These Indian samosas are perfectly seasoned and loaded with creamy mashed potatoes and veggies. The flakey, crispy crust is the perfect contrast. There is a low fat version of this recipe included, and as usual they’re vegan.
Tasty, comforting, Indian Samosas
These Indian samosas are the OG hot pocket.
They’re crispy, flakey pastry, stuffed with savory mashed potatoes and vegetables.
Spices like cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, anise, cardamom, and turmeric are among the few of the flavors in these tasty little triangles.
After doing some research for this post, I’ve discovered that this classic Indian dish actually isn’t originally from India! In fact, samosas have managed to travel all over the place under many different names.
The first samosa, or should I say samsa, came from the middle east. This tasty little triangle then journeyed all over the place, garnering different fillings, varieties, and names along the way.
Check here for a more in depth history of the samosa. It’s pretty interesting!
Needless to say, this samosa recipe is based on the popular Indian variation focused on solely vegetables, herbs, and potatoes.
Easy, tasty, and well rounded
The best thing about little meals stuffed into pastries, is that you get a good variety of flavors and nutritents.
You can always add or take away from the filling. Try fresh herbs like cilantro or parsley, or add some vegan meat substitutes like chicken or sausage.
I’m pretty sure anything you throw in here will taste good bathed in delicious Indian spices.
Another pro to these is that they are super convienient when prepped ahead of time.
When I make these, I do a huge batch and fold a bunch of samosas for the freezer. That way, when I’m short on time for a meal, I can just pop these in the air fryer and in 10 minutes dinner is done.
Kids love these too! They’re fun, cute, and tasty, who can complain?
Making the dough
Making the Samosa dough is pretty easy. It doesn’t require much kneading, and only takes minutes to make.
Simply mix together the dough ingredients and knead for 1-2 minutes just to ensure all of the ingredients combine. Then, you let it rest for an hour before using it again to shape the Samosas.
Pretty simple, right?
Some tips ahead of time: use cold butter and cold water. This dough is honestly more similar to a pie crust in that way. The colder the fats and water is, the flakey the finally crust will be. It’s just another reason to use a pastry cutter, and avoid over working the dough.
low fat Indian samosas
A lot of vegan people that go vegan (mostly) for health reasons are usually well aware of the dangers of a high fat diet.
Oils are extremely refined and concentrated fats that would never be in our diets naturally. I’m not saying all oil is bad, but when there are over 20 olives in just 1 tablespoon of olive oil, you get what I mean.
Still, I use oil from time to time to indulge in certain flavors and textures that are hard to find without.
I’m a chef and a foodie, what can I say?
But fortunately for any HCLF people out there, these are very easy to make well without the use of oil.
When you cook the vegetables, instead of oil use broth or water. To cook the samosas, use an air fryer instead of deep frying. You can try leaving the butter out of the dough entirely and just subbing with water, but note that they will be less flakey.
They turned out almost as good for us. The crust was a little different, but not at all bad.
Shaping the samosa
This part takes a little bit of practice, but is deffinetly not the hardest pastry to shape in the world.
The photos shown above help illustrate how you fold them. I know explaining with words alone can be a bit difficult.
I go into more detail in the recipe instructions below, but basically, you’re making a cone and stuffing it with filling.
When you seal it shut, you can crimp it with a pretty design, or press it with a fork. Make sure you seal it extra well so it doesn’t pop open during the cooking process. (they tend to like to do that)
I’ve seen bunches of different ways to fold samosas, but I think this is by far the easiest and most authentic way to do it.
… At least authentic to the Indian samosa.
Where will you be serving your samosas?
These samosas are great just the way they are, but I’m sure there’s plenty of sauces they pair amazingly with too.
Try making a tamarind chutney, like this one, or maybe a cilantro based one like this.
What sauces do you usually dip your samosas in? Do you serve them with hot Chai tea like I do? Let me know in the comments below.
If you make these Samosas for dinner, be sure to snap some pictures of your process and the finished result. Tag @alderspirit and use #alderspirit so there’s no way I can miss it.
Spiced Indian Samosas
Ingredients
Wrappers
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup vegan butter, cold
- 2/3 cup water, cold (adjust as necessary)
Spiced Indian Samosas
- 3 large gold potatoes
- 1/2 medium yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 medium carrot
- 3/4 cup green peas
- 1/2 small red chile, fresh
- 1/2" piece ginger, fresh
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 3/4 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp coriander
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/8 tsp cardamom
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper (or to taste)
Instructions
Wrappers
- In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Break up the cold vegan butter into small bits and add to the dry ingredients using a pasty cutter. Work until the texture of the mixture contains small, pea sized bits of butter.
- Add the cold water to the mixture, using a wooden spoon to mix. Once the dough ball begins to form, remove it from the bowl and place onto a floured surface.
- Gently knead the dough for 1 – 2 minutes. It will not be perfectly smooth. Do not over knead.
- Place the dough back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest for atleast an hour before using. (assembly continued below)
Spiced Indian Samosas
- Peel and largely cube the potatoes. Place them in a pot of salted boiling water and cook for 25 minutes, or until fork tender. Strain, and set aside. Mash with a potato masher or fork.
- While the potatoes cook, small dice the onion and carrot. Finely mince the garlic, chile, and ginger. Measure out the garam masala, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, salt, and pepper into a small bowl. Mix and set aside.
- Heat 1 tbsp (or 1/4 cup of water/broth if you're avoiding oils) to a large sauce pan. Once hot and shimmery, add the onion to the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the garlic, ginger, and chile. Cook for 1 more minute. Next, add the carrots, peas, and spices. Cook for 3 – 5 minutes. Lastly, add the mashed potatoes to the pot and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Remove from heat and set aside.
- ASSEMBLY: Set up the area for shaping the samosas. Grab the pot of filling and set to one corner. Flour the surface, and keep extra flour on hand. Fill a small cup with water and grab a small pastry or paint brush. Place the bowl with dough in it to the side. Gather your rolling pin, scale, and bench scraper and dust your hands with flour.
- Shaping (see photos above): Break off pieces of dough weighing approx. 30 g each. This is about the size of a golf ball. Roll this piece of dough between your palms to form a ball, then press it down into a flat circle on the floured surface. Use your rolling pin to press it out into a circle of approx. 5 inches in diameter. Using your bench scraper or a sharp knife, slice the circle down the middle, creating two half circles.
- Brush one half circle with water in a 1/4" strip along half of the top flat edge. Grab either corner of the half circle to meet the other corner and press down along the 1/4" strip of water to meet in the middle. This will make an open cone.
- Hold the cone in your off hand and stuff it with approximately 1½ tbsp of filling. Flatten and fill out the cone with your hands to create a triangular shape. Using the water and brush, paint along the top 1/4" edge of the open cone, and seal shut like an envelope. Crimp the edges, and set aside. Repeat with the remainder of the dough/filling.
- To cook: To deep fry, fill a large sauce pan with 2-3 inches deep of a neutral oil. (Canola, vegetable, etc.) Heat over medium heat for at least 3 minutes before frying. Add the samosas to the oil and cook for approx. 5 minutes per side, or until they are slightly golden brown. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels or cloths nearby. To air fry, heat your air fryer to 400°F. Line the basket or tray with parchment paper. Cook the Samosas for approximately 4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
- Enjoy and serve immediately! Any leftover filling will keep for a week in the fridge, and the dough will keep for 2 days, but is best used fresh.
Notes
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