Baked Samosas

Samosas are basically a potato patty covered in dough. They are typically deep fried and can be served with chutney or yogurt. I made these as part of menu this past Saturday night and wanted something baked rather than fried. I love these fried however I didn’t want to stand next to a pot of hot oil for as long as it would take to cook enough of these to feed our usual crowd.

After a bit of web searching I settled on this recipe. After making several guesses to make up for missing info in the recipe the end result was something that looked a bit like a small pita pocket filled with a tasty filling. All but 3 of 24 were consumed by 8 people, including 3 kids, as part of a large meal. I consider that a success.

Baked Samosas
Servings: 24 samosas
Prep time: 30 minutes
Total time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 2 tsp. kosher salt, divided
• 1 2/3 cup whole milk Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 3/4 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes (white potatoes would work well as well)
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 1 yellow onion, minced (about 1 1/2 cups total)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. grated ginger
• 2 tsp. mustard seeds
• 2 tsp. coriander seeds
• 2 1/2 cups frozen petite green peas
• 3 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. California sweet paprika
• cracked black pepper

Directions:

1. First make the dough. Combine the flour and 1 tsp. kosher salt in a large bowl. Add the yogurt and mix with a spoon until you have a shaggy mess (I’m not sure what else to call it).
2. Add about a 1/4 cup of water and work it into the dough with your hands. If all of the shag pile hasn’t come together into a ball then add a bit more water. Stop adding water once most of the flour/yogurt mixture has come together.
3. Kneed the dough in the bowl for about 5 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you are ready to assemble the samosas.
4. Start the filling by peeling the potatoes and cutting them into approximately 1″ cubes. Put the potatoes in a saucepan and fill with water so that it covers the potatoes by 1″. Bring to a boil. Check for doneness after about 10 minutes by poking one of the cubes with a fork; if the fork easily pierces the potato then it done. When done strain well, transfer to a large bowl and mash. It’s ok if a few chunks escape the masher. Set aside.
5. Put the mustard and coriander seeds in a cold, dry, 12″ skillet. Heat over high heat for 1-2 minutes until the mustard seeds start to pop. Transfer to the bowl of a mortal and grind (or use a spice/coffee grinder). Set aside.
6. Reduce the heat under the skillet to medium and add 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter. When the butter is melted add the onions and 1 tsp. kosher salt, toss to coat with butter and cook for 7-8 minutes until the onions have softened. Add the garlic, ginger, ground mustard and coriander seeds. Stir and cook until the garlic and ginger become fragrant, about 1 minute. Dump the contents of the skillet into the bowl with the potatoes.
7. Turn off the heat under the skillet. Add the remaining unsalted butter and the peas. Allow the residual heat to melt the butter and help thaw the peas.
8. While the peas thaw a bit mix the potatoes and onion mixture. Add the peas and fold them in trying not to crush too many.
9. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least 15 minutes. Longer is OK.
10. After the filling has cooled preheat the oven to 425°F.
11. Now for the time consuming part… Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Scatter a generous pinch of flour on the counter and flatten the dough into a 1″ high disk; square up the slides as best you can. Cut the square into quarters. Working with one quarter at a time cut it into 6 pieces.
12. Roll each piece of dough out until it is about 6″ long by 3-4″ wide. Place a generous scoop of potato filling in the center of the dough. Brush a bit of water around the dough and then fold the dough over the filling. Press the dough around the filling to form a seal. Use a 3″ round biscuit cutter to cut out the samosas from the extra dough.
13. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. You can add a bit of scrap dough to the smaller pieces of dough as needed. This can be a sticky dough; I found I needed quite a bit of flour on the counter to keep the dough from sticking.
14. Place the finished samosas on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicon mat. I used two baking sheet for all 24 samosas.
15. Bake both trays at 425°F for 15 minutes. Rotate and swap the sheets, turn the oven down to 375° and bake for another 10 minutes.
16. Cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with a green chutney or yogurt with a bit of cumin and lemon juice.

Notes:
I used a #40 disher to get scoops of the filling. It equals about 1 tablespoon of filling.

I couldn’t remember what samosas traditionally look like so I went with a circle. Apparently a triangle is their regular shape.

I meant to brush a bit of egg wash on these before baking. Turns out they didn’t really need it, turning out lightly browned without any extra effort.