Geez, I was craving samosas today... the whole walk with my dog Mamushka it was all I could think about, wondering where's the best store in the area. Yet I was craving specific ones, those my friend Paul brought me from Port Shepstone when I still lived in KwaZulu-Natal, with real mince - not soy - and lots of fresh coriander leaves.
Eventually I figured it can't be rocket science; that I should try to make myself a whole batch instead. I've never done it before, but how hard could it be? And so I drove to the shop in search of filo pastry and fresh coriander and then I'd simply improvise... some experimental cooking, yay, my favourite! Yesterday it was a lemon poppy cake, today it would be samosas!
So my plan was simple; get dough, fry up onions and mince with the right spices, stuff and fold triangles and cook it as usual. Apparently the secret is grinding the mince three times, so naturally the onions had to be finer too. Got out the old mincer but I don't think it's working parts were made to mince minced meat again, rather just chunks of meat. So I had to forget about that.
Next up I concocted my own masala (from what I've read every family has their own secret recipe), and teamed that up with the holy trinity - ginger, garlic and chilli. Besides that, I also added additional ground coriander, lemon juice for a bit of tart, salt to taste and fresh coriander for that magic I was looking for.
I fried up the onions in butter, added the chilli and spices, then cooked the mince in that. Last but not least I stirred in the lemon juice.
Then I had to wait for that to cool down so I could chop the fresh coriander fine too and stir it through. Only then would the folding bit start. I started to suspect that I started a bit late, so would probably only get to the actual eating bit much later... Couldn't wait though, the mince as is, was already hitting the spot for me, to be honest.
Okay, I won't lie, the folding part was as time consuming as I suspected it would be - not hard, just needed a bit more patience - and initially took me about a minute per samosa, till I got the hang of things, after which it went faster. It took about one heaped teaspoon of filling per samosa, and I made a simple glue from flour and water to paste the ends down, which worked perfectly.
Figured I'd first make a small batch and fry it up in a shallow pan with not much oil, like I learned during my stay in KwaZulu-Natal, just to taste it. I teamed them up with double-cream yoghurt and spring onions. Just before sunset, I had my first bite. The verdict?
Sheer perfection and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I fell in love - they were by far the best samosas I've ever had, even better than the ones I craved! Like most things cooked at home, just always better than the store-bought version. I'd recommend improvising with this a bit and also giving it a bash. Absolutely worth every cent and minute spent.
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