Samosa Chaat: The Healthy Way!

When you are a glutton on a diet like yours truly and her husband, you look for ways to make your food interesting without being guilty of crimes of the dieting world. We were craving some samosa chaat last evening and therefore decided to make some. I have used minimal oil and have baked the samosas in lieu of frying.



SAMOSA

Ingredients:

For the coating:
2 cup plain flour (maida)
Water for mixing.
1 tsp oil
Pinch of baking powder
Salt to mix

Mix flour, baking powder, oil and salt. Then add water to make a stiff dough. Let it stand for half an hour.

For the filling:
3 potatoes
½ cup green peas (cooked)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds powder
1 tsp carom (ajwain) powder
1 tsp fennel seeds powder (saunf)
1-2 tsp oil
Red chilli powder as per your taste/tolerance, I added 1 tsp.
1 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Juice of one lemon
1 tsp of Kasuri Meethi (dried fenugreek leaves)

(I purposely abstained from adding onions or garlic to see if the taste is compromised and found that it isn't).

Heat oil in the kadhai (wok), add the cumin seeds to the hot oil. Once the oil is heated, set the stove on low then add the cooked peas, potatoes, and sauté it on low heat. Add the above-mentioned spices and get if off the stove. Then add the lemon juice over it and mash it.

Method:
Take the above-mentioned dough and divide it into 3” diameter balls. Roll the dough out consistently into about 8”-10” diameter slightly elliptical in shape. Cut through the center to divide it into two crescents. Take one crescent and join the straight ends to make a cone. Keep a bowl of cold water. Dip your fingers into the cold water and run your fingers on one of the edges. This will seal both the straight edges. Fill the shell with the mashed filling and seal the edges with water, as explained above. The samosa should be able to stand!

Baking:
Pre-heat the oven to 400 F then lower the temperature at 300 F at the time of setting the tray of samosas (in the center rack) for baking. It takes around 50 minutes to perfectly brown the samosas. I would recommend setting the kitchen timer at 25 minutes and then checking the oven at the end of it to turn the samosas over and then leave it for another 25 minutes.

The baking powder does the trick as the samosa shell doesn’t turn out to be chewy.

CHOLE

Ingrediants:
1-2 small onions finely chopped
2 tsp of ginger garlic paste
1 can of chickpeas (Normally I soak chickpeas overnight but since this was a last minute craving hence canned chickpeas)
1 cup tomato puree
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp cumin and coriander powder
1-2 tsp chole masala (readymade)
½ tsp home made garam masala (Optional)

Method:
Heat 2 tsp oil in a wok, add a pinch of asafetida (for digestion). Saute the onions until they are pink. Add the ginger-garlic paste and the tomato puree. Add red chilli powder. Add the chole and the masala’s to the mixture and mix it well. Add salt to taste. Set it on medium to low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The idea being that it should be sauce-like for the samosa chat.

Garnish this with chopped onions, a dollop of yogurt and fresh cilantro leaves and serve it with mint chutney and date-tamarind chutney to the side.

BON APPETIT!