MINCED MEAT STUFFED PASTRY: SAMOSAS

BEFORE FRYING

In our home four things beside dates and a drink are a must for Iftar, these are white or black chickpeas chaat, fruit chaat, any fried item and dahi baray. The fried items consumed by us during Ramadan for iftari are Pakoray (potato, eggplant, onion, chilli, egg, tomato, or spinach), samosay, rolls, choora, fried spicy potatoes etc.

I never tried to make samosa by myself, rather helped my mom in making a filling or help her in stuffing, because I always thought that I would ruin it. But, this time I dared to go for it and luckily it turned out great, thanks to my lucky stars...:(

I made the dough for samosa and stuffed it with keema filling, you can use chicken instead of beef. Here goes my very first recipe for this Ramadan. Hope all of you would like it.

INGREDIENTS

FOR STUFFING:

400 GM MINCED MEAT
2 TBSP OIL
1 1/2 MEDIUM ONION (FINELY CHOPPED)
4 CLOVES GARLIC
1.5 CM GINGER GRATED
1 TSP GARAM MASALA
1/2 TSP TURMERIC POWDER
2 TSP CORIANDER POWDER
1 1/2 TSP CUMIN POWDER
1 TSP RED CHILLI POWDER
1/2 TSP SALT
125 ML WARM WATER
2 GREEN CHILLIES
HANDFUL OF CORIANDER LEAVES, CHOPPED

STEPS OF PREPARATION

1.Heat oil in a pan, add onion and fry till golden brown.

2.Add garlic and ginger, fry for a minute.

3.Now add minced meat and fry till it turn brownish.

4.Then add all the spices (except garam masala), mix well, add water and green chilli, cover and cook until it is dried and cooked through.

5.Sprinkle garam masala and coriander leaves, cool it.

FOR DOUGH:

1 1/2 CUP FLOUR
1/4 TSP SALT
1 TSP CARAWAY SEEDS (AJWAIN)
1/2 TSP ONION SEEDS (KALONJI)
4 TBSP GHEE
5 TBSP WATER

STEPS OF PREPARATION:

1.Sift together flour and salt, add caraway seeds and onion seeds.

2.Now add ghee 1 tbsp at a time and mix with hands well so that when all the ghee is added, flour will not remain dried but be like crumbs form.

3.Slowly and gradually, add water, mix and knead well till it become pliable and soft.

4.Gather everything and form a ball and put in a sandwich bag for 30 minutes.

5.After 30 minutes, take out divide the dough into 12 small balls and then roll a ball with a roller in a small circular disc.

6.Cut it from center with a knife into two semi circles.

7. Take one semi circle, fold the two ends, join in the center with the help of egg wash it will form a cone-shape now.

8.Stuff with 1 tbsp of filling and join the open ends with the help of egg wash.

9.Make all the samosas this way and deep fry till golden and serve hot with a chutney or dip of your choice.

AFTER FRYING

NOTE:

This is my entry to an event Joy From Fasting To Feasting by Dearest Lubna of Yummy Food.

KOFTAY, MY WAY....

Whenever my entry finds way in any of the wonderful blog event, I become so excited, read it once, twice, sometimes even thrice. Most of you must be thinking that I might have gone mad, but for a new blogger like me, it means too much. I know these things do not matter any more to those who are well established in the blogging world, may be I am wrong, it still is enough to enthrall many of you. I have always been like this, little things in life are enough to excite me...


Blogging has become a fun ride for me, cooking up food and then writing about is indeed an enjoyable thing, but sometimes writing about it is what takes more time. My daughter who is 11 months old keeps me busy whole day. She is walking with support these days and tries to explore every corner of our apartment with her tiny feet. Her favourite spot is the kitchen although we blocked the entrance with too many things, still she finds her way. Sometimes, I wonder what amuse them so much. Anyways I planned to publish this post yesterday but couldnt get time to complete it, so posting it today.



KOFTAY: (MEAT BALL WITH PEAS AND BELL PEPPER)



INGREDIENTS FOR MEATBALL

1/2 LB MINCED MEAT
2-3 TBSP ROASTED CHICK PEA FLOUR (BESAN)
1 MEDIUM ONION (FINELY CHOPPED)
3-4 SMALL GREEN CHILLI
2 TBSP GINGER/GARLIC PASTE
SALT TO TASTE
1 TSP RED CHILLI POWDER
1 TSP TURMERIC POWDER
2 TSP CORIANDER POWDER
1 TSP GARAM MASALA POWDER
1/2 BUNCH CORIANDER LEAVES
1/2 DILL LEAVES
1 1/2 TBSP MUSTARD OIL

INGREDIENTS FOR GRAVY

1 TSP FENUGREEK SEEDS
1/2 MEDIUM ONION (SLICED FINELY)
1 SMALL TOMATO (FINELY CHOPPED)
2 -3 TBSP TOMATO PUREE
1 TSP GINGER/GARLIC PASTE
1 TSP CHILLI POWDER
1 TSP TURMERIC POWDER
2 1/2 TSP CORIANDER POWDER
1 GREEN BELL PEPPERS
1/2 CUP PEAS
HANDFUL OF DRIED FENUGREEK LEAVES
HANDFUL OF CORIANDER LEAVES (FOR GARNISHING)
1 TBSP HEAVY CREAM
1/2 CUP MUSTARD OIL

STEPS OF PREPARATION

FOR MEATBALL:

1.Wash and drain minced meat (keema) and keep aside.

2.finely chop onion and green chilli.

3.Then dry roast chick pea flour in a pan till aromatic and light brown in colour.

4.Take minced meat or keema in a large bowl combine all the ingredients.

5.Mix well with hands and make lemon size meat balls (approx 21).

6.If you are planning to cook it afterwards then place one by one on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, place another layer and then again do the same process and freeze.

7. Once they are freezed, take out the plate and carefully place each meatball in a sandwich bag and put it back in the freezer.

FOR GRAVY:

1.Heat oil in a pan and add fenugreek seeds.

2. When they give off aroma and starts changing colour, then add onion and green chilli.

3.When the onions start turning light brown, add ginger/garlic paste and tomato and stir for a minute.

4.Now add all the spices and tomato puree and mix well (can add few tbsp water to avoid spices from burning)

5. When oil starts separating, add 1 cup water and cover till it boils.

6.Then add meatballs one by one carefully, cover and let it cook on a low flame till almost done (around 30 minutes).

7.When meat balls are almost done, add peas, green bell peppers and dried fenugreek leaves, stir carefully so that meatballs donot break.

8. let it cook till oil starts separating add cream and turn off the flame.

9. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti/ rice.

SPICY KEEMA WITH SHIMLA MIRCH

I prepared this dish a few days ago for dinner. I had some minced meat sitting in my refrigerator and I planned to make kababs out of it but my laziness and craving for a spice packed food dragged me into making this. I wanted it to be different from what I made each time so I started looking for the perfect recipe to satisfy my taste buds. After searching quite a few blogs and sites, I gave up on the search as I was running out of time. My husband usually gets back from work around 6:30-7:00 and it was already 5:30 so I decided to get started as soon as possible. When I stepped into the kitchen I had no clue how the dish would turn out!

I started by putting usual stuffs into it then I realized that I have got some leftover homemade seasoning which I made a week ago to sprinkle over grilled chicken (yes we are a proud owner of a grill, bought it recently, thanks to hubby's interest in grilling). I ended up putting so many spices in poor keema that I had to pen down the whole recipe as I tend to forget things pretty quickly!!

This was enough for both of us. You can also make this as a side dish and those of you who donot consume beef can use chicken instead. I gottago as my li'l princess is up!!
Here goes the recipe. Enjoy and do not forget to drop a few lines that how do you find the recipe.


INGREDIENTS

1/2 lb MINCED MEAT(WASHED,DRAINED)

1/2 CUP GREEN BELL PEPPERS(CUT IN STRIPS)

1/2 MEDIUM ONION(SLICED)

11/2 TBSP OIL

2 tsp GARLIC/GINGER PASTE

1/2 TSP CUMIN POWDER

1 TSP RED CHILLI POWDER

1/2 TSP TURMERIC POWDER

1/2 TSP CORIANDER POWDER

1/2 TSP CHAT MASALA(I USED SHAN CHAT MASALA)

1/4 TSP BLACK PEPPER(FRESHLY GRINDED)

1/2 TSP SALT

2 BAYLEAVES

2 CINNAMON STICKS

1/2 TOMATO(CHOPPED FINELY)

2 TBSP YOGURT(OPTIONAL)

1 TBSP TOMATO KETCHUP

2 SMALL GREEN CHILLI(CHOPPED)

HANDFUL OF DILL LEAVES

HANDFUL OF DRIED FENUGREEK LEAVES(QASURI METHI)

HANDFUL OF CORIANDER LEAVES

GARAM MASALA(SPRINKLE IN THE END)

1 CUP WATER

1 TSP HOMEMADE SEASONING


TO MAKE SEASONING

1TBSP CORIANDER SEEDS

1 TBSP CUMIN SEEDS(SAFAID ZEERA)

1/2 TBSP MUSTARD SEEDS(RAI)

1/2 TBSP FENNEL SEEDS(SAUNF)

2 SMALL DRIED RED CHILLIES

1 TBSP GINGER POWDER(SONTH)

1/2 TSP CHAT MASALA

1/2 TSP GARAM MASALA

1/4 TSP SALT

1/4 TSP BLACK PEPPER POWDER



Dry roast coriander,cumin,mustard,fennel and red chillies in a dry pan over low heat and toast till fragrant.Remove from heat,cool add other ingredients and grind to a coarse powder.store in an airtight container(I used empty baby food bottle)and keep in a cool,dry place.Good to go for atleast a month.


STEPS OF PREPARATION

1.Heat oil in a pan,add cumin seeds when starts to sizzle add onion and green chillies.

2.Stir occassionally,when it turns light brown add keema.

3.Wait for keema to change its colour to light brown,add all spices (except seasoning),ginger garlic paste,fry for a couple of minutes.

4.Add bell peppers,water,tomato,ketchup,yogurt,methi leaves and cook till keema is done.

5.When oil separates,garnish with dill and coriander leaves,sprinkle seasoning,mix and switch off flame.

6.Serve hot with rice or roti.