Samosa Recipe – How To Make Punjabi Samosa

• All purpose flour/Maida – 1 cup heaped ( 1 cup=250ml)
• Melted ghee or cooking oil – 1 tbsp ( at room temperature)
• Salt & water – as needed
• Ajwain/Omam – 1/2 tsp

For Stuffing

• Potato – 3 nos ( big)
• Green peas – 1/4 cup
• Chopped ginger – 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Chopped green chilli – 1 no
• Fennel/Saunf powder – 1/2 tsp
• Red chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
• Dhania powder – 1 tsp
• Aamchur powder – 1/2 tsp
• Garam masala powder – 1/2 tsp
• Chopped mint leaves + coriander leaves – 1 tbsp ( optional)
• Salt & water – as needed
• Lemon juice – few drops

• Take maida in a bowl.Add salt, ajwain and melted ghee or oil at room temperature (Not hot). Mix well with your fingers. It will look crumbly. Now add water little by little and make a tight dough. You may need to use nearly 1/4 cup +/- 1 tbsp of water. So make the dough properly. It should not become soft or sticky. It should be tight but not dry. Cover the dough with a wet cloth. Let it rest for 30 minutes.

• In the mean time, Cut the potato into two and pressure cook it.Add enough water and 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder. In a small box, put the green peas and keep it inside the cooker. No need to add water. Green peas would cook well with the help of steam inside the cooker. Pressure cook them in very low flame for 2 whistle. Remove after the steam is released. Drain the excess water and drop the potatoes in cold water so that you can peel the skin quickly. 

• Peel the potatoes and mash it roughly like chunks. Do not mash it completely. Make sure there are some pieces here and there. Heat oil in a kadai. Splutter jeera.Saute ginger pieces. Add the masala powders like fennel seeds powder, red chilli powder, dhania powder, garam masala powder and  aamchur powder. 
• Mix well without burning them. Keep the flame low. Now add the mashed potato and cooked peas. Add salt, mix well. Add chopped mint+coriander leaves and sprinkle some lemon juice. Mix well and switch off the flame. Stuffing is ready.

• Now take the samosa dough.Divide into 4 equal sized big balls. Dust a ball in maida and roll it to a slightly oblong shape. Cut into two semi circles. Apply water on the straight side. Now join the edges and make a cone shape. Press it well. Hold the cone between your thumb finger and pointer finger. Stuff 2 tbsp of potato masala till its 3/4th filled. Cover the remaining dough balls with a wet cloth.

• Make a single pleat by folding the middle part. It should come just opposite to the sealed part. Apply water all over the edges completely. Now pull the pleated part and seal the samosa. It make a flat base to the samosa and forms a back bone to the samosa. Now your samosa can stand beautifully ; )) Make all the samosa and arrange in a plate.

• Heat oil and check its temperature by dropping a pinch of batter. It should rise but not so quickly. Oil should be medium hot. Now drop the samosa. 2 or 3 at a time based on the quantity of oil. Deep fry the samosa in low to medium for long time.It takes nearly 8-10 minutes for one batch. Cook both the sides till it becomes golden.

• Cooking for long time helps to make the samosa become crispy and stay crispy longer. This is one of the most important point for crispy samosa. Remove in a tissue and serve hot with sweet chutney or ketchup.

Enjoy !

• Do not add too much oil or ghee than the mentioned quantity. Adding more gives soft samosa instead of crispy ones. Adding oil gives the bakery kind of samosa than adding ghee. I have tried with both. The smell & flavor of samosa was good with oil than ghee. So its your choice.
• Add more spice powders based on your taste. Adding lemon juice is optional. I used it to balance the spiciness.
• You can use mixed vegetables instead of potato.