Matar Paneer Samosa

Samosa the snack most sought after especially in this rainy season. Yes, this year there has been copious rain all across our country. Chennai is already having its share of rains too. It is not common for Chennai to experience rains during this month. However, the rain god decided to have a look at us and we have pleasant rainy cool evenings. During these times, what we typically would want is a crunchy snack to much on and some hot coffee or chai to go with it. One such snack is the matar paneer samosa. We look forward to this matar paneer samosa in air fryer since it is low on oil. That makes us indulge us in it a little more. Perfect crunchy snack for the pleasant rainy evening.

Filling for the matar paneer samosa:

As the name suggests the filling in this samosa is paneer to cottage cheese based. I have used homemade paneer here. Since green peas are in season I have used green peas or matar as well. To bring out a lovely green colour to the filling I have used fresh coriander and green chillies along with some garam masala for flavour. You can choose to make the regular aloo filling and air fry the samosa as is shown below.

Why do we need an air fryer to make samosa?

An air fryer is a gadget which works on the principle of hot air circulation. When we say air fry, it does not literally mean frying in the air. However, you can get a fried effect on the food. Here the food bets cooked or baked in the hot air. If we brush the food with a very little amount of air then we can get fairly fried food. In this matar paneer samosa, I have brush the samosas with very little oil before sir frying them. The result is beautiful air fried samosa and you will not miss the deep frying at all. Similarly we can make aloo tikki in an air fryer without the deep frying

Having said this, I must say that air fryer is not mandatory to make samosa. If you are not very conscious of the amount of oil being used, you can deep fry the samosas. If you own an oven then, the bakes samosas are equally tasty. So, you can make samosas in one of the three ways mentioned above.

Preparation of matar paneer samosa:

INGREDIENTS

Oil as required
For the outer covering
All purpose flour              3/4 cup
Oil                                      2tsp
Salt                                      1/4 tsp
Water                                   just enough to knead
FOR THE FILLING
Fresh green peas              1/2 cup
Paneer                               1/4 cup
Green chillies                    1-2
Coriander                          1tbsp
Ginger                               1/4″ piece
Garam masala                    1tsp
Cumin seeds                      1/4 tsp
Salt                                      to taste

PREPARATION:

• Mix the oil, salt with the all purpose flour till it resembles like coarse grains
• Now add little water and knead it into a stiff dough. Add water tsp by tsp. Keep this kneaded dough covered for some time.
• Blanch the peas
• Coarsely grind the peas with fresh coriander, chillies, ginger, paneer,garam masala and salt without any water and keep it aside
  Pinch small balls from the dough and roll into thin chapatis.
• Cut in the centre into 2 to make semi-circles
• Now roll each semicircle into a cone.
• Fill the cone with the stuffing and seal the opening too
• Make all the samosas the same way
• FOR DEEP FRYING THE SAMOSA
• Keep sufficient oil in a deep frying pan
• When it is sufficiently hot, fry the samosas in batches of 2. Do not overcrowd it
• Once it starts to brown on one side, flip over and let it fry on the other side too
• When both the sides have fried well, take it out on an absorbent paper for the excess oil to drain
• Serve hot with green chutney or tomato ketchup!!
  .
  FOR AIR FRYING THE SAMOSA
• Preheat the air fryer at 200C for 5 minutes
• Brush the basket of the air fryer with little oil
• Brush the surface of the samosa with some oil and arrange it on the basket
• Air fry them for 8 minutes
• serve warm with a chutney of your choice