MINCED MEAT SAMOSA (KHEEMA SAMOSA)

Kheema samosa or minced meat samosa is a very delicious type of samosa commonly prepared in the North Arcot district of Tamil Nadu. Here there are several layers of dough on top of each other and the samosa is usually stuffed with minced meat (kheema) filling. As a result these samosas are crunchy on the exterior and spicy and soft in the interior. These delicious Kheema samosas are a must have during festivals and parties and no Ramadan iftar party is complete without this. Kheema samosa can also be had for breakfast or as a snack. It is so tasty as it is that you do not need a chutney or side dish to accompany it. Since it is fried it is not for the diet conscious. And yes it does take some time to prepare it. But this is one dish you will surely not want to miss!! 

This recipe makes 18 to 20 samosas.

Ingredients

For the samosa

2 cups wheat flour or All purpose flour/ Maida
¼ tsp salt
6 tsp oil

For the minced meat filling

200 gms Minced meat (kheema)( Minced meat is readily available in the market, if not take 200gms of boneless mutton pieces and grind it coarsely).
1 big onion chopped
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp ginger paster
2 tomatoes pureed
1 cardamom
1 cinnamon
¼ tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp chilli powder
½ tsp Salt
Coriander and mint leaves
½ cup water

Method

Take a bowl and add salt, flour, and 4 tsp oil. Mix well, then add water little by little and knead to make a smooth and firm dough. Add the remaining oil and knead again for a few minutes. Close a lid and set this aside for ½ an hour.

Meanwhile, in a pressure cooker, heat oil then add cardamom, cinnamon and chopped onions, sauté till they are golden in colour. Then add garlic paste, ginger paste and cook for some time. Then add tomato paste, red chilli powder, salt and minced meat. Mix well and cook for some time. Finally add water, coriander and mint leaves. Mix well and close the lid. Cook for 10 minutes. Then transfer to a pan and add lemon juice and bring the gravy to a boil. The gravy will start thickening. Cook in a low flame for 5 minutes. When the gravy is slightly dry, switch off the gas and allow it to cool.

Now take the dough, and divide it into four equal balls. As you can see from the pics, the dough did not need any flour to prevent it from sticking. The dough should be this firm but yet easy to roll.

Take 1 ball and roll such that you get a large circle of about 9” diameter. (Make sure that the thickness remains the same throughout). Apply oil over the entire surface and dust it slightly with flour. Then make lines with a knife.

Then place the strips on top of each other as shown making sure that there are 5 to 6 layers on top of each other (depending on the thickness of each layer). Now cut small squares and set aside. You will now have 5 to 6 layers in each pile. Use the same procedure to make layers of squares using the rest of the dough. Once all of them are ready, take one, and roll it into a square. (Do not press tightly). Roll all the dough mountains and keep ready.

Next place 1 tbsp of the filling at the centre of each square, apply some water mixed with flour at the edges. (For this dissolve 1 tbsp of wheat flour in 2 tbsp of water and apply a small amount of this at the edges of every samosa). Carefully close to form a triangle, making sure that the stuffing does not come out. Once the samosas are filled and ready, heat oil in a frying pan. Add a small piece of dough to the oil, if it rises to the surface, then oil is ready. Now deep fry the samosas in oil 2 at a time till golden brown in colour. Turn it once or twice till the samosas are even coloured and golden brown. It will take less than 2 minutes to cook one set.

Transfer to a large bowl with tissue paper to remove excess oil. Do the same thing with the rest of the samosas. Serve hot.

Tips

• Using Maida will give a more crunchy samosa than wheat flour, but you can use any of the two according to your preference.
• It is always better to have two people working together to make samosa to ease out the cooking process and save time. One person can do the rolling and frying part while the other can do the stuffing and sealing.
• If you are cooking alone, then it is better to roll only 10, fill the stuffing, apply the flour-water mix, close the samosa and keep the entire 10 ready for deep frying in oil. Once the 10 samosas are cooked, you can switch off the gas, prepare the next batch, heat oil and deep fry the samosas.
• Make sure that the dough is not sticky and is firm.
• While rolling one piece of dough keep the rest covered as they might dry out and develop cracks on rolling.
• After making the dough mountains and rolling each one of them, do not stack it on top of each other, use 2 to 3 plates to keep the rolled dough.
• Oil should be at the right temperature, so adjust the temp of oil as necessary. If it is at a low temp, the samosas will soak more oil and would become soggy whereas very high heat will turn the samosas to dark brown in colour and it might not be properly cooked.