Fiesta Samosas !

 

 Makes 8 samosas

 

Fiesta Samosas  are samosas that are made with tortillas. They enable you to make samosas on a whim ! My beloved mom came up with this idea almost 30 years ago ! I was thrilled to use ready made tortillas instead of kneading and rolling the dough to make the pastry. Little wonder then that this, time and labor saving recipe, has stuck with me ever since.

Friday evening meals in our home are ‘our favorite appetizers, snacks and street food ‘meals. I think Fridays are the best part of the weekend. They hold the promise of two entire days to look forward to. These samosas being one of our favorites, made their way to the Friday table quite often.

I am told that the word Samosa comes from the Sanskrit word Samabhuja, sama means equal and bhuja means sides. My son and his friends love these tetrahedral samosas too, so he reminded me to post this recipe today. Wow! I remembered the word tetrahedral? Perhaps this mom can impress her son that she still recalls the hours spent making those polyhedral paper shapes with him years ago…ha ha ….just hoping I have used the word correctly here:)

To me, it makes perfect sense to have the Fiesta Samosas on a Friday! Plus posting my son’s favored Samosas the same week that I posted my daughter’s ultimate comfort food recipe for The Rice Bowl with Potato Curry, proves that I am not favoring one child over the other 🙂

For the Fiesta Samosas–

•  For the filling-The filling is the same as the one I used in the Samosa Triangle except I used 1/2 cup of mixed  frozen peas and carrots, instead of just frozen peas. Prepare the filling and let it cool to room temperature. The filling can be made the day before and refrigerated too.
• For the samosa  cover-
• 4 flour tortillas- I used Mission burrito( 8 inch) flour tortillas
• 1/8 cup wheat or all purpose flour mixed with water to form a paste which will act as ‘glue’. I used whole wheat flour because it was handy.
• Canola oil to deep fry the samosas

To serve-

• Store bought Tamarind date chutney and the Green chutney

Here is the easy step by step-

1. Cut the tortillas in half with kitchen shears or a knife. Working with 2 tortillas (4 halves) at a time, place them on a microwaveable plate and microwave on high for 20 seconds to make them pliable.

   

    

2. Working with one tortilla half at a time, make a cone and pack in about 4 heaped teaspoons of the filling
3. I leave about 1/2 inch on top of the filling to fold the tortillas over and close the samosa.
4. Use the flour paste along the vertical edge of the cone  (right vertical side in this picture above)to seal the two layers of the tortilla. Now seal the top as shown below applying the flour paste between the two flaps of the tortilla.

 

5. Set is aside on a lightly greased plate.  Having made these samosas so many times (yes they are a favorite!) I make one within a few seconds so I don’t cover the other 3 semi circles of tortillas that I microwaved with this one. The samosas are super easy to make. If not,e would I be making them so often ? But when you are starting out and want more time playing with the tetrahedral;) shape, cover the other 3 tortilla semi circles with a damp paper towel. Repeat steps 2to 5 with the other 3 semi circles of tortillas.

6. Similarly, repeat steps 1 to 5 with the other two tortillas. Makes 8 Fiesta Samosas.

7. To deep fry the Fiesta Samosas, heat the oil and reduce the heat between medium to low. On my electric stovetop, I reduced the heat to 3  when the range on the knob  goes from 1 to 6. The key in making these samosas golden brown and crispy is to fry them on low heat for about 5 to 6 minutes, turning them once or twice so they cook evenly.

Serve with the green and sweet and sour tamarind date chutney! The Fiesta Samosas can be reheated in an oven  if you have any leftover, that is!

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you enjoy the Fiesta Samosas as much as we do! I am posting this recipe to Fiesta Friday at The Novice Gardner. This is my first time posting to Fiesta Friday and I am super excited! Thank you Angie for a wonderful party idea and thanks to Hilda at Along the Grapevine  and  Chefjulianna at Foodie on Board  for graciously hosting this fiesta! And thank you for including me in this fun party!

Love,

Sandhya