Singara (Bengali potatoes and cauliflower samosa)
An amazing evening snack recipe of Bengali samosa that has a delicately yet deliciously flavoured potatoes, cauliflower florets, peas and peanuts stuffing
Equipment
- Shallow cooking pot
Ingredients
- 2 cups cauliflower florets
- 2 cups potatoes cut into 2 cm cubes
- 1 cup green peas fresh/frozen
- 1 fresh green chili optional
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts crushed
- 4-5 dried red chilis
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 3-4 cardamoms
- 3-4 cloves
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil for frying
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp carom seeds ajwain
- 1 tsp salt + salt for the filling
Instructions
- Mix the flour with a teaspoon of salt, carom seeds and a tablespoon of oil. Knead a tight dough, using little water at a time and keep it aside covered with a damp cloth. I needed less than ½ cup of water to form the dough
- Dry roast all the whole spices (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, dried chilis, peppercorns) until fragrant. Cool it down to room temperature and then grind it to a fine powder. This is the Bengali bhaja moshla
- Heat a cooking pot with a tbsp of oil and add the cauliflower and potatoes. Stir fry on high heat for 5 minutes, then lower the flame and cook covered, stirring intermittently*, until the vegetables are almost cooked. Don't add the salt now otherwise they will turn mushy
- Once done, add the peas, chilis, peanuts, sugar and salt. Mix in well
- Turn the flame off, once the peas also cook and add 2 tablespoons of the bhaja moshla. Remove this in a bowl and let it cool down. Check here for taste and adjust if needed. This is your singara filling
- Get back to your singara dough and work it one more time. Pinch out 5 equal sized balls from it. Flatten one out, apply some oil and roll it out thin and oval in shape. Divide it into two equal parts using a knife
- Apply water on all edges and fold one side of the base over the other, to create a pocket as shown, and press gently to seal
- Hold this cone in the gap of your thumb and index finger. Spoon in about 2 tablespoons (or as much it holds) of the singara filling in
- Pleat the centre of the curved end and bring it to the front end and press to seal. Press the left and right hand sides, also, onto each other and seal well
- Place your shaped singaras on a flour dusted tray. At this point you could freeze them to fry at a later time, too
- Over medium low flame, keep the oil for frying in a wok, and drop in the singaras. Don't over crowd your wok and fry until each of them is well browned all over. When done remove on a kitchen towel, for the excess oil to drain
- Serve your lip smacking singaras or Bengali potatoes and cauliflower samosa with ketchup, along side some chai. Enjoy!
Notes
- *If the vegetable start sticking to the pan, add splashes of hot water to de-glaze and continue cooking
- You can even use maida/plain flour for the samosa wrappers. That is what is traditionally used and not whole wheat flour
- Adding the sugar balances out the salt in these Bengali samosas (singara). It is supposed to have a hint of sweetness
- I was able to make 10 medium singaras with these quantities
- You may not need the entire bhaja moshla prepared here. You can store the excess in an air tight jar and use it to flavour other Bengali vegetarian fares, your yoghurt etc
- 1 cup = 250 millilitres
- tbsp - tablespoon
- tsp - teaspoon
- cm - centimetre