Quick and Crisp Samosas and an awards galore!

I hope the title is catchy enough for all of you to check out these quick and easy samosas. The easy part of making the samosas came from using wonton wrappers to enclose the filling in. As some of you might know, I recently have now gone crazy making all kinds of Chinese food at home. So with no recipe in mind, I had bought a packet of wonton wrappers. It sat in the refrigerator for a few days before I thought of improvising with them. Two days before, I suddenly felt like making samosas and thought the wrappers would make excellent outer dough layer. And my hunch wasnt deceiving at all. They tasted awesome, not to mention crispy and easy!! I had promised JM some samosas a few weeks before (only got around to making them now!) and we enjoyed it with much delight! Finished up all the samosas in a short time. I should give a special mention to the one lil samosa that my lil girl ate happily! So if you have some wonton wrappers, put it to good use by making Indo-Chinese samosas! :-)

Recipe ( Made 15 medium samosas) :

Wonton wrappers - 15

For the filling:

Golden yukon potatoes - 2, medium sized, cooked until tender

Frozen green peas - a handful

Onion - 1 small, finely chopped

Ginger - 1/2" piece, finely chopped

Serrano chili - 1, seeded and finely chopped

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Cilantro - a handful, chopped

To seal :

Corn flour mixed with a bit of water to form a thick paste.

Method:

Peel the cooked potatoes and chop half of them finely, mash the other half. Keep aside.

Heat some oil in a kadai and sizzle the cumin seeds until fragrant.

Toss in the ginger and green chilies and saute until fragrant.

Add the finely chopped onion and saute until tender and light brown.

Mix in the frozen peas until heated through.

Add the garam masala, coriander powder and turmeric powder.

Saute until the spices are no longer raw.

Transfer the peas mixture to the mashed/chopped potato mixture.

Toss in the chopped cilantro and season with salt.

Mix well until the potato mixture comes together.

Keep aside to cool.

Take a wonton wrapper and place about a tablespoon of mixture diagonally at about the middle of the wrapper.

Apply the cornflour paste along the edge, and fold diagonally. (We will get triangular samosas).

Press the edges to seal well.

Repeat until the potato mixture is used up.

Heat oil in a deep wok or sauce pan and fry the samosas until golden brown on both sides(which would take just a minute or so once the oil is hot).

Serve hot with ketchup or chutneys.

Tips:

1. I pressure cooked the potatoes cut in half on high heat for 4 whistles, then immediately switched it off. (I have no patience otherwise).
2. Instead of cumin seeds, you can also use cumin powder.
3. I used medium wonton wrappers. They are perishable, so be sure to refrigerate the extra wrappers. The wrappers were not exactly sqaure, so I didnt get exact triangles.

I've been lucky enough to receive several awards this week, from my dear foodie friends. It is an immense please to receive these awards because it truly act as the encouragement that you need to spread more and more delectable treats in front of you all. When the awards get more and more personal, the enjoyment and the meaning associated with it is increased multi-fold.

Such were the awards that I received from Maheswari of Beyond the Usual and Vani of Illatharasi. I dont have words to express my happiness and love towards them and also to each and every person that I am passing these on to because all of you have treated me with such love, encouragement and care. I still cannot believe I am part of such an elite group of talented bloggers! It feels good to know that I am considered to be a dear friend by people whom I have never met in person, but only through blogs. It is again an honor to be a recipient of these wonderful awards and I thank both of them sincerely!

The first award is the Yum-Yum award I received from Maheswari of Beyond the Usual. She also bestowed upon my blog, the Giant Bear Hug, the second award. I feels good to know that I came to her mind while passing on these awards.

I would like to pass the Yum-yum award to (and I know none of you would disagree),

Sunita of Sunita's world

Sia of Passionate about Life and Spice

Sig of Live to Eat

Rajitha of Hunder pangs

Mansi of Fun and Food

I would like to pass on the bear hug to,

Vani of Illatharasi

Cham of Spice-club

Srilekha of Me and My Kitchen

Trupti of Recipe Center

Pearlsofeast of Anyone Can Cook

The third award I received is from Vani of Illatharasi. It is a beautiful award - a great concept - "The Award Of Friendship." Vani is a relatively new friend of mine, who has been a regular visitor from the day we got acquainted! She never forgets to leave her opinions and is a constant encouragement to me! I am glad Vani, to know that you think of me as a dear friend and that you find my blog entertaining.

To quote her "I met her in Great cooks blogroll. Because of her sign 'JZ' I thought she would be an american. After my visit to her blog, I realized that she is from South India. I got fascinated by her recipes, especially her presentation skill. Thanks JZ for being my friend and continue your creativity :)". Thanks again.

I would like to pass these onto some of the bloggers - a couple of whom I've grown to be friends with on a much more personal level.

Bhags of Crazy Curry

Ranji of Ranji's Kitchen Corner

Asha of Foodie's Hope

Maheswari of Beyond the Usual

Again, as per the rules I have mentioned only a few of you, but anyone is welcome to accept these awards. I am offering these from the bottom of my heart! I will be doing Divya's 6 quirks tag shortly. Maheswari had also tagged me for a meme, you can read it here.

Have a great 4th Of July weekend. I will be back next week with more tasty treats from the Tasty treats kitchen! Enjoy and have a blast!