Vegetable Samosa Recipe

Heirloom Eats

Family recipes are treasures passed down from one generation to the next. They bring comfort and familiarity to our tables today, just as they did to our parents’ tables, and their parents before them. Here, locals share enduring family recipes and tell us what makes them so special after all these years.

By Anna Hill  |  Photos by Sarah Unger

Sumi Patel

with her daughter, Neha Shah, and granddaughter, Uma Shah |  NorthShore

“Samosas are a celebratory dish, so we chose to honor my grandmother by sharing her recipe. Most of my memories of spending time with my grandmother (I called her Ba), were spent around food. I remember she would lay out big sheets of newspaper on the floor and sit and peel eggplant and bitter melon and grind spices from scratch in her mortar and pestle. She couldn’t read or write in either English or our native language of Gujarati, so she used her senses to work through her ‘recipes’ by tasting and smelling along the way. Her love for food and cooking has been inherited by her children and grandchildren, and we each think of her any time we eat samosas or find ourselves ‘feeling’ our way through a recipe.” – Neha Shah

Vegetable Samosas

Neha Shah

Neha Shah's grandmother's potato samosa recipe

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Course Appetizer

Cuisine Indian

Ingredients

  

• 5 Idaho potatoes peeled and cubed small
• 5 tbsp canola oil plus more for frying
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 ½ tsp ginger peeled and grated
• 1 tsp salt
• grated serrano pepper, to taste (we use 2)

Instructions

 

• To make the masala filling, heat 2 Tbsp. of canola oil in a pan. Add black pepper, then potatoes, and sauté for 5-7 minutes or until cooked; cover with a lid and stir often.
• Add ginger, salt, serrano pepper, sugar, garam masala, and lemon juice; mix thoroughly and allow spices to warm. Once warmed, put the potato mixture in a bowl and set aside.
• Heat 1 Tbsp. of canola oil in a pan and add peas; cook for 5 minutes, then add to potato mixture. Set aside.
• To make the dough, add 2 Tbsp. of canola oil to all-purpose flour. Add warm water and mix thoroughly – the dough should be the consistency of cookie dough. Separate dough into small tablespoon-sized balls and roll out into smooth tortilla-like shapes.
• To assemble the samosas, cut each circle of dough in half. Fold each half into a cone shape and fill with masala filling. Seal by twisting the top closed into small pleats. Deep-fry in canola oil until samosa is golden-brown; serve with chutney.

Notes

“Samosas are a celebratory dish, so we chose to honor my grandmother by sharing her recipe. Most of my memories of spending time with my grandmother (I called her Ba), were spent around food. I remember she would lay out big sheets of newspaper on the floor and sit and peel eggplant and bitter melon and grind spices from scratch in her mortar and pestle. She couldn’t read or write in either English or our native language of Gujarati, so she used her senses to work through her ‘recipes’ by tasting and smelling along the way. Her love for food and cooking has been inherited by her children and grandchildren, and we each think of her any time we eat samosas or find ourselves ‘feeling’ our way through a recipe.” – Neha Shah

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