Good morning and welcome back everyone.

We’ve got an entire weekend of preseason football this weekend!

Woo!

This season of Sunday Gravy is closing in on a wrap. Just a few more to go before we’re into the real meat and bones of our existence.

Pro motherfucking football!

As you all know, the start of the NFL season is my offseason cuz I’ll be watching that shit along with you and my kitchen time gets greatly reduced.

After relaxing a bit last week when we just fucked around in the kitchen with the crab chip encrusted chicken tenders and gratin potatoes, we are back into full-on insanity mode with something I’ve never attempted before.

Samosas!

Hopefully all of you have tried these delicious little fried pockets of love. They are fucking awesome.

A vegetarian street food from Northern India, samosas are a cornerstone of basically any Indian restaurant you’ll find in the US. I’ve had many and loved them all.

They’re usually served with a tamarind sauce or a mint chutney. The sweetness of the sauces offset a powerful punch in the goddamn face of a veritable plethora of Middle Eastern spices. A goddamn cornucopia!

As we progress into this fairly intense undertaking of a menu, you are going to be presented with a series of Indian spices that your brain will say, “Fuck off. There’s no way that’s a real spice.”

I can assure you that not only do they exist but, get this, I fucking had them ON HAND already.

Thanks again Kiddo! My Christmas present from youngest right. If you enlarge that photo you will not only see ALL of the insane spices in our dish today but you’ll see even more!

Let’s begin by making a tamarind dipping sauce.

recipe courtesy of recipetineats.com

1 tbsp vegetable/canola oil

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp Kashmiri chili powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp asafoetida – a totally real spice

1/4 tsp garam masala

1 cup water

2 – 3 tbsp tamarind paste/concentrate

1/2 cup brown sugar

From left to right, that would be our tamarind paste, the Kashmiri chili powder, cumin, the asafoetida and garam masala.

We’ve used garam masala right here on Sunday Gravy many times in the past. For instance when we recently made Keema Aloo.

And chicken vindaloo.

And chana masala. We made our OWN garam masala from scratch in that one.

And Chicken Tikka Masala!

If you’ve had Indian food, there’s a good chance you have had garam masala and you know what it’s all about.

The asafoetida is a new one to me but at the same time, it is extremely familiar.

You’ve had yellow curry I’m assuming. The cinnamon, clove profile is from the garam masala but the only way I can phrase this is, the asafoetida is the “yellow” part of the yellow curry if that makes sense.

It made sense to me and my taste buds so I’m sticking with it.

Or as the wikis say…

“Asafoetida is the dried latex exuded from the rhizome or tap root of several species of Ferula, perennial herbs of the carrot family. It is produced in Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, northern India, and Northwest China. Different regions have different botanical sources.”

Of course it is.

Here are the dried powdered spices and the ginger for the tamarind sauce.

Back to the recipe source for the instructions.

“Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Add the ginger, chilli, cumin, asafoetida and garam masala, stir and cook gently for 1 minute to release the flavours and toast the spices.

Add the water, tamarind paste and brown sugar and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 15 minutes until the sauce turns thick and syrupy – it should be the consistency of sweet soy/ketchup manis (ie. like very runny honey). Taste and adjust the tamarind to suit.

Cool the sauce before using. The sauce will thicken as it cools.“

I made the tamarind sauce a few hours before the samosas and kept it in the fridge to tighten up the consistency.

Samosas!

courtesy of recipetineats again. Use that link up there for the tamarind sauce for details.

Dough:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp ajwain seeds

1/2 tsp salt 

4 tbsp ghee or oil (any vegetable)

6 tbsp water (cold tap water)

Potato Filling:

1 large potato

2 tbsp vegetable/canola oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp black mustard seeds

1/2 tsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated

1 tbsp green chili, finely chopped – I used a serrano

1/2 cup frozen green peas (thawed)

1 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp amchur

1/2 tsp asafoetida

1/4 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbl cilantro leaves, finely chopped – uhh or not if you bought some and still forgot to include it

Vegetable/Canola oil for frying

Let’s introduce you to another one of today’s unique spices. Ajwain seeds.

These will be used in the dough for the samosas. I was seriously intrigued by these. It was like a citrusy black peppercorn and I KNOW I can figure out a way to fuck around with this shit again. Very intriguing fucker right here.

Once again to the wikis!

“Ajwain or ajowan —also known as ajowan caraway, omam, thymol seeds, bishop’s weed, or carom—is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. Both the leaves and the seed‑like fruit of the plant are consumed by humans. The name “bishop’s weed” also is a common name for other plants.”

Lastly let’s address the amchur, since we’re getting all scientific and descriptive up in this bitch.

“Amchoor or aamchur or amchur, also referred to as mango powder, is a fruity spice powder made from dried unripe green mangoes and is used as a citrusy seasoning. It is mostly produced in India, and is used to flavour foods and add the nutritional benefits of mangoes when the fresh fruit is out of season.”

Not just these, we’re using ALL of the motherfucking spices today.

Got all that shit?

Let’s get our ass to work then.

To the filling!

Get your peeled potato.

Into a pot of cold water, bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes.

Let it cool completely then mash with a fork.

Now the filling spices to be toasted. This would be your cumin seed, coriander seed and black mustard seed.

Start toasting the spices in a splash of oil then add the ginger and peas.

In goes the potato and the rest of the spices. Mix thoroughly.

Cook until everything is thoroughly mixed together then remove to a plate and let cool completely.

Now the fun part.

The dough!

Using your fingers, crumble the oil into the flour. This is key for a crispy finished texture.

Form into a ball and let rest for 30 minutes.

After the dough has rested form it into a log-type shape. Joke away. I’m fully expecting it.

See all those ajwain seeds in the dough? Sexy!

Slice into 6 (or 7) similar sized pieces.

Grab your ass some parchment paper to roll on and another sheet of parchment paper to place on top of the dough to keep the rolling pin from sticking.

Using your trusty rolling pin roll the dough into a circle shape.

Here’s the tricky part but it’s where the samosa gets its shape. Which explains the number of goddamn pictures here because it’s easier to show than tell.

Cut the circle of dough in half. Grab one half and form into a “cone” shape.

Have a small bowl of water handy and dip your fingers lightly in the water and seal the “cone” shape.

Next we stuff with the filling.

Shape.

And seal.

Touchdown motherfuckers!

Now repeat the process until you’ve got a plate of samosas.

Sure, not all of them will be perfectly shaped.

It was my first fucking time, man!

Then these will go into a 335-350 degree pot of oil. Just cook a couple at a time so it doesn’t drop the oil temperature too fast.

Cook for just a couple of minutes. Flipping over as needed. Drain on a paper towel.

Take a bite why don’tcha.

Oh fuck me that’s insane.

Give me a plate dammit!

Seems like some effort yes?

It really wasn’t that difficult.

The difficult part for a first timer is accruing the goddamn spices, which I conveniently already had.

One of the things I was most proud of was the dough. It was perfect!

I attribute that to my many, many times making doughs of various types before. I’ve tried to explain it when I’ve made the fresh pasta. It’s touch memory, if that makes sense. My hands KNOW what a proper dough feels like and when I’m forming a dough, almost any dough really, and it reaches the perfect texture? My hands tell my brain that I’ve nailed that fucker.

I nailed this fucker.

Absolutely delicious and yes I WILL make these again. There were zero surviving samosas.

One thing that did survive was some of the filling. I had plenty leftover. I attribute that to this being my first time and not knowing the proper filling to dough ratio. That got better as I went along.

You know what I’m going to say next and yes I know your response but YOU HAVE TO TRY THESE! At the very least, if you’ve never had a samosa before, find an Indian restaurant and remedy that.

These things are close to a perfect snack food and outright goddamn delicious.

Thanks for stopping by folks. Only 3 more episodes for season ten then it’s all football all of the time.

See you next week, a’ight?

PEACE!