Making samosas is a very labour intensive as well as time consuming activity, but very very rewarding. I normally start by making the filling first. This allows time for it to drain off all access liquids as the aim is to have a filling that won't make the samosa soggy from the inside. On this occasion I made a potato and coriander filling.
The pictures show the whole process of creating the filling for the samosas. After preparing the filling the next step is to create the leaves that make the samosa. This is the major time consuming part of the whole process. The aim is to create a dough that is quite dry and stiff. It has to work well later when applying all the oil to make it stretch for baking in layers. The dough is left for ten minutes to rest and then divided into small balls to flatten. When flattened into round strips, it is brushed with oil and placed one on top of the other. The top dry side of the strip is then brushed again with oil and another two strips are stacked on top. I normally only work with four strips but it is believed that in Asian culture some expert women can stack up to twenty layers at one time and work perfectly with it. This is the delicate part that requires one to work carefully ensuring that each strip is thoroughly brushed in oil. The purpose thereof is to ensure that each strip will separate after baking. Every batch brings with it its own challenges. The video below demonstrates the whole process from start to finish, making the dough, creating the leaves, baking them, separating and then cutting them into strips for folding. It then demonstrates how a samosa is folded.
I make beef or chicken samosas as well as various vegetarian fillings such as potato and coriander or cheese and onion. The samosas are then vacuum sealed and refrigerated for use when necessary.
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