PANEER SAMOSA
Paneer Samosa is a crispy and ultra tasty fried snack. The pastry is filled with soft paneer, peas and spices. Perfect as a starter, appetizer or as a snack. Best enjoyed hot with some chutney.
Ingredients
FOR THE PATTI/MANDA/PASTRY
- 1¼ cups plain flour
- 2 tbsp rice flour
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ -½ cup water room temperature
- extra flour for dusting
- some oil for smearing
FOR THE PANEER FILLING
- 250 g paneer grated or crumbled
- ½ cup green peas boiled or steamed
- ½ cup chopped fresh coriander
- ½ cup onion finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp oil
- ¼ tsp asafetida
- 1 tsp green chilli paste or 2-4 finely chopped
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon powder
- ¼ tsp clove powder
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp sugar
FOR THE 'GLUE PASTE'/LAHI
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 2-3 tbsp water
- OIL FOR DEEP FRYING
Instructions
PREPARATION OF PATTI/MANDA/PASTRY DOUGH
- Mix both flours and salt in a bowl.
- Add lemon juice and water and make a soft dough. It should not be sticky or too hard.
- Take a tbsp of oil and rub it over the dough. Place the dough in a bowl.
- Cover the bowl with a lid and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
PREPARATION OF THE PATTI/MANDA/PASTRY
- Divide the dough into 12 parts.
- Put a tawa or frying pan over low heat.
- Using some flour, roll out one piece of the dough into a 2″ circle. Do the same with the second piece of dough.
- Smear each circle with about a ½ tsp of oil. Dip the oiled part in the flour.
- Sandwich both the pieces with the oil and floured part inside.
- Using extra flour roll out the sandwiched dough into a circle of about 8″. The rolled flatbread should be thin.
- Make sure you don’t get any folds or creases so roll the dough carefully and keep on turning it so that both parts roll equally.
- Place the rolled circle on the hot tawa.
- Roast both sides just for 15 – 20 secs. Do over roast as it will become crisp.
- Peel both the rotis apart carefully. Be careful that the hot steam does not scald you.
- Cover the rotis with a kitchen towel so that they remain moist.
- Repeat using the remaining dough. So in total you will have rolled out 6 rotis. When peeled there will be twelve.
PREPARATION OF THE PANEER FILLING
- Heat oil in a wide pan over medium heat.
- Add cumin seeds. As soon they begin to sizzle, add asafetida.
- Add the paneer and stir fry for 20-30 secs. You don’t want to overcook the paneer otherwise it will become dry.
- Take the pan off the heat. Add ginger, chillis and onion.
- Mix and let the mixture cool down.
- Add coriander, salt, sugar, lemon juice, peas, clove and cinnamon powder. Mix well.
PREPARATION OF GLUE PASTE/LAHI
- Mix the plain flour and water to make a thick paste (glue, lahi).
PREPARATION OF PANEER SAMOSA
- Cut each roti into half.
- Trim the thick part of the arc on both sides. Now you will have a trapezium shape.
- With the shorter side facing away from you, fold one half exactly in the middle. Fold the other part over it to form a cone shape.
- Stick the overlapped part to the under part using the glue or paste.
- Now you have a hollow triangle shape with flaps on top.
- Put about 1½ - 2 tbsp of the filling and gently press it down. Don't press down too hard otherwise the pastry will tear.
- Apply the glue or past on the top flaps.
- Close the filled hollow with the flaps. Voila, you have a perfect triangle.
- Repeat with the remaining patti or pastry and filling.
FRYING PANEER SAMOSA
- Heat oil in a wok, frying pan or karai over medium heat.
- Put a small part of the trimmed patti/pastry in the hot oil. If it sizzles up immediately then the oil is ready.
- Reduce the heat and semi fry 6- 8 samosas. That means don’t fry till they are golden brown. Fry them for a 30-40 secs and put them in a colander. Fry all the samosas in this manner.
- At this stage you can freeze the samosas when they cool down. Line an airtight tin with parchment paper. Make a single layer with the samosa. Close the tin and freeze the samosa.
- Just before serving time, heat the oil up over medium heat. When its hot, add 6-8 samosas, reduce the heat and fry till they are golden brown in colour.
- Remember to keep turning them over while frying so that they brown evenly.
- Serve hot samosas with lemon wedges and your favourite chutney.
Notes
- Don’t fry the samosas over high heat. The pastry will become brown but the inside part of the pastry will be raw.
- Remember the trimmed parts? Well don’t throw them away. Fry them, add a bit of red chilli powder and serve as a crunchy snack.
- If you have any filling left, make a sandwich.
- To make mini samosas divide the dough into 16 to 18 parts. Roll the rotis to a diameter of 6″.
- You can use ready made samosa patti (manda) or even the wonton wrappers which are readily available in grocery stores or supermarkets.
- Be careful when folding the triangles. You don’t want the tips to have large holes as oil will get into the filling.
- Don’t overfill the samosas otherwise the pastry will tear.