Chicken Samosas..

This is one of the Ramazan specialities, samosas filled with meat. It is made completely by hand but feel free to replace with ready made wrappers such as spring roll wrappers, samosa wrappers or puff pastry sheets (Bake it as per the instructions on the box if you use puff pastry to make chicken puff). Ground meat(chicken or beef) is not recommended for samosas as it changes the texture. Chicken can be made either by pressure cooking, or by just cooking the boneless pieces in the spices and mash it up for a shredded texture. Also, the quantity of onions to meat is a personal preference. Increase or decrease as you like.
If you have any leftover grilled or fried chicken or chicken dry curry , u could add onions and chilies and make the filling masala.  The filling should be dry for the samosa to hold together.


For meat filling (makes about 24 samosas)
Chicken Boneless -1 lbs (use thigh pieces if u get it)
Ginger -1/2 inch long piece
Garlic -3 cloves
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Roasted Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
Red chili powder -1 tsp(more or less as needed)
Black pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
Fennel powder -1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
For Sautéing:
Onions –4 medium ones
Small green chilies 6-8
Curry leaves- A handful chopped fine
Oil- 2 tbsp
Preparation:
1. Clean and cut the chicken into small pieces. Grind ginger, green chilies and garlic into a paste. Mix everything with the chicken, including the spice powders and leaves.
2. In a pressure cooker, add the marinated meat and let it cook uncovered for 5 minutes. No need to add any oil at this stage. When the meat starts releasing its excess water, place the lid and let it cook for just enough time for one whistle. 
Take it off the flame and open after the steam is fully released. If there is excess gravy, simmer uncovered on high heat for 5-10 minutes to evaporate it. Since chicken cooks fast, you could even cook it in a pan, on medium heat for 10-12 minutes. Cover the pan initially for about 4 minutes to ensure even cooking inside.

When the chicken cools down, shred it into small pieces. If you are using bone-in chicken, remove from bone and shred it. Mostly the chicken would fall apart while stirring after the pressure cooking.
3. Meanwhile, chop the onions, green chilies and curry leaves into very fine pieces.
 4. Heat the oil, and sauté the cut onions, shreddded curry leaves, chilies and shredded chicken (no liquid) on medium high heat till it looks dry and slightly separated. This should take about 10 minutes depending on the quantity. Keep stirring to avoid the mix from sticking to the base. When the mix cools down, the filling is ready.
P.S.If onions were cut by the chopper, it becomes a bit moister so the frying time increases.

The wrapper for the Malabar Samosas are traditionally handmade and are not as crisp/flaky as those of the North Indian potato samosas. Still, the same filling can be used with store bought samosa wrappers too. The traditional style is explained below.

The steps for making the wrapper are the same as that for meat samosas..reprinting this as I had blogged it earlier.
For the wrapper dough:
1 1/2 cup wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt and 2 tsp oil.

5. Make the dough the same way as for Triangular paratha. The dough should be hard but pliable else it would be difficult to roll it out. Cover with plastic wrap and keep aside for at least 15 minutes. Divide into even sized balls...about the size of a medium lemon.
6. Roll it out evenly till about 7-8 inch in diameter (Ah yes; now we need a measuring tape while cooking). Cut it into four quarters as shown.

Disclaimer: The following steps are for the truly uninitiated and are prone to misinterpretation. Still I will try and explain as well as I can. If you already know how to do it, just go ahead and make the samosas.

7. Take one quarter and revolve it along the curved edge till the two ends meet. Spread a drop of water along the edge and seal it to make a cone as shown. Now fill with 2 tsp of filling (or less). Wet the remaining flap and turn it over and seal over the cone. Now repeat and make more till you get tired. The filling can be kept in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

8. Heat about 1 ½ cups of oil in a wok or deep frying pan. When it is quite hot, reduce the heat to medium. Slide 4-5 samosas one by one, taking care not to plop it in. Turn over once immediately, and fry for 2 minutes on each side. Fry it like a puri. Turn over and fry the other side till golden flecks appear. It takes about 3 -5 minutes to fry one batch. Drain and serve hot.

This is my entry for the ongoing Ramazan event..fasting to feasting hosted by Kitchen Flavors.