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Potato Samosas

A fried pastry filled with spiced mashed potatoes.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,382 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Potato Samosas

6–8

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

  1. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and water, then knead lightly to make a dough.

  2. Set dough aside to relax, covered with a bowl or damp cloth.

Make the filling

  1. Boil potatoes in salt water until tender, then peel and mash them well.

  2. If whole cumin is used, heat in a dry skillet for a few minutes to release the flavour.

  3. Season the potatoes with salt, black pepper, hot pepper, and cumin.

Shape and fry

  1. Divide the rested dough into 9 balls called loyah, then flatten each loyah into a 10 cm (4 inch) circle and fill with potato mixture.

  2. Wet one edge with water, then fold over and seal, enclosing all potato.

  3. Deep fry in oil until golden brown.

  4. Drain on brown paper or kitchen towel.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

749Calories
18 gProtein
16 gFat
134 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pepper + cumintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,382 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  2. Potato + cumintop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together972 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Flour + cumintop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,286 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

All purpose flour
Forms the dough's structure, which wraps and holds the potato filling during frying.
Baking powder
Releases gas that lightens the dough so the pastry stays tender rather than dense.
Potatoes
Provide the bulk and soft, moist texture of the filling.
Cumin
Adds warm, earthy aroma that flavours the potato filling.

The step that matters

Sealing the samosas. If the edges are not wet and pressed firmly, they can open during frying and let the filling leak into the oil. Wetting the edge helps the dough bond to itself, so the seal holds through the heat.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, pepper, cumin):

  1. Okrafits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, pepper, cumin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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