Samosa
समोसा
Punjabi samosa: a short, ajwain-scented pastry folded into a cone around spiced potato and peas, fried slowly until blistered and crisp.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: समोसा.
- Prep
- 1 hr
- Cook
- 1 hr 25 min
- Rest
- 30 min
- Total
- 2 hr 55 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice
- Medium heat
- Cost
- Cheap nightUnder $8 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
A Punjabi samosa is a cone of short, stiff pastry wrapped around potato and peas and fried slowly, so the crust blisters and stays crisp for hours. The dough is where people go wrong. It needs a lot of fat rubbed into the flour, very little water and a rest, so it rolls without shrinking and fries without puffing into a soft balloon. The filling is boiled potato broken up by hand, not mashed, with ginger, green chilli, cumin, coriander and something sour. Then the frying: start in oil that is barely warm and let it heat up with the samosas. It takes twenty minutes and it is the whole trick.
What you'll need
18 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.
- Dough
- Filling
- To fry
Ingredients
Dough
- Wheat flour, plain (maida)250 g
- Ajwain, crushed between the palms2½ ml
- Salt2½ ml
- Ghee, melted, or neutral oil74 ml
- Water, cold, added a spoon at a time90 ml
Filling
- Potato, floury, boiled in their skins600 g
- Peas, frozen are fine120 g
- Ginger, finely grated15 ml
- Fresh chilli, green, finely chopped2
- Cumin, seeds4.9 ml
- Ground coriander, or coarsely crushed coriander seed4.9 ml
- Garam masala4.9 ml
- Chilli powder2½ ml
- Lemon juice, or 1 tsp amchur15 ml
- Coriander, leaves, chopped1 handful
- Salt4.9 ml
- Neutral oil30 ml
To fry
- Neutral oil, for deep-frying1 l
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Mix the flour, crushed ajwain and salt in a bowl. Add the ghee and rub it in with your fingertips for 3 to 4 minutes, until a handful squeezed in your fist holds its shape. Add the water a spoon at a time and knead briefly to a stiff, tight dough. Cover and rest 30 minutes.
10 min
Tip: If the squeezed flour crumbles straight away, rub in another spoon of ghee. Too little fat means a hard crust.
Step 2
While the dough rests, boil the potatoes in their skins for 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife slides in, and let them cool enough to handle. Peel them and break them into small chunks by hand. Heat the 2 tbsp oil in a frying pan, add the cumin and let it sizzle, then the ginger and chilli for 30 seconds and the peas for 2 minutes. Add the potato, ground coriander, garam masala, chilli powder and salt and cook 3 minutes, pressing lightly. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and coriander leaves and leave to cool completely.
40 min
Step 3
Divide the dough into 6 balls. Roll each into an oval about 15 by 20 cm and 2 mm thick, then cut it in half across the middle. Wet the straight edge, fold the half into a cone with the edges overlapping by 1 cm, and press the seam firmly.
15 min
Step 4
Fill each cone with about 3 heaped tbsp (60 g) of filling, leaving 1 cm clear at the top. Wet the inside of the top edge, pinch it shut with a small pleat at the back so the samosa stands up, and set it on a tray under a cloth while you shape the rest.
15 min
Step 5
Pour the oil into a wok and warm it only until a pinch of dough sinks and takes several seconds to drift up, about 120°C. Add 6 samosas and fry on the lowest heat for 10 minutes; they should barely bubble. Raise the heat to medium and fry another 8 to 10 minutes, turning, until deep gold and blistered.
20 min120°C
Watch: Do not start them in hot oil. The pastry puffs in big bubbles, browns before it cooks through and goes soft as it cools.
Step 6
Lift out onto a rack, let them rest 5 minutes, and fry the second batch the same way, first taking the wok off the heat until the oil is back down to about 120°C. Serve with tamarind chutney and green chutney.
30 min
Nutrition
Per serving · estimate
- Calories
- 321 kcal
- Protein
- 3.8 g
- Carbs
- 26.4 g
- Fat
- 22.4 g
- Saturated fat
- 4.9 g
- Fibre
- 2.4 g
- Sugar
- 1.2 g
- Sodium
- 279 mg
Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.
Allergens
Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.
- Wheat
- Milk
- Vegetarian
- Nut-free
Adapt this recipe
The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 12 November.
Substitutions
Ghee → Neutral oil
Same quantity. Most street vendors use oil or vanaspati; ghee gives a slightly richer crust. Made with oil, the samosas are vegan.
Lemon juice → Amchur (dry mango powder)
1 tsp amchur is the usual Punjabi sour. Add it with the other spices.
Tips
- Make the filling a day ahead. Cold, dry filling is easier to stuff and keeps the pastry crisp.
- Fried samosas reheat well in a 180°C oven for 10 minutes. The microwave softens them.
- Large bubbles or puffed patches on the crust mean the oil was too hot at the start. You want only tiny blisters.
History & culture
Samosas are the default tea-time snack across North India and Pakistan, fried in huge karahis outside sweet shops and railway stations and sold two to a paper plate with tamarind and green chutney. At home they come out for guests, rainy afternoons and Diwali. Samosa chaat, broken over chickpeas with yoghurt and chutneys, is what happens to the leftovers.
The samosa came to India from Central Asia and Iran, where the sanbusak was a small meat pastry recorded in medieval cookbooks. Ibn Battuta described them at the Delhi Sultanate court in the 14th century, filled with minced meat, nuts and spices. Potatoes only reached India with the Portuguese, so the potato samosa Punjab is known for is a much later dish.
Traditional — Shops often use vanaspati, a hydrogenated shortening, in the dough; ghee or oil is written here. Some Punjabi cooks add a few cashews or raisins to the filling, and amchur (dry mango powder) is the usual sour where lemon is written.
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.
How long does Samosa take?
2 hr 55 min all in — 1 hr prep, 1 hr 25 min cook, 30 min rest. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 12 pieces. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Medium.
How spicy is it?
Medium heat.
What allergens should I watch?
This recipe is labelled for Wheat, Milk. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Vegetarian, Nut-free.
8 more questionsFewer questions
What does it cost to cook?
Cheap night — about Under $8 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Mixing bowl, Rolling pin, Saucepan, Frying pan, Wok, Spider or strainer.
How much salt do I put in?
The recipe lists Salt at ½ tsp.
What can I use instead?
Ghee → Neutral oil. Same quantity. Most street vendors use oil or vanaspati; ghee gives a slightly richer crust. Made with oil, the samosas are vegan. Lemon juice → Amchur (dry mango powder). 1 tsp amchur is the usual Punjabi sour. Add it with the other spices.
What should I watch for?
Do not start them in hot oil. The pastry puffs in big bubbles, browns before it cooks through and goes soft as it cools.
Any tips from this recipe?
Make the filling a day ahead. Cold, dry filling is easier to stuff and keeps the pastry crisp. Fried samosas reheat well in a 180°C oven for 10 minutes. The microwave softens them. Large bubbles or puffed patches on the crust mean the oil was too hot at the start. You want only tiny blisters.
Can I prepare this ahead?
Make the filling a day ahead. Cold, dry filling is easier to stuff and keeps the pastry crisp. Fried samosas reheat well in a 180°C oven for 10 minutes. The microwave softens them.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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