Onion samosas - Irani samosas

Who doesn;t like samosa!I love them and ever since I've been in Chennai i'm trying to look for the triangular cousin of the famous punjabi samosa but not able to find them.Surprisingly, Punjabi samosas are more commonly available here :) 

Ihave many memories with these samosas, whenever my dad used to get back from work he used to pick triangular vegetable samosas from some guy when we were young.I used to wait everyday for 7.30pm until i hear the keys in the door for my dad to open and come in with that brown paper bag filled with lovely piping hot samosas :) yummy!guilt free indulgence.Later when I was much older and moved to Mumbai we loved the Sai krupa Samosas at Sion for their lovely samosas and delicious chane wala chutney...*drool*

I made punjabi samosas some time back you can check the post.For those who thought only us indians made this popular snack/appetizer, no they are prevalent in many other parts of the world too like Iran, Africa and other places.Samosas are deep fried usually but i remember seeing a baked version by Anjum Anand and she uses puff pastry sheets instead of the regular flour to make the outer layer.

Now to the recipe, the original recipe i saw here check out how to make the triangular shape and it was a good one.

You need to make the filling and the outer layer...no its not too time consuming so don't worry you have to try it out.

For the outer layer :

Wheat flour 1 cup

All purpose flour 1 cup

Salt to taste

Oil 1 tablespoon 

Water enough to make a nice dough (not too loose you need to roll them out)

For the filling:

Onions 1 large chopped finely

Poha/aval/beaten rice thin ones just washed (not too soggy) a handful 

Green chillies 1 or 2 chopped finely

Chilli powder 1 tsp

Chaat masala/lime juice to your taste

Cilantro chopped finely 

Salt to taste

make a paste of all purpose flour and water this acts as the glue to seal the sides of the samosas.

• Mix all the stuff for the pastry sheet and leave it aside for 15 minutes.
• Then roll it out into chapatis nice and thin and cook it on either side on a nonstick pan with no oil for about 2-3 seconds.We don't want to cook it,this heating will make it good enough to stuff.
• Once the heating is done, cut it into rectangles about 6in by 3 inches.Cut them and keep it.

• Mix all the ingredients for the stuffing and let it rest, the poha will absorb the water oozing out of the fried onions when you fry it.
• Once the poha is nice and soft you can use the stuffing.
• Take the rectangular sheets and apply the glue to one side of the rectangle, roll it into a cone and add the filling about a tsp would be sufficient.Seal the remaining side of the triangle.
• Prepare all the samosas and deep fry them.

Yummy crispy samosas are ready to be served with your tea.

Tips:
- I tried the stuffing without the poha and the pastry sheet wasn;t crispy after frying.
- If you;re using thick poha/beaten rice soak it to make it soft half way then add the onions and salt and the poha will absorb the remaining moisture of the onions.
- I tried frying the onions and making the stuffing i found it better because the pastry sheets turn crispy really soon and the onions dont really cook when you fry the samosas.so if you dont like raw onions in your samosas try sauteeing the onions for the stuffing.
- Seal all the ends of the samosas well the oil gets in otherwise and leaves a not too good tasting samosa.\
- These samosas are meant to be small.they won't look as cute if you make them large.
- The roti sheet for the outer layer needn't be cooked just flipped over on a hot pan for a few sides so it doesn;t rupture while stuffing and also this step makes the outer layer really crispy.
- i had lots of extra bits after cutting the rectangle sheets i fried them like chips for my kid and she loved it!

Sending this to Bon Vivant moment:Appetizers