Bake or fry, It´s just worth a try..

Do you ever get a feeling that you are no more in control of your relationship with food and that you eat not to satisfy your hunger actually but its mostly your cravings and temptation for a specific food that makes you stuff yourself to the brim, and then you feel guilty and promise yourself that you wont be repeating this mistake in future but forget it the very next moment you even think of that food again.

We are having a serious issue at our home these days. My husband has lately realised that its time that he should seriously control his emotional eating habits or his wardrobe wont be having anything to offer him soon. Whereas, alone a cooking show on the TV or a good cherrished memory is enough to make the cravings attack him with such force that it becomes impossible to beat them. I dont know when and how we shall be able to find a solution to this, but I do know one thing for sure: there are foods that are hard to resist. And most of them are, unfortunately, also fairly unhealthy.

The reason behind the entire story are the legendary samosas that Ive started to make at home recently. I am sure, most of you must have heard of these small triangular shaped stuffed patties that are mostly deep fried in oil and are so tasty that you just dont want to compromise on having only one piece of it...Believe me, if I tell you the number of samosas that we both consumed over the weekend, you would probably think we are crazy but they were just too good to hold back and since we are already celebrating the potato-weeks here on the blog, here I am sharing the sin with all of you. (Do read the tips stated at the end for a much healthier and nutritious version of samosas).

Samosa 

Ingredients

For the dough:

1 cup plain flour
2 tbs hot oil
1/2 tbs margarine or ghee
approx. 1/3 cup boiling water to knead the dough
salt
1/2 tsp cumin (optional)

For the Filling:

4 medium sized potatoes, boiled and roughly mashed
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds, coarsely ground
1/2 tsp corriander powder
1/2 tsp dry pomegranate seeds
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 small green chili, chopped
4 tbs fresh green corriander, chopped
Salt

Oil for deep frying

For the dough, mix flour and salt. Add the cumin seeds as well as the oil and the margarine. Mix well with fingers. Now knead the dough with hot water. Cover with a wet cloth or plastic wrap and place aside for 15 minutes.

Make the filling.

Roughly mash the boiled potatoes. Add in rest of the ingredients and mix well with soft hands. We want to save some of the potato pieces from getting mashed completely.

Take the dough, knead it well once again. Make small  golf sized balls. Roll them out with a pin in the given shape.

Please note, its not completely round, rather a bit oval. Cut in the centre to make two halves. Place some filling in the centre of one half.

And cover by folding the dough towards the rounded  side. I hope you can see that I have taken the centre of the straight side of my flat dough as folding guide. Now place the other side of the dough over it (do brush he edges with water so that it sticks well). This will make a triangle.

Press the edges with your finger tips to seal the samosa. Repeat for all the dough balls.

Tip: Incase your dough is hard and non-sticky, you wont having any problem overlapping the samosas on one another and cover with a cloth until use. But if the consistancy is a bit sticky, try placing them apart on a tray and place in the freezer for a while before frying.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Please note, you need a lotttttt of oil for this. The samosa should be able to completely dip in oil. Once the oil is hot, set the heat on medium (low-medium) and deep fry the samosas.

Enjoy with mint chutney, tamarind or tomato sauce.

Or for a lighter and more fresh flavour, flatten two prepared samosas on the botton of a plate. Distribute 2 tbs boiled chick peas over these. Cover with 1/2 cup fresh salad leaves (Crisphead/Iceberg) and a few tomato chunks. Add some milk and salt into the mint chutney to make it a bit runny and pour over the samosa plate. Sprinkle with some chat masala. And decorate with tomato ketchup or tamarind sauce. Believe me, the taste is matchless!!!!!

One tip for all the readers who do have control over their diet: You may also enjoy the irresistable samosas in a way that either prepare them the way they deserve to be, i.e. as stated in the recipe and limitise your consume. Or try replacing the evil ingredients through healthier ones, i.e. for more fiber, mix whole wheat flour and refined flour in equal quantities in the dough and instead of deep drying, trying baking them in the oven. This will save you from the unhealthy saturated fats. However, for even browning, do spray them with oil before baking.

Try and share your comments :)