Quick and Easy Samosas

In the previous post, Quiet Fishing Days in Autumn, there were pictures of Samosas made as a quick and easy to eat, all-in-one meal.  If you happened to have missed this article, you can view it here:  Quiet Fishing Days in Autumn.  So this week, I will provide you with the step-by-step instructions on how to make these scrumptious, pockets of goodness.

So lets begin with the recipe with the ingredients followed by step-by-step pictures and instructions.

Quick and Easy Samosas

1 pkg. of large flour tortilla shells

4 or 5 small or medium potatoes, boiled, cooled, peeled and diced

1 small can of peas or 3/4 - 1 C frozen peas

2 large carrots, peeled, diced and cooked in small pieces until tender
1/4 C diced red pepper

1/2 onion, diced

2-3 T olive oil

1 T (or more) cumin seeds

1 tsp. (or more) garam marsala blend

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Paste or "glue" to seal samosas:

2 or 3 T flour

water 

Stir in enough water to flour to make a thick sticky paste.  (See this first picture below.)

And now for the instructions.  First cut shells in half.

Form them into a shape of a cone and put flour paste on the edges to glue the cut edges to the body of the shell.  Press the seam until there is a good seal.

For easy loading, I place the cone shaped shell into a coffee cup.

Now for the appetizing filling instructions.  Saute the diced onions and cumin seeds in 3 T of olive oil until the onions are almost transparent and the seeds give off their aromatic fragrance.  Add cooked and diced potatoes, red pepper and carrots.  (This is the perfect time to use those leftovers from other dishes.)  Sprinkle in the garam marsala. (Adjust to your taste by adding more if you like.)  Lastly, gently add in the peas and stir just enough until everything is coated with the seasoning.  (For added flavor, 1 tsp. finely chopped cilantro can be added. )  I love the flavor but others do not, so I left it out.  Chopped parsley could be used instead, but usually the cumin seed and the garam marsala spice blend is enough.

Gently add several tablespoons of the filling into the cone, leaving enough room at the top rim of the shell for the paste and to seal the samosa shut.

This is the sealed samosa.  Ready to be placed into the hot oil and deep fried.

It is always a trick for me to make enough of the filling ingredients for the number of tortilla shells that I will be using and the number of people I will be serving.  I have become a good judge of how much filling I can stuff into a cone to get a nice full samosa without it being too full to seal. At this point when they are all nicely sealed, you can either fry them after you assembled them or you can wrap them two at a time (side-by-side) in saran wrap and in foil to be frozen.  Do not place them on top of each other before wrapping since the shells will stick together after they are defrosted and will create a hole when pulled apart.  Since I was frying mine immediately, they were stacked for a short time on a dinner plate.

Now comes the time to drop them into the hot oil and get them golden brown before flipping them onto the other side.  It doesn't take that long for the shell to fry to a lovely shade of gold. Since the ingredients inside are all pre-cooked, the time it takes to get both sides of the samosa to a lovely golden brown color should also fully heat the ingredients inside.  Do not walk away from the stove at this step since the process goes rather quickly.

Make sure you have the two dipping sauces available when you are ready to serve these spicy, flavorful treats.  The first is a sweet and sour tamarind chutney (on the left) and, my favorite is the green and slightly hot coriander chutney (on the right).   Both of these chutneys can give a wonderful contrast to the robust flavor of the samosa. 

Its time to plate up this pungent delight.

I love the beautiful golden color and crunchy texture of the triangular shells.

And there you are.....a complete meal in one hand-held crispy pocket.  My many thanks to all of the wonderful students from India who shared in their time and talents to teach me this recipe which will be forever cherished.

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An additional note:  The Little Yellow Corner Store is considering a new location and, therefore, the store will need to thin out its display collection for an easier transition.  Anyone interested in purchasing pieces from any display throughout the various postings should contact me for availability and price at shopthelittleyellowcornerstore@gmail.com.