Mango Ginger Samosas

I like breaking rules.

I learned very early on that I needed to veer off the prescribed path in order to learn who I am and what I really want. As a kid, I would meticulously color within the lines, only to purposely smudge the color outside the borders at the last minute to make it my own. Don’t get me wrong – I believe rules are important. But I also believe that you have to break your own rules once in a while to step outside your comfort zone; to learn something about yourself and to show yourself that you’re still the one in control.

That’s why I love the Indian festival, Holi: a day of sanctioned anarchy. And this year, I celebrated by cooking something a little out of the ordinary: mango ginger samosas.

Holi is a boisterous Hindu festival of colors that is celebrated across India in March. It marks the beginning of Spring and celebrates the victory of good over evil by commemorating the destruction of the demoness, Holika. To celebrate, you’re encouraged to abandon all your inhibitions and greet friends and strangers by splashing them with brightly colored powder or water.

Many of us wear white clothes to let the colors show more vividly and we’re all excited to be a kid again for a day. I remember, as a child, my friends and I would go to school with green ears or orange arms and we’d all know that we had “played Holi” well. This is an incredibly fun holiday, as you can see from the picture above of my niece, Safia, taken by my brother.

I’ve always loved the decadence of this day. The festivities include parties, dancing under water sprinklers and, for some, consuming Bhang – a drink made from the cannabis plant. The air is filled with beautiful kaleidoscopes of color, bonfires are lit and large amounts of traditional foods are eaten, including everyone’s favorite: samosas.

Samosas are savory, triangular, fried pockets of dough that are often filled with spiced potatoes and peas or ground meat. However, in the spirit of the holiday, I was eager to try something unexpected – a dessert samosa.

As I often do, I called my Mum to brainstorm about the various ingredients I was toying with to fill my version of a sweet samosa. It quickly became clear with every “Anji, it’s just not done” that I was definitely breaking some rules. I couldn’t tell if she was annoyed at me for laughing every time she said it, or if she really didn’t like the idea of a sweet samosa. Determined, I started to experiment with ingredients and fell in love with one combination. I replaced the spiced potatoes and peas with finely chopped mango and ginger.

Mangoes are my favorite fruit. I was drawn to them for this recipe since they make me think of India and of the many fond memories I have of mango juice streaming through my fingers, as I would eagerly bite into a slice. I added cinnamon, for its nutty warmth, and finely chopped ginger for a spicy, tangy kick.

As someone who is intimidated by all things dough or baking, I first considered using store-bought pastry dough or wonton wrappers. But I chose to stick with the theme of getting out of my comfort zone and made the dough from scratch. Surprisingly, it was extremely easy! It barely took 20 minutes. And to make these dessert samosas even more scrumptious, I paired them with my homemade chocolate sauce, instead of the customary mint chutney that accompanies savory samosas.

I’m quite sure that you and my Mum will enjoy this colorful and sweet version of a samosa just as much as I do.

Nudging you to do something unexpected,
Anjali

A printable list of ingredients and directions are at the end of this post,
along with an image of this Perfect Morsel.

Place flour in a mixing bowl. Stir in oil and mix in with your fingers. Slowly add half the water and knead the flour using your hands. Add more of the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue to knead the dough.

Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for another 5 minutes until it comes together in a smooth ball. Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.

Divide the ball of dough into 4 pieces. Place one of the pieces on a floured surface. Keep the other pieces covered for now.

Roll the piece of dough in to a circular disk and roll out dough using a rolling pin. Rotate and flip the dough after every other roll and dust with a little flour to ensure it does not stick to the flat surface.

Roll out the dough till you have a smooth paper-thin sheet of about 10 x 10 inches. Set aside and repeat with the other quarters.

Place a rolled sheet of dough on a flat surface. Cut the edges of the dough to make it a rectangle, discarding the ends.

Cut the dough into a long strips about 3 inches wide. Set aside and repeat with the other sheets.

For the dough paste, stir together flour and water. This will be used to glue the ends of the samosa together after they have been rolled.

Using a sharp knife, cut along the sides of the pit of mango creating 3 pieces – 2 halves and middle section with the pit. Either scoop the mango out of its skin using a spoon, or score the mango using a knife and then scoop the mango out. Finely chop the mango pieces but do not puree.

Place mango pieces in a bowl. Add finely chopped ginger and cinnamon powder, and stir.

To assemble the samosas, place 1 tsp of the mango mixture onto the lower right corner of a strip of dough. Fold the corner over to form a triangle and continue to fold like a flag. After the 3rd fold, cut the rest of the dough from the triangle leaving enough dough for a 4th fold. Brush a small amount of dough paste onto the last fold and press together to close the samosa.

Pinch all corners of the samosas to ensure that they’re securely closed so mango does not leak out while they are being fried.

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or wok on a medium heat. Once the oil is hot, fry the samosas in batches of 4. Fry each batch for 8 minutes or until golden brown, making sure to flip the samosas half way through. TIP: Do not fry too many at the same time as you do not want the pan to be crowded and the temperature of the oil to drop.

Transfer the fried samosas to a plate lined with paper towels to drain any extra oil.

Sprinkle the samosas with sugar and serve with a side of chocolate sauce to create this perfect morsel.