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Potato Samosas

samosas

Well, todays post started off with a total heart attack when I logged onto my site only to find it was gone! I saw the photo of that annoying smiling lady when I typed in my page, to no avail.

I frantically started a chat with Hostgator support and tweeted to @HGSupport “where is my site??” All kind of horror scenarios came to mind and I was immediately transported to poor Charlie’s at Hotly Spiced lost website nightmare. I couldn’t believe that just last week I was raving in a comment on Charles’ blog, Five Euro Food how great Hostgator is! And here I was yesterday, frantically waiting the 15 minutes to get a live chat person.

Come to find out, thanks to @HGSupport, my domain name expired. Great, I got no email, no warning, no nothing, just a page with that annoying blonde lady smiling. How could I have forgotten to renew my domain name??? Last year, I moved hosting companies and also transferred my domain name to Hostgator. They apparently, didn’t add it to my billing account and so they didn’t inform me of the upcoming renewal.

samosas

Well, I got on it quickly enough just incase there was someone waiting to steal my name 🙂 Thankfully, nobody wanted it that badly. Within a few hours my site was back and I was able to type up my post.

However, because of a mistake that was out of my control, I lost my page and my views from midnight till 2 pm. With Ramadan hours, I’ve been sleeping in later than usual after my morning breakfast and so don’t check my site till much later in the morning or afternoon.

It’s just frustrating though. But I guess I didn’t lose all my information or anything. That would be just horrible. But this scare has made me realise that I have to be on top of everything and not count on the host company to remind me of my important due dates. Also, I need to update my site and do check ups and back ups. Charles from Five Euro Food has done an excellent series of posts on optimising your blogs and he has some great information. Please go and check out his hard work if you are interested in doing some updating and clean up of your websites.

So, my heart has finally stopped pounding and I can go on and tell you about my next family favourite food during Ramadan. I actually made two kinds of stuffed pastry, but in the interest of time and overly extending this post I will post them separately. Up first, the potato samosas.

I know everyone has heard of samosas stuffed with spicy potato filling and quite sure many of you have tried these at Indian restaurants, shops or even from the freezer section of your local grocery store.

samosas

They are very popular with Indians and non Indians alike and rightly so. What’s not to like about spicy potatoes stuffed inside thin pastry and fried until crispy and golden brown? Serve with a dipping sauce of tamarind chutney, or mint-cilantro chutney or good ole ketchup. We like our fried treats with a ketchup-sriracha sauce combination.

This is by no means the true authentic potato samosa recipe because there are so many out there. But this is how I make mine and they are pretty good. I also don’t make mine huge because after fasting, you really can’t eat that much so these are a good size for my children. We manage about 2 each.

There is a shortcut method that a lot of people who have access to a tortilleria or even a Costco nearby, employ. If you can get your hands on some uncooked tortillas, you can very easily halve them, stuff them with your choice of filling, seal them with water or flour water glue and fry them. They will turn out just as well. I did use this method a couple of times last year because the Costco near us sells uncooked tortillas in their refrigerated section. Ever since I’ve gone “whole food”, I haven’t bought them. I’ve gone back to making my own from scratch.

samosas

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Potato Samosas

Serves: about 18 depending on size

Crispy fried pastry stuffed with spicy potatoes.
Ingredients
PASTRY
  • 2 cups/240g all purpose/plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ajwain seeds (thymol seeds, ajwon seeds, bishops weed)
  • ½ cup/118mL water (may need more or less depending on flour)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil/avocado oil
POTATO FILLING
  • 5 medium potatoes, boiled and coarsely mashed
  • 2 tablespoon oil : coconut, olive or avocado
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • ½ teaspoon crushed coriander seeds (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 2 dried red chillies
  • ½ teaspoon red cayenne chilli
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • oil for frying: peanut, sunflower, avocado or coconut
Instructions
POTATO FILLING
  1. Heat the oil in a fry pan until hot.
  2. Add the cumin seeds, coriander seeds if using, and dried red chillies.
  3. When fragrant and popping slightly, add the mashed potatoes and mix through.
  4. Add the red cayenne chilli, turmeric and ground coriander powder and mix through.
  5. Add the salt and check to see if seasoned properly.
  6. Pull off the heat and tip onto a plate to cool.
  7. Let the filling cool before stuffing the pastry
PASTRY
  1. Make the dough for the pastry.
  2. Add the salt, oil and the ajwain seeds to the flour and mix.
  3. Add water little at a time to make a soft dough.
  4. You may need more or less water depending on how dry your flour is.
  5. At high altitudes like mine, we have a drier climate so I always need more water for my flour.
  6. Mine took about ⅔ cups.
  7. Just start with ½ cup water, add little by little till you get a nice soft, not sticky dough.
  8. Put aside to rest.
ROLLING AND SHAPING
  1. Once the dough has rested for about 15 minutes, portion out into 18 balls.
  2. Roll out the ball of dough to about 6 inches(15cm) round and ¼ inch (6.5mm) thick.
  3. If you roll it out to thin, the potato mixture tends to break through and the dough also sticks while you are rolling and shaping the rest.
  4. You can roll out several and keep covered before stuffing with the mixture.
  5. Using a pizza cutter cut the round in half to get 2 semi circles.
  6. A paste of flour and water to make glue, tends to work better to seal the samosas.
  7. Rub the cut straight edges with some glue and taking into your hands, overlap the edges slightly to seal the pastry into a cone shape.
  8. Press firmly to seal.
  9. Add a teaspoon of potato into the cone, don't over fill, but with enough potato and still room to seal the edge shut.
  10. Smear some more glue on the top edges of the open pastry and seal shut.
  11. You can use a fork to crimp the edges.
  12. Place on a floured tray or one lined with parchment paper.
  13. You can leave them uncovered while shaping the rest so the dough can dry out a bit.
  14. I left mine uncovered in the fridge to fry the next day too.
  15. Pastry comes out nice and crisp.
  16. Once again, I don't 'deep fry'.
  17. My deep frying is about an inch or inch and a half of oil in my cast iron skillet.
  18. I drop in about 4 or 5 samosas at a time and let them brown.
  19. Flip over and brown the second side and then drain on paper towels.
  20. Repeat with the rest.
  21. Serve with chutneys or ketchup and hot sauce.
Notes
I have never tried baking this recipe of samosas. They just don't get that crispy shell when you bake them. I have used a dough that was more like an empanada or pie pastry dough and baked those. They were good but once again, not the crispy samosas most are accustomed to. I don't make samosas often and usually only during Ramadan. So, I go all out and just fry them, even though I abhor frying (just the frying part, I LOVE eating fried foods though :))
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samosas

Hope you all have great things planned for this weekend! I will be busy cleaning 40 (18kg) pounds of chicken breasts for the Iftar dinner on Monday that my friend and I are hosting at the Islamic Centre. Butter Chicken is on the menu and Peach Cobbler for dessert. Wish me luck!

Have a great weekend!

 

 


Comments

    • Thanks Nusrat, you are too kind, They are no where close to your beautiful photos.

  2. Oh no. That is such a terrible story. I know exactly how you would have felt, too! I’m just about to go with Hostgator! Out of the fat and into the fire! When I do sign with them I will make sure they have my email listed so I get that reminder. There’s so much to do as a blogger – so much you have to be aware of. Your potato samosas look amazing and I would love to sit at your table and share them! xx
    Hotly Spiced recently posted..Japan City, ChatswoodMy Profile

    • Don’t worry, Hostgator is pretty good actually. They just dropped the ball somewhere down the line. They helped very quickly to get it going again.

  8. Your Samosas look delicious but I really have to thank you for your post. I went straight to Hostgator and renewed my domain name which was due to expire tomorrow!!! I had been warned but Mr Glam Had a party over the weekend for a big birthday and I’ve been occupied sorting out and organising everything. My blog has had to be on the back burner. Thank you again and I’m so sorry you had to have such a scare. GG xx
    glamorous glutton recently posted..Tiny Paris KitchenMy Profile

    • I am so glad I reminded you then! I am surprised that Hostgator dropped the ball with my account because otherwise they are great. Happy birthday to Mr Glam! Did he have a nice party?

    • Restaurant samosas aren’t bad actually, but homemade ones are the bomb. Thanks for stopping by Karen!

  11. I am salivating over these potato samosas. It is raining hard here and I am having my evening tea. How I wish I had one of these samosas to accompany! 😀
    easyfoodsmith recently posted..YAKHNI PULAOMy Profile

    • Costco can be a life saver! They are very good made with the uncooked tortillas and I’m sad that I can’t take that short cut anymore.

  13. Yikes! I would’ve had a heart attach also. I experienced something similar last week when all my photos that I saved onto a hard drive disappeared. My husband was able to recover most of them so I’m happy now. But the first several days were a nightmare.
    I use Vaultpress to back up my site. I’m pretty happy with it right now. Thought you may be interested if not using already ;).
    I absolutely love samosas. You’re right..what’s there not to like. Thank you for he tip about using uncooked tortilla.
    Min recently posted..Almond Blueberry BiscottiMy Profile

    • It’s a horrible feeling isn’t it? Glad to hear you were able to get your photos back. I need some time to work on my site a bit and do all this backing up and saving. Gonna wait till the kids are in school again!

  14. Gosh, what an awful feeling it must have been for your blog to disappear! My host has always reminded me to renew my domain name, but I’ve got it on my calendar anyway just in case they don’t. Anyway, great looking samosas! I find frying a pain, too, but sometimes you just have to do it! Really good stuff – thanks.
    john@kitchenriffs recently posted..Peachy Cream ShortcakeMy Profile

    • I put it on my calendar now! I has paid for 3 years and hadn’t thought about it figuring they would remind me, but there you go! Some things are best fried and boy are they good!

    • Well I had my domain transferred from my old host but for some reason it didn’t get added to my account so in essence when it expired it wasn’t their problem! But they were very good about hurrying up and renewing it. These were definitely celebratory samosas!

  19. Yikes Nazneen! I can’t believe it expired without you even knowing! I think registrars are obliged to let the domain go through a grace period before anyone else can register it – that period is about 10 days or so I think, so it wouldn’t have been the end of the world… I don’t think anyone else would have been able to nab it luckily. I usually pay for 5 years in advance I think… means I don’t have to worry every year, hehe 🙂
    Charles recently posted..Optimizing your blog – Round-up and acknowledgementsMy Profile

    • Thanks Charles, yeah, I figured there’s a time frame before they release it. I don’t think anyone is waiting to pounce on my name though! The thing is, I did pay for 3 years in advance! But here comes the day where the 3 years are up and so don’t get notified!! Well, I put it on my calendar now and it’s paid through 2015!

  20. HOW gorgeous do those samosas look!!! I want them all. Doesn’t help that it’s lunch time and we haven’t eaten yet, lol!

    It must have been a nightmare…we are so dependent on others for our precious site. Thank God your was back to normal without that much of a problem. I still feel bad for Charlie.
    Minnie@thelady8home recently posted..Minnie’s sweet fresh cheese dessert CupsMy Profile

  21. Ohhh girl, that is terrible. I can just imagine your shock and I’m also glad you figured it out quickly though.
    Enjoy your Ramadan, good luck with your butter chicken and cobbler.
    The samosas look so neatly wrapped up and the fried ones look so good.

    • Thanks Asha, it was a bit of a shock. Glad it’s all over! I hope the butter chicken turns out well! It’s in the oven now 🙂

  22. Those look yummy! I think I have seen a place in Boulder advertising them but have never tasted one.
    Good luck with your Iftar dinner on Monday. I live in Colorado and would love to be able to meet you and your family and attend your dinner but it’s a three hour drive and I won’t be doing that any time soon! Butter chicken sounds delicious. I do have your recipe for it that you posted here a while ago. I have been experimenting with learning some Indian recipes and love the wonderful flavors of the spices.
    Is there an Indian market in Denver where one can buy the spice mentioned in your recipe? I guess I should just look online!
    Good luck with your dinner and I hope you have lots of help so you don’t get too exhausted.

    • Hi Caterina, any decent Indian store should carry ajwain and even Penzeys or Savory Spice Shop. It’s not an uncommon herb. I can’t recommend a shop only because I go to one close to my house which may not be ideal for anyone else! Denver probably has some but I don’t go to them. My local store in Lafayette is fairly decent.

  25. Hi Nazneen, You might not believe this but something happened with my site or computer as well. I scheduled my post for certain time, it did not get publish. I thought may be I did something wrong. Opened the post and it was blank. Checked preview there was post. Even after publishing my drafted post was blank. I turned off the computer and checked in the evening, everything was there. It certainly gets scary sometimes.

    I am an Indian it is not at all popular in my home, except me but I can not eat. When I get the craving I make potato chaat for myself. You have made it so well and this reminds me of mother’s samosas.
    Balvinder recently posted..Crispy Harissa Fish with Baked ChipsMy Profile

    • Oooooh, I love potato chaat too. Hmmm, I should make some for Iftar, a friend of mine made me some imli chutney and I’ve been wondering what I could use it on. Aloo chaat sounds perfect!

  26. Not cool! I’m glad you got it figured out. I love the beautiful picture of dough. I’m going to have to try this too. Jeez, you’re keeping me busy! hugs.

  27. I love that I can outsource all my technical stuff to my IT guru. I would have never been able to navi-guess it otherwise 😉 I can’t tell you how many potato samosas I ate in India. I lived off them. I’ve not yet tried to make them though – will have to give your recipe a try! Is there any particular type of potato you recommend using?
    Jas@AbsolutelyJas recently posted..Why the Poos?My Profile

    • Well, Jas, if you can make bagels you can make these! Look forward to seeing yours.

  28. That was so scary! Thank you for sharing your experience and advice…I am sure many will benefit from this. Definitely myself. Samosas, in my opinion are the ultimate snack that can ever exist. No matter how many versions exist, they are always irrestible. I love that you have added ajwain seeds in the pastry and like you I am not at all for baked samosas. Good luck with the Iftar dinner. Lucky guests you have..wish I was one of them:-)
    Sugar et al recently posted..Chocolate Pistachio MuffinsMy Profile

    • Sonali, you’d be on top of my guest list if you were here! Let me know when you are coming, my friend!

  29. What a morning wakeup call to have to your website gone. I have not forgotten yet to reregister my site but have been blocked by my own hosting company as my IP address has changed and living in China with configuration rights makes the red alerts go off. This just happened 2 weeks ago and thankfully something made me think if you can or cannot do something then it is something set incorrectly with security. Love these little potato Samosas. I see that you are dipping them in chili sauce my teenagers would love that.
    Bam’s Kitchen recently posted..Huang Pi MartiniMy Profile

    • Thanks Bam. Yes, it was a bit of a scare! I can imagine the headaches you must face with the whole China thing! That would be stressful. I always like my fried goods with hot sauce! Your kids and I would get along just fine 🙂

  30. Oh my! What a scare!
    That is exactly why I am still with wordpress.com and have not moved to self hosting. I don’t think I can manage all the technical stuff. One slip and you could lose everything. Glad you were able to fix it quickly.
    I love potato samboosek. My aunt makes amazing ones and now I have your recipe to try as well
    sawsan@chef in disguise recently posted..Pumpkin soupMy Profile

    • It was scary yes, but it was resolved soon. I like having the control of having my own site and of course, my own domain. It’s not an easy thing to do though, but I have smart nephews who help me. Thanks for stopping by, I love sambooseks too 🙂

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