Written by Joana Alsina, volunteer of Bhimphedi Children’s Home.

The samosa is a very common meal in Nepal, and in the children’s home we often eat them as lunch, but we had never cooked it ourselves, we always bought them outside. But this Saturday, thanks to the masterclass of a woman of the village,and Arjun’s help, we were able to cook them. Now we have a new recipe in Balmandir!

To make the filling:

• 1 kg of potatoes
• 500 g onion
• Coriander
• Masala (mix of aromatic herbs, to the taste of the consumer)
• Chilli
• Chickpeas
• Tender garlic or other vegetables (optional)

To make the dough:

• 500 g flour
• A pinch of baking soda
• Cold water
• Salt
• Aromatic herbs (dried celery flakes similar to oregano)
• Clarified butter (ghee)

To make this recipe we divide into two teams. While one team was preparing the filling of the other made the dough.

To make the filling:

1. The night before we put the chickpeas in water and leave them to soak all night.
2. After having cleaned the potatoes we put them to boil in the pressure cooker. Then we peeled them and put them in a large bowl to make the whole mixture of the filling.
3. While the potatoes were cooking we also put the chickpeas on the fire and we cut the onion on moon shape,  the cilantro and tender garlic.
4. We fried the onion slowly and once well cooked we added them it to the mixture, along with the chickpeas, the cilantro, the spices and the chili.
5. We mixed everything with the hands and smashed the potatoes so there was no piece left. We used raw tender garlic, so in the filling there were different textures.

To make the dough:

1. We put in a bowl the flour and we melt the butter in a frying pan. Then we mixed with the flour and we began to knead.
2. We added salt, baking soda, aromatic herbs and finally water. It should become a fairly consistent paste. Do not wait for it to rise.
3. Then we started to make balls with the dough. Each ball would be the measure to make two samosas. With a roll we smashed the balls to form ovals. Then we cut them into two with a knife.

To put the filling in the dough:

1. Take the dough in the shape of a crescent mood with the hand, leaving the cut part with the knife facing up.
2. Put some water with your finger on top to the right and then stick on the left side forming a kind of cone.
3. Put the filling and then moisten the remaining piece of pasta and close it making a few folds. It was the first time we did it so every samosa had a different shape. Slowly we were perfecting the technique until we made equilateral triangles!
4. Then we fried them in slowly oil until they looked pink. Once fried you should eat them soon, although they can be served cold, they are really delicious just after frying them.

But the culinary day did not end there. That Saturday was Kamal’s birthday and we prepared Catalan cream for the night. Everyone had all loved this recipe when Tonyo prepared it for the first time. But this time we made an improvement, a cookie base crumbled with butter. We prepared it in individual glasses with a finish of burnt sugar and a biscuit that could be used as a spoon.

This dessert was the icing on the cake of a gastronomic Saturday where we learned how to make samosas and celebrated Kamal’s anniversary in the sweetest way possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjOhoonCDZg&feature=youtu.be