The perfect Indian side dish: crispy fried and flavor packed.
Delicious, Healthy, and Easy to Freeze and Store
Indian food is one of my favorite cuisines, and samosas are probably my favorite Indian side dish. What’s not to love?
These samosas:
- Come in flakey crispy deep fried goodness
- Filled with savory filling
- Can be topped with all sorts of chutneys and toppings
Egg Roll/spring roll wrappers
This recipe relies on egg roll wrappers for the samosa shell. This is a huge time saver and guarantees a level of quality to the samosa wrapper.
In the past I have made samosa dough from scratch. Handmade dough can be quite tasty, and if you have the time you should look into it. I found pre-made egg roll wrappers to just be too easy and effective to continue making my own dough.
You can find frozen egg roll or spring roll wrappers at any Asian grocery store.
Veg Chickpea Protein Power!
The heading might be a bit dramatic, butI love to use chickpeas wherever I can, because they’re a very healthy way to add protein to food. Chickpeas have 39 grams of protein per cup, and are high in fiber, iron, and vitamins.
Plus they taste great in these samosas and add a fun texture.
Freeze them
Years ago I was spoiled and could buy large boxes of pre-frozen samosas from Costco. They were low calorie, and reheated super well. After Costco stopped stocking them, I set out to make my own.
This recipe lends itself to making large batches. It takes a fair amount of time to prep the ingredients, but once set up, you can easily make a ton of them.
You should definitely try them fresh from the fryer, but I end up freezing most of them. They reheat really well in the oven, and I include instructions in the recipe.
Goes great with Indian and other meals
If you haven’t had samosas before, you can think of them as a kind of Indian empanada. There are many filling types available. In general I serve them on the side of almost any Indian meal, and if I’m feeling lazy, they make a great meal on their own.
I always serve them with my Chicken Tikka Masala Curry.
Besides typical Indian meals, they go well with any grilled meat and rice dish.
Fun dips and toppings for Potato Chickpea Samosas
Half of the fun of these Potato Chickpea Samosas is that you can use all sorts of Chutneys, dips, and toppings with them.
Some of my favorites include:
- Dosa Chutney
- Date Chutney
- Tamarind Chutney
- Mango Chutney
- Coriander Chutney
- Sour Cream
- Farmers Cheese
- Cottage Cheese
Get creative with fillings
Potato and Chickpea Samosas are my go-to, but don’t feel limited! Some of my favorite restaurant varieties include minced meat, or a potato-chili-pea variety.
Let’s make some Potato Chickpea Samosas
If your egg roll wrappers are frozen, leave them on the counter for two hours and then move to the fridge until needed. Don’t leave them out too long or they’ll dry out.
Begin preparing the chickpeas. Place 2 cups of dry chickpeas into a pressure cooker with 8 cups of water. Pressure cook for 45 minutes on high. This should make around 4 cups of cooked chickpeas, we will end up using around 3.
If you don’t have a pressure cooker, just buy canned chickpeas. You’ll need around 2 cans.
While the chickpeas are cooking, start work on the potatoes. Start a large pot of water boiling, if you have a large enough stock pot you can boil all of the potatoes at once. Wash the potatoes and cube them. I prefer to leave my skins on. When the water boils, add the potatoes and boil them until tender.
When the potatoes are tender, strain them and add to a large mixing bowl. Mash the potatoes with a masher or other implement. Once the chickpeas are ready, strain and add them to the bowl. Add the peas blend together. Then add the spices and mix well, until the spices are mixed and the peas and chickpeas are well distributed.
Pull out your egg roll wrappers and cut them in half lengthwise. To avoid drying the wraps out, I only pull around ⅓ of them out of the fridge at a time. Prepare a small bowl of water to help seal the samosas as we work.
Fold the half-wrap kitty corner length wise. Rub water along the bottom exposed triangle of the wrap, then fold it over the top of the wrap and gently press down to make it stick.
Gently flip the wrap and open the pocket of the wrap, and spoon stuffing into the wrap. When starting a wrap, make sure some filling gets into the bottom corner. Fill the wrap to just below the top. Apply some water to the remaining flap, fold it over the top, and gently press it down.
Repeat until you’re out of wrappers or filling. I made 50 samosas in my batch.
Heat some oil to deep fry. I targeted 350F for my frying. When the oil reaches temperature, drop three to four samosas (or however many you can fit without crowding them) into oil. Flip them after a couple minutes.
When they’re golden brown and floating, pull them to a drying rack or some paper towel to soak up the excess oil.
If you’re freezing them, lay them out in pans or trays, cover, and store in the freezer. If you want to bag them to save space, I recommend freezing on sheets first, and bagging after they’re frozen. This way they won’t all stick together.
To reheat from frozen, bake at 425 for 20 to 30 minutes. Enjoy 🙂
Recipe for Potato Chickpea Samosas
Potato Chickpea Samosas
Equipment
- 1 Pressure Cooker Optional
- 1 Stock pot Larger is better
- 1 Deep fryer Or wok, or stock pot, etc.
Ingredients
- 1 package Egg Roll Wrappers or spring roll wrappers
- 5 lb Potatoes I used russets, white also works well
- 2 Cups Dried Chickpeas or 3 cups canned
- 2 Cups Frozen Peas
- 2 tsp Chana Masala
- 2 tsp Spanish Paprika (or your favorite paprika)
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 2 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tsp Turmeric
Instructions
- If your egg roll wrappers are frozen, leave them on the counter for two hours and then move to the fridge until needed. Don’t leave them out too long or they’ll dry out.
- Begin preparing the chickpeas. Place 2 cups of dry chickpeas into a pressure cooker with 8 cups of water. Pressure cook for 45 minutes on high. This should make around 4 cups of cooked chickpeas, we will end up using around 3. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, just buy canned chickpeas. You’ll need around 2 cans.
- While the chickpeas are cooking, start work on the potatoes. Start a large pot of water boiling, if you have a large enough stock pot you can boil all of the potatoes at once. Wash the potatoes and cube them. I prefer to leave my skins on. When the water boils, add the potatoes and boil them until tender.
- When the potatoes are tender, strain them and add to a large mixing bowl. Mash the potatoes with a masher or other implement. Once the chickpeas are ready, strain and add them to the bowl. Add the peas blend together. Then add the spices and mix well, until the spices are mixed and the peas and chickpeas are well distributed.
- Pull out your egg roll wrappers and cut them in half lengthwise. To avoid drying the wraps out, I only pull around ⅓ of them out of the fridge at a time. Prepare a small bowl of water to help seal the samosas as we work.
- Fold the half-wrap kitty corner length wise. Rub water along the bottom exposed triangle of the wrap, then fold it over the top of the wrap and gently press down to make it stick.
- Gently flip the wrap and open the pocket of the wrap, and spoon stuffing into the wrap. When starting a wrap, make sure some filling gets into the bottom corner. Fill the wrap to just below the top. Apply some water to the remaining flap, fold it over the top, and gently press it down.
- Repeat until you’re out of wrappers or filling. I made 50 samosas in my batch.
- Heat some oil to deep fry. I targeted 350F for my frying. When the oil reaches temperature, drop three to four samosas (or however many you can fit without crowding them) into oil. Flip them after a couple minutes.
- When they’re golden brown and floating, pull them to a drying rack or some paper towel to soak up the excess oil.
- If you’re freezing them, lay them out in pans or trays, cover, and store in the freezer. If you want to bag them to save space, I recommend freezing on sheets first, and bagging after they’re frozen. This way they won’t all stick together.
- If you’re freezing them, lay them out in pans or trays, cover, and store in the freezer. If you want to bag them to save space, I recommend freezing on sheets first, and bagging after they’re frozen. This way they won’t all stick together.