Indian aloo samosas with cucumber & mint raita
Aloo samosa is where Indian spices meets potatoes and peas, wrapped in a crispy dough casing. They are best-served fresh with a homemade cucumber mint raita.
Servings: 14 samosas
Equipment
- Dough roller
- Pot
- Frying pan
- Hand mixer
Ingredients
For the samosa dough
- 170 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp neutral vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
For the filling:
- 650 g potatoes boiled until tender; we used small ones, because we prefer their taste
- 80 g peas frozen
- 1 Onion chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger grated
- 4 tbsp cilantro minced
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 1/2 lemon
- 1 chili chopped
- Salt
- Pepper
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
For the cucumber and mint raita
- 1 cucumber
- Large handful mint leaves finely chopped
- 300 g yoghurt Greek-style or natural vegan yoghurt
- 1 tsp rapeseed oil (or another natural vegetable oil)
- 1 tbsp cumin
- Chili powder
- Black pepper
- Salt
- Sweet paprika powder
Instructions
Cucumbere mint raita
- Peel the cucumber and cut it lengthwise into half. Remove the seeds with a spoon and cut the cucumber in small cubes.
- Wash the mint leaves and chop them.
- Mix the Greek-style yoghurt with 1 tsp of rapeseed oil in a bowl.
- Add the cucumber cubes and mint. Bring to taste with cumin, chili powder, black pepper, salt and sweet paprika powder.
- Put it to the fridge for at least half an hour and stir again before serving.
Making the samosa dough
- Mix the flour, vegetable oil, saltand cumin seeds in a bowl.
- Add 120 ml water and knead until you get a firm dough. Add a bit of more water if necessary; the dough should not be too soft. Cover the dough with a clean towel and set aside.
Making the potato pea filling
- Peel the potatoes and cook them in salt water until tender. Let them cool down a bit, so that you do not burn your fingers.
- Crumble the boiled potatoes with your fingers. Do not mash them, so that they keep the bite.
- Add 1 tsp of oil to a non-stick panand heat it. Then, add 1 tsp of cumin seeds and stir-fry them, until they beginto splutter.
- Add the chopped onions, 1 tsp of grated ginger and the chopped chili. Cook until the onions are translucent, about 2 minutes. Stir frequently.
- Then, add the minced cilantro, turmeric and the juice of half a lemon. Mix it and sauté for a few seconds.
- Add the crumbled potatoes and stir well.
- Add the peas, mix them under the potato mass and let it cook for about 2 minutes, until you have a dry mixture.
- Bring to taste with salt and pepper.
- Let it cool down.
Fold the samosas
- Form 7 equal balls from the dough.
- Roll out each ball one for one, so they do not dry out. Cover the others meanwhile. The balls should be about 15cm long and 10 cm wide. Roll the dough thin and evenly, but not too thin, so that it does not fall apart.
- Cut the oval circles along the long side into half.
- Fold one side over up to the center.
- Moist the edge of the fold with water.
- Flip over the other side of the dough and bring the two corners together. The edges should overlap a little(see picture below). Press with your finger on the edge, so that the two sides hold together. It is important that the two edges stick together well, so that they do not open while frying them. After pressing the seams slightly together,it helps to open the cone and press them together again. This way, they do not stick together with the lower part of the dough.
- Open the cone and stuff it with the potato pea filling.
- Apply some water from the inside with your finger and close the cone.
- Form the lower part of the samosa, so that it can stand by itself.
- Do the same with the remaining samosas.
Fry the samosas
- Heat the vegetable oil in a pot or frying pan. Fill the pot with circa 8 cm of oil.
- Wait until the oil is hot, and then add the samosas to the oil, one at a time. Do not add too many samosas simultaneously,because they can cool down the oil. Hot oil is important to obtain a crispy dough casing.
- Fry the samosas and turn them every now and then, until they get a golden-brown color.
- Put the samosas on a paper towel so that they can drain, then serve them with the cucumber mint raita.
Notes
Folding a samosa needs some practice. However, you will notice that it goes better with every samosa you make. This video clearly shows how to fold Indian samosas.
You can also prepare more samosas and freeze them for later use. To do so, you should not fry them before freezing. When you want to prepare the frozen samosas, first thaw them for 20 minutes. Afterwards, you can deep-fry them as described above.
It is also possible to prepare samosas in an oven or in an air fryer. To obtain some crispiness (frying works best), you can first grease the samosas with some oil. Then, bake them in the air fryer or in an oven at 200°C.