Chicken Samosas

Add 2 tbsp ghee or oil to the pan over a medium high heat. When visibly hot, stir in the cumin seeds and let them infuse into the oil for 30 seconds. Then add the finely chopped onion and fry for about 5 minutes or until soft and translucent.

Stir in the garlic and ginger paste and chopped chillies and fry for another 30 seconds and then add the diced tomato and the ground spices. Stir this all up into a nice base masala.

Now add the chicken and 250ml (1 cup) of water. As the water comes to a simmer, break the minced (ground) chicken down with a spatula or spoon until you see no lumps. This takes a bit of time but it is necessary.

With the meat broken down and the water simmering, cover the pan to cook for about 15 minutes, lifting the lid from time to time to stir. After 15 minutes, lift the lid and continue simmering until all the water has evaporated and the chicken is beginning to brown in the pan.

Add the chopped coriander and season with salt to taste and then transfer the filling to a plate to cool while you prepare the wrappers. Wipe your pan clean as you will need it to fry the samosas.

T?O MAKE THE SAMOSA WRAPPERS

Pour the flour into a mixing bowl and add the salt, cumin/ajwain seeds and melted ghee or oil. Start mixing it all together with your hands. It will become crumbly. Add the water slowly. You are aiming for a stiff dough, not soft. Once you have your dough ball formed, place it back in the bowl and cover with a damp cloth for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, place the dough ball on a clean surface and roll it into a long cylinder shape. Slice it into 10 equal sized pieces and then form each piece into firm, smaller balls. Place one balls on a lightly floured surface and roll it out until you have a circle that is just thinner than a tortilla. If you pick it up, you should be able to see your hand through it.

Slice the circle in half into two half circles. Be sure to keep the other dough balls covered so they don’t dry out while you work.

Take one of the half circles and join the corners so that you have a cone shape. Press the seem so that the filling has no way of escaping and fill the cone with a few tablespoons of the chicken filling. Close the samosa by pressing the top together into a triangle shape. Repeat with the remaining dough.

To cook, bring sufficient oil for deep frying to a simmer, slowly over medium heat. You do not want the oil too hot. If you put a piece of the dough in it, it should rise slowly to the top with only a few small bubbles around it. This is the perfect temperature.

Add as many samosas as you can to the hot oil. They should not be boiling like crazy! Instead, the samosa should simply be floating in the hot oil with only a small amount of bubbles around them. Let these fry in the hot oil for about 8 minutes. Then turn the heat up to high.

As the oil gets hotter, the samosas will begin to fry to a crispy golden brown. This slow frying method will get you really crispy and flaky samosas that are to die for! Each batch should take about 15 minutes but remember that if you are cooking several batches, you will need to cool the oil down some before adding each batch.

Transfer the cooked samosas to a a wire rack. They should stay hot while you cook the remaining samosas so no need to cover.