Samosa

Method

1. 1Make the dough (moyan dena). Combine flour, carom seeds, and salt in a large bowl. Add the ghee or oil. Using your fingertips, rub the fat vigorously into the flour for 3 to 4 minutes — the goal is to coat every particle of flour with fat. The mixture should look and feel like slightly damp coarse sand. Pinch a handful: it should clump and hold shape without crumbling. If it crumbles, keep rubbing. Add cold water one tablespoon at a time, mixing after each addition, until a stiff, firm dough forms — it should not be soft or sticky. Knead for 2 minutes, wrap tightly, and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. 2Make the filling. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and let them sizzle for 30 seconds. Add the green chilli and grated ginger and cook 30 seconds more until fragrant. Add the peas and cook 2 minutes. Break the boiled potatoes into the pan by hand — not too smooth, you want some texture. Add ground coriander, garam masala, amchur, and salt. Stir and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the fresh coriander, taste and adjust seasoning. Spread on a plate and let cool completely before shaping. Warm filling makes damp dough.
3. 3Shape the samosas. Divide the rested dough into 8 equal balls. On a lightly oiled surface, roll one ball into an oval roughly 15 cm long and 3 mm thick. Cut the oval cleanly in half across the middle — you have two semicircles, each making one samosa. Take a semicircle, moisten the straight edge with water, bring the two corners of the straight edge together with a 5 mm overlap, and press firmly to form a cone. Stand the cone upright in your palm. Fill with 2 heaped tablespoons of cooled filling — no more than three-quarters full. Moisten the inside of the open top edge, bring together, press firmly, and make a small pleat-pinch in the center of the top seam. Set aside seam-side up on a tray. Repeat.
4. 4Fry the samosas. Pour oil into a deep heavy pan to a depth of at least 7 cm and heat to 160°C (320°F) — medium-low. Lower 3 to 4 samosas gently into the oil. The temperature will drop; keep the flame low to medium-low and fry slowly for 8 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until the dough has set and is a very pale gold. Then increase the heat to medium and fry for another 3 to 4 minutes until golden-brown and crisp. Drain on paper towels. This two-stage frying is the key: low heat first cooks the inside of the dough without the outside burning; medium heat at the end gives color and crunch without greasiness.
5. 5Serve immediately. Samosas are best eaten hot, within 10 minutes of coming out of the oil. Serve with mint-coriander chutney and tamarind chutney on the side. To make a quick mint chutney: blend a handful of fresh mint, a handful of coriander, half a green chilli, a pinch of salt, a squeeze of lime, and 2 tablespoons of water until smooth.