Book of Yum

Whir the dry ingredients together in a food processor and then add the liquid ingredients. Let it combine together for a few minutes and then take off the lid. The dough won’t have come together in a ball on its own, but see if it clumps together nicely when you squeeze it into a clump with your hand. If not, add a little more shortening or water until you get a workable texture.

*Make sure to check out blog post for step-by-step photos of the next steps*
Take the dough out of the processor and shape six to eight balls and place them in a bowl. You can either roll out each dough circle with a rolling pin, OR (and this is my preference) use a tortilla press. Either way, take a freezer safe gallon ziploc bag and cut out the sides. If you’ll be using a tortilla press, cut it around the edges (keeping it a square) to make it fit the press. Make your dough into eight to ten balls- big enough to make one small tortilla shaped round of dough. Press or roll out one circle of dough. DO NOT remove it from the ziploc bag. The dough is delicate and will require careful handling, but I have a trick for dealing with it and creating beautiful samosas. Peel off the top half of the ziploc bag, leaving the bottom of the round still attached to the bag. Pick it up in your left hand (if right handed) UNDERNEATH the bag (so you are not actually touching any dough. Curve the Bag GENTLY so the dough is shaped almost like a fried, curved taco. DO NOT remove it from the bag yet! Take a large spoon and put a spoonful of filling inside the “taco” in the center and then gently continue folding over the dough to complete the samosa shape. Press the edges of the samosa together (through the ziploc) and then CAREFULLY begin peeling off the ziploc side, now wrapped around the samosa. Continue crimping as necessary (the middle part is the hardest.) You can now carefully move the sealed samosa to your baking sheet. Don’t move it around, though!

Make all the rest of your samosas, following the same procedure. Just re-use that same ziploc bag for the whole batch! In fact, if you’re making a second batch or the Chebe you can use it for those two, but once you use it for Chebe (with egg!) it must be thrown out after use. Cut some cute little lines into the dough to let the steam come out. Spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Bake the samosas for 20-25 minutes or until they look golden brown and the bottom is medium golden brown. Turn over the samosas and bake them for five more minutes or until they look (and taste) as crunchy as you want.

Serve with yogurt or cucumber raita if you want to be fancy.