Moong Dal Samosa (Green gram samosa)

Samosa like most of the people know it, is one of the most famous street food in Mumbai. Crispy outer pastry with a potato/vegetable or minced meat filling, these savory triangular fried snack is perfect with a cup of chai. Just like Vada pav and chaat, this fried snack is a must have street food in Mumbai. They come in huge varieties. The most common one is the vegetarian samosa which has potato and peas filling with various spices, served with ketchup or green chutney. On the other hand you can also find chicken samosa, keema samosa and many other variations. I have made the regular samosas before but somehow i am absolutely in love with this particular recipe.



Today i will be sharing a recipe passed on to me by my sister in law. One of a kind and very delicious, this samosa has a filling of green gram or moong dal and potato. 

Ingredients:
(Makes around 20 medium sized samosas)
You can double the amount of ingredients to make more samosas

For the super crispy outer coating you will need:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour 
1 tsp of Kalonji seeds/Nigella Sativa seeds/black seeds
2 tbsp of oil 
Water 
Salt to taste

For the stuffing: 
3/4 cup of green moong (soaked for atleast 6 hrs)
2 medium sized boiled potatoes chopped
1 1/2 tsp of garlic paste
11/2 tsp of ginger paste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
About 1 to 11/2 tbsp of whole coriander seeds coarsely crushed
1/2 tsp dry red chili coarsely crushed
1 tsp of dry mango powder (amchur powder) or chaat masala
Finely chopped green chilies (optional)
Finely chopped green onions/spring onions
Chopped cilantro/coriander leaves
Salt to taste 
1 tbsp of oil
More oil for deep frying 

Feel free to add more chilies or less as per your preference. 

Preparation:

1) Soak the green gram/Moong dal for atleast 6-8 hrs. If you are short of time soak them in warm water for 4 hrs. 

2) In a deep bowl add the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, kalonji seeds, oil and salt. Mix everything well. Now start making a dough by adding little water at a time. Do not add too much water at one go. Keep on adding water until you you are able to make a soft dough. Remember the dough should not be too soft or too hard. Cover the dough with a wet cloth or a cling wrap and set it aside for 15-20mins. 

3) While the dough is resting, prepare the filling. Now you can either use the soaked moon dal directly or you can parcook it and proceed with adding the rest of the fillings. Because the dal will eventually get cooked while deep frying. I parcooked the dal this time. 

4) In a pan heat about 1 tbsp oil. Add the ginger garlic paste, crushed coriander seeds, red chilli flakes, turmeric pwd, cumin pwd, amchur pwd or chaat masala and the parcooked moong dal/green gram. Saute for few 1 -2 mins. Add the boiled potatoes, salt to taste (do not add too much salt if you are adding chaat masala instead of amchur pwd) and mix thoroughly. Close the pan and let it cook for 5 mins. Lastly add the chopped green onion, cilantro and green chilies (optional).  Set this mixture aside to cool down. 



5) Make small balls (the size of a table tennis ball) of the dough and start rolling it out with a rolling pin into a round shape just like a roti. I rolled them into a thin roti. Repeat the same procedure with the rest of the dough. 

6) Heat a skillet or a pan. Slight roast the rotis on both the sides. Don't roast them too much. They shouldn't have brown specs on them. This additional step helps make the samosas super crispy. 



7) Once all the rotis are roasted and cooled, cut them in the middle to get two equal halves (pictured above). Start making a cone of the halves (refer the pictures below). Make a paste of all purpose flour and water. Use this paste to stick and secure the cone. 



8) Start to fill the cone with the stuffing. Add as much as you can but do not overfill. Else you will not be able to seal the ends and the edges. Once the cone is filled, apply the all purpose flour paste inside the ends and seal it. 



9) Repeat this procedure with the rest of the cones. 

10) Heat enough oil on a medium flame in a pan to deep fry the samosas. Please note that the oil should not be too hot or else the samosas will burn the moment they are put inside the pan. 

11) Fry the samosas for few minutes until both the sides are nice golden brown in color. Prepare a dish with paper towels. Remove the samosas, and place them on the plate. The paper towels will help drain any excess oil. And thats it you are done. 



Serve piping hot samosas with your favorite green chutney or ketchup. 

Enjoy and happy cooking. 

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