Since today's prompt is 'food', I thought I will share my recipe for Samosas. We make samosas more during Ramadan than other months of the year. Samosas we North Keralites (or commonly known as Malabar) make are different from others. Ours are usually tiny and slim compared to Punjabi samosas. And we use beef or chicken filling mostly instead of veggies.
Recipe for a samosa is pretty simple. It's the process that takes time. Back home all of us get together to make them which makes it faster.
First let me share the recipe for the filling and then I will move to the dough. This recipe will make about 30-40 samosas (depending on the size)
Samosa Filling
Ingredients
One full chicken
Two large onions
Two inches piece of ginger
Four cloves of garlic
A bunch of mint leaves, without stem, finely chopped
A bunch of coriander leaves, without stem, finely chopped
2 tbsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp ground garam masala
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt
Method
Boil chicken with some water, black pepper and salt. Once cooked take it off and let cool.
Pluck out meat from the chicken. In a food processor, whizz the meat couple of times. Do not over shred it. If you don't have a processor, chop them with a knife. It's best not to use a grinder.
Finely chop onions, ginger, garlic and green chillies. Or to make it easier, whizz them all together in a food processor.
In a frying pan, heat oil and add ground garam masala.
When it sizzles, add chopped onion, ginger, garlic and green chillies.
Saute until onions are transluscent.
Add shredded chicken, salt and ground black pepper. Let them cook for couple of minutes.
Later add chopped mint and coriander leaves. Stir and mix well. Cook for a minute or two and take it off heat.
Let the filling cool when you are getting the dough ready.
Samosa Cover Dough
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp ghee: use ghee as it is. If you use melted/hot ghee, it will spoil the dough.
Pinch of salt
Warm water
In a bowl, mix flour, ghee and salt. Add water slowly and mix until you get a smooth, soft dough.
Adding ghee is what makes my samosas crispy. Something I learnt from my in-laws. :)
How to make the Samosa Cover
Let me explain this process through pictures...
Divide the dough into equal portions - roughly the size of a golf ball. Dust your workspace with enough flour and roll out a circle.
Cut the circle in halves from both sides to get four triangles.
Take one of the triangles with the curved side facing you.
Fold the left side inwards, dab water on it.
Dab water on the right side and fold it in and seal both sides to get a cone. Make sure to pinge the bottom of the cone well so that it seals properly (otherwise oil will enter the samosa).
Let me show you the process one more time
Pick up the cone and hold it as shown here.
Fill in the masala (filling)
Tuck in the masala properly. Do not overfill as it might break while frying.
Dab water on all edges. Fold the pointed edge in (towards you) to complete the 'triangle'. Pinge the sides well and seal properly. Dab more water if required. Not too much!
There you go, your samosa is ready to be fried!
Now, let me show you a trick to get perfect circles and samosas all the time. :)
Just like the first step above, roll the dough. Do not worry about the edges or shape. Just keep rolling and make sure insides of the circle is paper thin.
On top of the circle, keep a stainless steel lid or any circular dish. Press hard and with your knife draw around and scrape off the extra dough.
Tada! you get a perfect circle, which means perfect little samosas all the time! :)
Once all your samosas are ready, heat about two cups of oil in a wok or deep bottomed pan and fry them in batches of three to four, until golden on both sides.
You can chill or freeze uncooked samosas for later. Chill them if you are going to use them in couple of days. If not, freeze. Just make sure you line your container with baking paper or parchment paper and sprinkle some flour so that samosas don't stick to each other. When you want to fry them, just take them out and fry directly. Thawing isn't necessary.
Hope this recipe has inspired you to make samosas yourself at home instead of buying frozen packets from supermarket. Like any dish, this also takes some time and patience to perfect. If you have any doubts or questions, feel free to leave a comment here.
I've also linked this recipe to The Halal Foodie's Ramadan Friendly Recipes and Yummy Food's Joy from Fasting to Feasting V.
Have a blessed and peaceful day
Neelu
We are eleven days into Ramadan. Eleven! And to celebrate the good time we have had so far, I have a tiny giveaway. I would love to send one of you a pack of Felt Bow Paper Clip Set from Studio Calico. 
