July 3, 2008

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
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
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!

33 comments:

FH said...

Beautiful Samosas JZ! I bought Wonton wraps last week to make Samosas too, still in the fridge!:D
Enjoy all the awards, you deserve those and more. Hugs and kisses to you. Have a blast on the 4th, looking forward to next week's treats!:))
Oh, thanks for my new award too!

A_and_N said...

Hi JZ, first off, congrats on all your awards :)

The samosas look really tempting! I have never worked with Wanton paper before. How do you handle it before and (if applicable) after deep frying the samosas?

Thanks for the recipe!

Illatharasi said...

Yummy Samosas.... Now I have to go and look for wanton wrappers;

Congrats for all your awards!!! You really deserve them!

And thanks for the bear hug... I can feel you in it ;)

Have a great weekend!!!!

Srikitchen said...

samosas are loking too good... thanks for passing ur award to me...

Veda said...

ADD ONE MORE TO YOUR AWARDS GALORE....

C MY BLOG

http://iyengarskitchen.blogspot.com

BEST REGARDS,

VEDA

ranji said...

oh wow!!! what a beautiful award...thank u thanku thank u thank u...u have given a gr8 start to my day :)..its really sweet of u..i am really happy to have formed a gr8 frienship bond with u...enjoyed chatting with u too :).
samosas look awesome..nothing can go wrng thr...its an all time fav of mine...

Sujatha said...

Making samosas is one thing that haunts me as I always mess up.. Wonton wrappers sound so cool and promising! Great idea, JZ!

Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Deep Thought said...

Cant we call them smart samosas, with no need to knead....have never used wonton wrappers....

Enjoy all your awards...and have a wonderful weekend.

And thanks for my awards, from the bottom of my heart.....*wink*

Unknown said...

Crispy samosas sounds great.Jz thanks a lot for the giant bear hug.Oh I am so overwhelmed by it.Hugs to you as well.

Laavanya said...

Wonton wrappers do make for a great covering for samosas.. They look fabulous JZ!
Congrats on all your awards.. :)
Have a great weekened ahead.

Cham said...

Congrats on ur awards galore :) Here my big warm hug for u Dear, thank you! I make it with wonton wrap or spring roll wrap, The wrap stays more crispy! Ha u re tempting me again ...

Sig said...

Those are some tasy looking samosas JZ.... Love the idea of using wonton wrappers for these...

Congrats on all the awards, you have been piling them on, haven't you? :)Thank you for mine too... Hugs and have a great 4th of July weekend!

Sum Raj said...

beautifulk and crunchy samosa for a tea snack....congrates on all ur awards..

Rachel said...

Wonton wrappers for samosas..nice..they look so crisp..
Congrats on all those awrds!!!

Mansi said...

wow, u r floating in awards:) congrats, for u totaly deserve then! and thanks for thinking about my blog...appreciate the gesture!:)

Sagari said...

beautifullll samosasss

Unknown said...

Crispy samosas.I made mutton samosas with this wrappers.Making samosas never been so easy.

Thanks alot for passing the award,MEANS ALOT.It is great to have a friendship without seeing eachother, knowing eachother only through their food and writings.Glad to have a few friends like you.I really appreciate this.Hugs to you and have a blast on 4th.

Unknown said...

JZ , samosas look absolutely crispy and tasty:) I wish I could prepare such yummy snacks:) My samosas are not that crispy or flaky. I wish they were. I think the secret behind the crispy and flakiness is wonton wrappers, maybe i will try it out with them next time i make these yummies:) Congrats on your award !

Chef Jeena said...

I love samosas and yours look so good! Potato and pea filling is just totally delicious.

Dori said...

That's an awesome idea, I will give this a try next time!!! Congratulations on the awards!!!

vandana rajesh said...

great samosas jz and congrats on all the awards

Sia said...

i to use wonton sheets as samosa warappers since it saves lot of time:) they look delisious JZ...
and congrats on the awards dearie and thank you. and how could i have missed ur 100th post!! hearty congratulations and wishing u many more yrs of happy blogging :)

Rajitha said...

yummers!! looove samosas..i am sure teh wonton wrappers would have made it taste like the onion samosas we used to get in hyd!..congrats on all the awards and thanks for passing it on to me too girl..appreciate it :)

Sailaja said...

Delicious Samosas. Congrats on your awards.

Hetal said...

I have a treat for you in my blog,check it out..

EC said...

Delicious samosas....Congrats on the awards

@the_whisk_affair said...

hehe asha! hope u had a great weekend! and thanks for the hugs and kisses, hope you wudve made the samosas by now! ;-)

Hi A&N, theres nothing to using wonton wrappers. Just take a single rectangle (which wud be the right size), fill it as explained, seal it using flour paste and fry and enjoy!!

Thanks Illatharasi, Srilekha and Veda!

Love your friendship too, Ranji!!

Thanks Sujatha, wishing you a great weekend too!

Yeah, Nimma, no need to knead ;-) Hope you are having a great time!!

Thanks Pearlsofeast and Laavanya! Hugs to you too!!

Glad I could tempt you Cham! Thanks to you and Sig for your wonderful comments!

Thanks Suma, Rachel and Mansi!

I appreciate your comments Sagari, Maheswari and Roopa!! Maheswari, I sure do reciprocate the feeling! Roopa, the samosas wont turn out falky with wonton wrappers, but they sure were crisp!

Thanks Jeena, Meeso and Vandana!

Thanks a lot for the wishes Sia, and I am glad you could catch up :-)

Thanks a lot Rajitha, Sailaja, Hetal and EC!!

Anonymous said...

Those look appetizing! Never tried making samosas using wonton wraps till now. Thnx for sharing..

www.zaiqa.net

Andhra Flavors said...

Wow samosa! my altime fav. food:)
good entry.

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

samosas look yummy!!

Trupti said...

Samosas looks very delicious and wonderful JZ. Congrats on all well deserve awards and thank you very much for passing this new award to me.

@the_whisk_affair said...

Thanks Mona, AF, MK and Trupti! :-)

Sunshinemom said...

Hey! I forgot to congratulate you! Congrats! Those samosas look delectable, and yummy presentation as always:)