It’s monsoon in India and the thought of hot crispy samosa in rainy weather is very tempting and appetising. The samosa recipe that I’m sharing with you today is a tasty snack and appetiser!
How I developed this recipe-
In my childhood, I have travelled twice through train to cities in neighbouring states of Kerala. As a kid, one of the most exciting part on my journey on rails were of small crispy onion samosas sold by street vendors through the train windows during when the train pauses during the trip at each stop at every station it passes. The taste of those bite sized crispy samosas filled with mildly spiced caramelised onions are still in my best memories. This inspired me to make a similar samosa, still a much refined recipe with the addition of beautifully spiced beef meat and perfectly caramelised onions in a homemade make-ahead samosa wrapper.What makes this recipe special?
. Caramelised onions-This is the most special addition to your basic meat samosa recipe that adds a ton of flavour and subtly sweet goodness to it.
. Herbs & spices– I’ve used coriander and mint leaves as fresh herbs and spices including coriander-turmeric-garam masala powders to make this dish extra flavourful packed up with health benefits that helps in better metabolism.
. Make ahead recipe– You can make the wrappers and filling separately, fill and deep freeze the samosas for about a month or more. You just have to thaw and fry it whenever you need them as a quick snack.
. Bonus samosa wrapper recipe– The samosa wrapper for which a recipe I’ve given below is a keeper for it can be used as a spring roll wrapper as well!
. Baked version– For people worried about all the oil that’d go in to your body on deep frying your samosas- You could brush your thawed samosas with a little oil on all sides and bake at 200 degree Celsius for 8-12 mins-flipping for equal browning.What you’ll need-
For filling-
- 3 big red onions
- 2 long green chillies, chopped
- 1.5 cup beef meat, cut into small cubes
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- Half teaspoon turmeric
- Half teaspoon black pepper powder
- One by fourth teaspoon cumin powder
- Half teaspoon ginger paste
- 1 teaspoon garlic paste
- Salt
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves
1 tablespoon of finely shopped mint leaves
For wrapper-
- 1 cup All-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon oil
- Water to knead
- Flour for dusting
How to make-
For filling-
. Marinate cut beef with all the spices ,salt to taste and ginger-garlic pastes.. Cook it in 2 teaspoons of oil for a few minutes in a non-stick pan until the beef is well-cooked and dry.
. In another pan, caramelise the onions, heating 1 tablespoon oil.
. Shred the cooked beef into minces pulsing for 5 seconds in a small mixer jar and stir into the caramelised onions.
. Add the green chillies into the above mix and sauté well.
. Keep aside to cool.
For the wrapper-
. Mix the dry ingredients and knead into a soft dough adding oil and enough water —until non-sticky.
. Form small lime sized balls and roll into small tortilla- like round flatbreads using a rolling pin, dusting generously with flour- preventing each of it from sticking onto the other.
. Stack it up with flour inbetween each.
. Make stacks of 4-5 each and roll out each stack to make thinnest possible sheets without sticking to each other.
. Heat a tawa (flat wide open non-stick crepe pan)and heat both sides of each stack without drying it out-untill it starts to slightly puff.
. Remove from pan and seperate each layer carefully ,without tearing,after cooling a bit .
. Cut each round sheet into semicircles.Folding the samosa-
. Make a paste with 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon water -to use as gum to stick your wrapper sheets after stuffing it.
. I have attached an image from google with stepwise demonstration on how to wrap your samosa.
. Freeze your samosa in an airtight container/ziplock bag and fry them in hot oil (neutral oil, eg. canola/sunflower) and drain on kitchen towel before serving with you favourite dips.
Notes, tips & suggestions-
.
You can use tamarind chutney, chilli tomato chutney, coriander-pudina chutney, pickles or even ketchup as dips for your hot samosas.
You can use tamarind chutney, chilli tomato chutney, coriander-pudina chutney, pickles or even ketchup as dips for your hot samosas.. Thawing your samosa before frying is important as if fried frozen, there are chances that your samosa will stay cold in the centre part of the filling even when the outer part is brown enough.
. If you are planning to use the wrappers for making spring rolls, keep it round – skip cutting into semi-circles.