Samosas are one of those foods that are easy to buy but fun to make at home, even if they are a little labor intensive. You just have to put yourself in the mindset of it being a compliment that the dish you spent forever working on gets gobbled up in seconds. They’re universally popular, and can be filled with all kinds of yummy ingredients – tandoori chicken, keema, or fluffy potatoes. These particular ones have a mixture of chickpeas, carrots and peas that are lightly spiced and delicious with chutneys.
Since these were for our Ms Marvel menu, I made some very cute little lightning bolts for the outside of some of the samosas. I had no idea how they’d turn out – I’d made samosas before but this part was a pure experiment. I colored the dough for the lightning bolts yellow with turmeric which turned out to be wholly unnecessary as they got nice and toasty brown; they looked great regardless!
Chickpea, Carrot and Pea Samosas
Adapted from Jasmine in Her Hair by Huma Saddiqi
For the dough
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon nigella seeds (kalonji, or black seed)
- 2 tablespoons flavorless oil
- 1/4 cup warm water
Whisk together flour, salt, nigella seeds, and oil to sandy crumbs. Pour in water, and form into a ball. Knead on a floured surface until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Set aside in a bowl covered with a damp towel.
For the filling
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 1/2 cup peas
- 1-2 tablespoons flavorless oil
- 3 green onions, sliced, white and green divided
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili
- salt to taste
Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Add chickpeas and carrots and simmer until carrots are soft. Add peas and cook another minute, then drain and rinse with cold water.
Meanwhile, heat oil and gently saute the whites of the onions. Add cumin, coriander, and red chili and cook for a minute until fragrant. Add in the drained chickpeas, carrots, and peas and cook until mixture is fairly dry. Transfer to a food processor and pulse, scraping down the sides, until mixture is combined but not homogenous and still has lots of texture.
To assemble samosas
- Several inches of oil for frying
Heat oil on medium in a pot or wok (I like using a wok, you get more surface area and need less oil).
Optional, pinch off a piece of the dough to use for lightning bolts. I colored this with turmeric, but I’ll skip this step next time as it gets browned too much to tell. Divide remaining dough into 12 balls. Keep them on a plate covered with a damp towel so they don’t dry out while you work.
Roll each ball out to about 6 inches and slice down the center so you have two semicircles. Fold the sides of the semicircle to the center of the curved side to form a triangle, and seal with water. Hold the dough in your hand to make a cone, and fill with a spoon or two of the filling. Roll the open side together and seal with water. You can reshape your samosa to a triangle at this point. (And if this all sounds crazy, watch this video at about 9:30 for folding technique).
Fry in batches, turning, until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Serve hot with green chutney, tamarind chutney, yogurt, or ketchup!
Check out the whole Ms Marvel Menu
See more of the The Comic Vault’s Comic Kitchen
Photo credit: Jonathan Hartzell