Baked Samosa - Savory Pocket Pie (2)

Continued from the last week's spanakopita recipe, today's recipe is samosa, Indian pocket pie.

Samosa is better served hot, but since the following Indian pocket pie doesn't have any meat or fat inside, it is still tasty at room temperature. As I say, perfect for a potluck party!

Traditional Samosa is usually made with ghee (clarified butter) and is deep fried but I am going to make it with vegetable oil and bake it in the oven to make it healthier and, yet still tasty.


Samosa
(Yield: ~20 pocket pies / Cooking time: 1.5 hours)

Ingredients:

Samosa dough
+ 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
+ 1 tsp salt
+ 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
+ 5 Tbsp warm water

Potato filling
+ 2 Idaho potatoes
+ 1/2 onion
+ 1/2 cup peas (I used frozen peas)
+ 1/4 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground
+ 1/8 tsp coriander seeds, toasted and ground
+ 1/2 tsp yellow turmeric powder
+ 1/4 tsp smoked paprika powder
+ pinch of cinnamon powder
+ salt and pepper




Procedures:

Samosa dough
1. Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Kneed the dough with hands until the texture is smooth and firm, but not sticky.

2. Wrap it with plastic wrap and rest in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Potato filling
1. Prepare the ingredients for potato filling as follows:

- Potatoes: Clean potatoes and peel. Chop roughly in 2" cubes. Cover the potatoes with cold water. Add about 1 tsp salt and boil about 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked. To check if the potatoes are cooked, push tip of paring knife into it. If it slides through easily, the potatoes are ready. Drain the water and air dry the potatoes in a colander.

- Peas: Blanch peas in boiling hot water. Frozen peas are already cooked, and you just need to reheat it. If you use fresh peas, cook until the peas are cooked throughly. As soon as the peas are cooked, shock the peas in ice water to stop the cooking process.

- Onions: Chop onions into small sizes and sauté with vegetable oil until the onions are translucent. Cool down to room temperature.

2. When everything is cooled to room temperature, mash the potatoes roughly - some chunks are okay. Mix the potatoes with the peas, onions, spices, and season with salt & pepper.



Assemble samosa and bake
1. First, roll the dough into very thin (1mm) sheet, and cut in 4" (10cm) round shape. Cut each round into two (half moon shape).


2. Now, let's assemble the samosas.

	First, wrap a dough into a corn shape.
	Like this...
	and, fill the corn with potato filling.
	Fold the dough little bit to make the open end smaller.
	Seal the edges by pressing with fingers.

3. Arrange shaped samosas on a baking sheet (layered parchment paper or silicon sheet), and bake in a preheated oven at 400ºF (205ºc) for 20 to 25 minutes until the samosa is golden brown.



Enjoy~