on Apr 27, 2021, Updated Oct 24, 2024
About Punjabi Aloo Samosa
Samosa is a popular snack in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. It is a triangular deep-fried snack where pastry like crispy and flaky crust is filled with a savory or sweet filling. Although the most popular samosa filling is potatoes, it can be filled with spicy keema, dried nuts and fruits, green peas, lentils, or a sweet filling made of khoya (reduced solid milk). Samosa is a very popular Indian street food and you will find it and tea stalls in every nook and corner, all over India. Not only on the streets, but it is also a favorite tea-time snack, party appetizer, and get-together must-have. In this post, I am sharing a foolproof recipe to make homemade Punjabi aloo samosa. I am also sharing a lot of tips and tricks to get that perfect halwai like crust. Serve the aloo samosa with green chutney, sweet chutney, and some finely chopped onions on top. Do not forget to serve a hot cup of chai or coffee. Traditionally, the Halwai (street stalls) style samosa is shaped like a triangle, but you can experiment with other shapes such as cone, half-moon shaped, or square pockets. So waste no time and make samosa at home like a pro using my easy recipe. This recipe is vegan and you can easily double or triple it. Check out some more popular Indian snack recipes
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Ingredients
For The Outer Layer (Crust)– To make the outer crust of samosa, you will need all-purpose flour (maida), vegetable oil, salt, and carom seeds (ajwain). Carom seeds add a nice subtle flavor, so don’t miss out on this one. For The Filling – These aloo samosas are filled with a spicy potato pea filling, which makes these just irresistible. To make the filling masala, you will need boiled potatoes, green peas, cumin seeds, whole coriander seeds, asafetida (hing), fennel seeds (saunf), fresh ginger, green chilies, cilantro (fresh coriander leaves), mint leaves, and salt. The filling uses some other spices too such as Kasuri methi, red chili powder, coriander powder, pomegranate seeds powder (anaradana powder), garam masala powder, black pepper powder, dry mango powder (amchoor), and roasted cumin powder. You can adjust the quantity of these spices as per your taste and preference. You can adjust the quantity of green chilies too, depending on how spicy you want the masala to be. In case you do not get fresh green peas in the market which are mostly available only in winter, you can use frozen green peas instead.
How To Make Punjabi Aloo Samosa
Preparation
You will need mashed potatoes as a key ingredient; so start by boiling 1 lb (500 grams) of potatoes for the filling. You can boil them in a traditional pressure cooker or an instant pot.
Traditional Pressure Cooker – Wash the potatoes and add them to the cooker. Pour water until the potatoes are just covered. Close the lid of the cooker and pressure cook for one whistle on high heat. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the cooker from heat and let the pressure release naturally before opening the lid.
Instant Pot – To boil the potatoes in an instant pot, wash the potatoes. Keep a trivet in the pot and arrange the potatoes on the trivet. Add 1 cup of water to the pot and close the lid. Set the valve to the sealing position. Press PRESSURE COOK and set the timer to 12 minutes on HIGH PRESSURE. Once the timer goes off, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Release the remaining pressure manually and open the lid.
Chill the boiled in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours. Cooling them nicely will make them dry and the resulting samosa will turn out crispy. Peel the cooled boiled potatoes and mash them roughly. Keep aside.
Make The Peas And Potato Stuffing
Cook ½ cup green peas until tender. If using frozen peas, just rinse them with water as they are already cooked and tender. Heat 2 tablespoon vegetable oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add
¼ teaspoon asafetida 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 2 teaspoon fennel seeds 1 tablespoon crushed whole coriander seeds
and fry for 3-4 seconds. Add 2 tablespoon finely chopped ginger and 2 teaspoon finely chopped green chilies to the pan and saute for 20 seconds. Add 1 lb (500 g) boiled, cooled and roughly mashed potatoes and softened peas to the pan and mix well. Now add
2 tablespoon Kasuri methi 2 teaspoon pomegranate seeds powder ½ teaspoon cumin powder ½ teaspoon garam masala powder ½ teaspoon black pepper powder 2 teaspoon dry mango powder 2 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder 1 tablespoon coriander powder
and mix well. Using a potato masher mash everything until almost smooth. Do not over-mash. You want a few pieces of potatoes still there. Add
1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoon chopped cilantro 2 tablespoon chopped mint 10-12 cashew nuts, crushed 10-12 raisins, chopped
and mix well. Remove the pan from heat and let the filling cool down to room temperature.
Make Samosa Dough
Add
250 grams of all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ajwain (carom seeds) 4 tablespoon vegetable oil
in a large bowl or a parat. Mix well using your fingers for a minute. The mixture should look like bread crumbs. When you press the mixture in between your palms, it should form a shape and not crumble. If it is crumbling, add some more oil and mix again. Add water (4-6 tbsp) little by little and knead to make a very stiff dough. Wet a kitchen cloth with water and squeeze it tightly to remove any excess water. Use this damp cloth to cover the dough. Keep it aside for 30 minutes.
Shape The Samosa
Once the dough has rested, knead it once again for 10-12 seconds until it is slightly smooth. Do not overwork the dough. Divide it into 6 equal parts to get 12 medium samosas. If you want to make them smaller, divide the dough into 8 equal parts. Shape the dough pieces into balls. Cover the balls with the damp cloth and keep aside for 10 minutes. Take one ball and roll it to make a thin 6-inch long oval. The thickness of the rolled dough should be approx 1 mm. Do not use dry flour while rolling. You can use a little oil if it is sticking to the surface. Cut the oval from the center using a knife or a pizza cutter. Roll and cut all the dough balls in the same manner. Note – Keep the dough covered with the damp cloth at all times when not working on it. Now take one of the half oval shapes and roll it a little more. Apply a little water on the straight edge and bring the two ends together to make a cone. Make sure to seal the ends tightly. Note – You can also make a mixture of 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour and 2 tablespoon water to make glue to seal the samosa instead of just water. Fill 2 tablespoon of potato filling in the cone. Press the filling lightly. Apply more water on the open sides and make a pleat at the center of the round open edge. Check out the video to learn the process of filling the samosa. Seal the edges nicely to make a triangle. Press the entire samosa gently a little bit so that it does not puff up while frying. Make all of them in a similar manner. Note – Keep them covered with the damp cloth until ready to fry.
Fry The Samosa
Heat oil for frying in a large pan over medium heat. When the oil is barely hot, drop the samosas one by one. I usually try to fry 5-6 pieces in a go keeping enough space for each piece. Make sure that the oil is not too hot, otherwise, the samosas will have blisters on the surface. To check the oil temperature, drop a small piece of dough into it; it should rise slowly and the oil should not be bubbling or sizzling. If the dough turns golden brown; the oil has become too hot and you should cool it down. Fry on medium-low flame until they are lightly brown in color. Do not overcrowd the pan while frying and fry them in batches. Flip the samosas while frying using a perforated spoon. Each batch will take 15-20 minutes to fry perfectly. Once they are lightly browned, increase the heat to medium-high and fry until they turn golden brown (2-3 minutes). Once they are golden brown, take them out on a plate lined with kitchen tissue. Serve hot.
Pro Tips for Crispy & Flaky Samosa
Measurements – To make the best samosa at home, stick to the measurements given in the recipe. I have used standard cups and spoon measures. Potatoes – Cool the boiled potatoes for at least 3-4 hours before making the filling. Oil in the dough – Adding some oil to the dough while kneading is very important for a flaky crunchy crust. In India, we call this process Moyan. The amount of oil should not be reduced and it should be nicely mixed with the flour. Kneading the dough – The dough must be very stiff. If it is soft, the samosa will turn out soggy and it will also absorb a lot more oil. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time while kneading to avoid soft dough. Do not overwork the dough. You want it to just come together. Resting the dough – Make sure to rest the dough to relax the gluten. This step is very crucial to roll the dough perfectly. Rolling – The dough should be rolled evenly to make a 1 mm thick oval. If it’s thick, the samosa will not turn out crispy. Use little oil while rolling if it is sticking to the surface. Frying – Always fry them on medium-low heat to make sure they turn out perfectly crispy. Once they are cooked well, increase the heat for the last 2-3 minutes to give them a lovely brown color. Before adding the next batch to the pan, make sure to bring down the temperature of the oil to low.
Other Filling Ideas
Although potato is the most popular filling option for the Indian samosa, there are many other variations that you can try. Listing a few below Paneer (Cottage Cheese): Use minced paneer with green chilies and finely chopped onion and coriander. Vegetable: Use any mix of vegetables for the filling Sweet: This can be made by stuffing khoya and dry fruits. I have a detailed recipe, so do check it out my mawa samosa. Chicken: Use minced chicken with all the dried spices for stuffing. I also have a chicken and cheese samosa recipe here. Dry Fruits: You can add dry fruits like cashew nuts and raisins in the filling to make them richer. Matar: Peas or matar make a yummy filling for these. Do try. Moong Dal: This are a little different samosa that is served as dry snacks with tea. The filling is a spicy and tangy lentil filling and it can be kept for a long time. Check out the blog post for moong dal samosa.
Serving Suggestions
These taste great along with Green Chutney and Sweet Tamarind Chutney. Do not forget to serve a hot cup Indian Masala Chai on the side. You can also make a chaat out of it. Just crush it hot a bit, top with some whisked yogurt, mint coriander chutney, sweet tamarind chutney and then top it with finely chopped onions, fine sev, and finely chopped coriander leaves. Sprinkle a little chaat masala, red chilli powder, and squeeze some lime juice. See detailed samosa chaat recipe.
Storage Suggestions
If you have leftover fried samosas, wrap them in aluminum foil or plastic wrap loosely and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Reheat in the oven at 350 F for 10 mins. You can also reheat in the air fryer. These can be frozen before frying. Shape the samosas and place them on a sheet pan in a single layer and freeze them. Once frozen, store them in freezer bags. You can refrigerate these for up to 6 months. When you want to fry them, bring them to room temperature.
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