restaurant, but have never tried to make them. Thanks for the recipe!

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  16. @ A Spicy Perspective - Hi! Thanks for dropping by! I love samosas too and I hope you try out my shortcut!

    @ Judy - Hi Judy! I love short cuts too.. and easy clean up!:P

    @ Palatable - Doesn't using pre-made dough make it easy?

    @ Embraceyourskin - Hi There! Thanks for dropping by! I hope you make them! They're great made into mini sizes as bite sized appetizers for a cocktail party too!

    @ Wanderlust - Can you believe it? But the original recipe suggested frying the samosas with the traditional dough but no way do I have the patience for that!

    @ Priya - Hey Priya! I totally am with you on the skin issues! But Aloe vera gel is great for oily skin. It's oil free and is gel like. Otherwise sandal wood paste is the best and it's good for pimples too!

    @ Angie - Hey Angie! Anything to make life easier! :) I love making traditional indian food but I'm always on the lookout on how to make things easier!

    @ Cosy Delicious - Hi there! Thanks for coming by to my blog! Do lemme know how the samosas turned out! Wish you all the luck!

    @ Lazzaro Cooks - Hey there! Great minds do think alike! Glad you stopped by! I checked out your blog too! Looking forward to reading more of your posts. Stay tuned for more easy indian! :P

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  17. I love lazy guides to things! Plus, these sound amazing. I've never made Indian food at home, I would love to try these sometime!

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  18. @ 52 Kitchen Adventures - I have more of the Lazy girl's guide to entertaining and Indian food coming up! :P I'm still dreaming about your smores!

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  19. The idea of the Lazy Girl's Guide to Entertaining is utter genius. Plus, this recipe looks delicious :)

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  20. Yummmm. I love Samosas, specially when they are extra spicy. And your recipe seems pretty easy to make.

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  21. @ Lawyer Loves Lunch - Thank you! It's good to finally turn all that laziness to something useful! I hope you get to try out the recipe!

    @ Anna - Thanks Anna! You can really spice these up to suit your palette...just increase the number of red chilies!

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