Samosa with mint-chutney

Samosa, a traditionally stuffed and deep fried snack, is often provided to guests in India when they visit over tea. This dish has undergone evolution with time as it travelled across the world and has been adapted to be made with local ingredients. Back home in Kolkata, this a comfort snack. I first ate this version when I visited a British pub in the US. I was surprised to see samosas on the menu and although skeptical, my curiosity got the better of me and I ended up ordering a plate.

I have to confess that having grown up in Kolkata, I thought I had every right to think like a snob that you cannot get any better Samosa as in my hometown. However, I was soon proven wrong. Not only did I like this version of Samosa, I actually started preferring over the deep fried version!

So, today when I found the right ingredients, I decided to give this a try. But the first thing I needed to tackle was the little 'helper' I had at home. Moms will probably understand what I mean by 'help' --- mommy cannot do any project on her own without getting unsolicited help which not only translates to more time per chore but also often futile results. Probably this is why spouses are referred to as better halves. While one tries to do something creative, the other prevents it from being botched. I too was rescued by my better half who kindly escorted my little one to the park so I could spend some alone time with my dish.

Ingredients: Makes 6

Samosa

Puff pastry sheet - 3 squares
Golden potato - 1 (medium sized)
Cauliflower florets ( chopped into tiny florets) - 7-8
Olive oil - 2 tbsp
Frozen peas - 0.25 cup
Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
Dried red chillies - 2
Coriander seeds - 1tsp
Salt & black pepper (a pinch) & sugar ( a pinch).

Mint-chutney

Mint-leaves - 0.5 cup
Cilantro - 0.25 cup
Green thai chillies - 4
Salt
Lime juice - 2tsp
Ginger - a very tiny shaving

I started by making a garam masala for the samosa stuffing. This was done by dry-roasting cumin seeds and dry red chillies. When this cooled, I ground it  in a coffee grinder and set this aside. I heated up about 2tbsp of olive oil and added the cauliflower to be sauteed. Meanwhile, the potato was diced and cooked in enough water in the microwave for about 6 minutes. The par-cooked was added to the cauliflower, to which I further added peas, salt, a pinch of sugar and black pepper. This was being cooked covered when I moved on to make the chutney by grinding all ingredients except the lime juice (which as added post-grinding) in a bullet grinder. The potato-cauliflower stuffing was now almost ready, so I added the ground cumin- red chili mixture and allowed it to cool.

Then I started to make the samosa. To bake the samosa, I needed to preheat the oven to 400F. I cut each square pastry sheet into a triangle and created a funnel  or cone like pouch with each triangle. The sides were glued using water and  the stuffing was filled in the cone and the edges were then sealed with water again. These were baked in the preheated oven on greased aluminum foil for about 35 minutes. It turned out quite well -- I couldn't stick to my promise of eating just one for the evening :-)