Samosa with tamarind chutney

What’s the need to add another samosa recipe to the plethora of samosa recipes already out there? Well, because: a) this is an Indian food blog, b) this is a Bengali samosa recipe, which is considerably different from the samosas that you get in Indian restaurants here, c) you can never have too many samosa recipes. Bengali samosas are these simple, not very spicy, thin but fluffy shelled dumplings that are filled with a gingery potato and peas filling, and deep fried to form not overly crispy samosas.

It goes without saying that samosas are fast food that are strictly sold at kiosks or small shops as take outs and never made in household kitchens. Bengali samosas don’t usually come with tamarind chutney, but samosas and tamarind chutney are inseparable in my head, so my mom always makes some for my samosa eating purposes. Of course in the US I don’t have such privileges, so I make my own samosas with tamarind chutney. 

Bengalis are very serious about their samosas (also called singara in Bengali). Every family has a preferred popular samosa joint in their locality where they go to pick up samosas–wrapped in paper bags made from old newspapers–for their evening tea just when they are fried, around 4 p.m (samosas are also extremely popular breakfast items, believe it or not). I, however, prefer this nondescript, dingy, dimly lit, nameless shop (legendarily called Ram-da’r dokan) next to my house, over all the popular samosa joints in my neighborhood. I don’t know why I like it. It may be because I have grown up eating it and the taste has stuck with me to the point of no return. The recipe I share today is inspired and refined by Ram-da’s dokan. Hope you like it as much as I do!

Samosa with tamarind chutney recipe

Level: Difficult Prep time: 1 hr 30 mins Cook time:  45 mins    Total time: 2 hrs 15 mins Serves: 6-7

Ingredients:

For the dough
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp canola/vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp carom/onion seeds (optional)
1 cup water

For the stuffing

2 tbsp canola/vegetable oil 
1/4 tsp asafetida (optional)
2 green chilies, chopped
1/2 tsp onion seeds (optional)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 inches ginger, peeled and chopped
2 large potatoes, peeled
1/2 cup of precooked green peas
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
1/8 cup roasted peanuts, slightly fried

For frying

A deep pan
Enough oil for deep frying
A slotted spoon
A plate lined with a few layers of tissue papers

For the tamarind chutney

1/4 cup seedless ripe tamarind 
3/4 cup brown (or regular) sugar
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 whole red chili
1/2 tsp salt

 Instructions:

Boil the potatoes completely immersed in water for 25 minutes, or until fork tender. If you are using smaller potatoes, then boil them for 8-10 minutes. 
While the potatoes boil, mix all the flour, oil, salt, onion/carom seeds, and knead adding a little water at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the fingers. Add more oil if the dough does not seem pliable enough. Avoid using too much water. Divide the dough into 12-16 balls, and cover with a damp cloth. 
When the potatoes have cooled, cut them into tiny pieces and prep the other spices for the stuffing. 
Next, heat oil in a pan, add asafetida, green chilies, cumin seeds, onion seeds, and ginger; stir for 30-45 seconds, then add the potatoes, green peas, turmeric, salt and sugar. Stir well  until everything is properly incorporated. Add the fried peanuts, stir well and remove from heat. Let the stuffing cool off completely before starting to stuff the samosas.

Take a little water in a cup. Using a well floured rolling pin roll out each ball of dough into as big a circle as possible. The idea is to keep the shells extremely thin.  Now cut the circle at the center to get two semicircles. Bring the two corner of a semicircle together into a cone, and using a little water on your finger tips seal off the edges leaving a wide mouth open for the stuffing. Using a spoon stuff as much stuffing into the shells as possible without breaking the outer coating. You may need to pull at the shell to make space for the stuffing. Now seal the mouth of the cone and set aside on a well oiled plate until all the samosas are stuffed.The oddest thing about frying samosas is that you don’t release them in boiling oil. The temperature of the oil should be lukewarm (45°C/110°F), otherwise the outer coating will turn too crisp while the inside remains soft and soggy. Releasing the samosas into lukewarm oil while slowly turning up the temperature ensures even cooking. Follow this technique to fry 4-5 samosas at a time, depending on the size of the pan. Fry the samosas (starting over low heat and slowly reaching boiling point) flipping them occasionally for 6-8 minutes, or until they are slightly golden and crispy. When done transfer onto a plate lined with tissue paper. Serve hot with tamarind chutney. 

Tamarind Chutney recipe

Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of water for an hour.
While the tamarind soaks, dry roast the cumin seeds and red chili for a few seconds and then grind into a powder.
When the tamarind has soaked for an hour, mash the tamarind into a pulp using your hands, and strain through a sieve.
Add the tamarind pulp to a pan and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and add sugar, salt, and ground spices. Let it simmer until the sugar has melted. Adjust seasoning and add more sugar and water if required (to your taste). Take off heat and let cool before serving. The sauce keeps for days, so you can easily prepare it in advance.