How to Make Nigerian Samosa (Recipe & Video)

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Imported or not, samosa is one of life’s simple joys at any Nigerian party. Stuffed between some severely deep-fried dough and served with sweet and sour chutney, you can’t stop at one bite of a crunchy samosa. This delicious and crunchy appetizer will leave your palate prepared and longing as you await the main dish.

How to Make Nigerian Samosa

Any time of the day, small chops is always there for you. If you love to attend owambes in Nigeria, you’ll agree that a Nigerian small chops package without samosa is an incomplete one.

Although samosa is believed to be an India food, it originated from the Middle East. The rich filling dessert is now so popular in Nigeria that you will think it was originally a Nigerian delicacy.

Did you know that samosas were claimed to be eaten by royalty back in the 13th century? It was always a part of any massive feast by great princes and noblemen in India.

In Arab and Middle Eastern countries they were also usually eaten by great kings and princes.

Nigeria sure does love royalty to have dubbed this crunchy delight into her finger food variety.

It is rumored that any Nigerian mom that treats her family to the Nigerian samosa once in a while gets no less than 700 hugs in a year.

With this recipe, you can now make the crunchy samosa at home and eat to your fill without having to wait for an owambe party.

First notes

Total time: 1 hr
Prep: 15 min
Cook: 45 min
Yield: 8 samosas

Materials needed (cooking utensils & appliances)

Medium sized bowls
Cutlery (tablespoons, knives and fork)
Strainer or sieve
Circular dough cutter
Chopping board
Cooking pot
Non-stick frying pan
Deep saucepan
Tray
Paper towels
Rolling pin
Wooden Stir-fry spoon
Gas or electric cooker

Ingredients

The dough:

60g (2 oz) plain flour (all purpose flour)
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil/butter for even formation
A pinch of salt to taste
Warm water for mixing
Vegetable oil for deep-frying

The filling:

2 medium Irish potatoes
2 handfuls of green peas
2 medium carrots
100g minced beef/chicken
2 cooking spoons of vegetable oil
1 big stock cube
1 stalk of spring onion (cut into thin circles)
1 teaspoon of curry powder (for colour, no chilli)
Salt and ground cayenne pepper (to taste)

First things to do/note

You can choose to either bake or fry your samosa as you so desire.
You can customize the filling to your taste but the classic Indian Samosa must contain Irish potatoes and green peas.
Chop potatoes, carrot, onion, spring onion and garlic into sizeable chunks.
Make sure to use even quantities of oil when mixing the dough to avoid the formation of tiny air bubbles all over the samosa.
To get a perfect samosa, the consistency of the dough should be firm and smooth.
A fork comes in handy for use when sealing the edges of the samosa.
Always test for the hotness of the oil to avoid oil soaked samosas or to prevent having burnt samosas.
Samosas are best served immediately when it is hot as no one delights in a cold samosa.

How to Make Nigeria Samosa: Steps

To make the dough:

Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
Intermittently add warm water while mixing till you get a stretchy dough.
Knead dough for 5 minutes and leave for about 15 minutes.

To make the filling:

Cook potatoes in salted water for 5 minutes.
If using fresh carrots, add it to the peas and potatoes to cook for 5 more minutes until all vegetables are tender. Drain and set aside to cool.
Heat up oil in a pan and fry onion to golden colour. Add the spring onions, garlic, curry and pepper. Stir-fry for 2 minutes.
Add the minced beef/chicken. Stir-fry until the pink colour of the meat changes to a pale colour. Add the stock cubes and salt and cook for 2 minutes more.
In a bowl, add the cooked vegetables and spice mixture. Mix well.

To assemble samosa

Divide the dough into 4 equal size balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a 5-inch circle of about 3-4 mm in thickness.
Use a circular cutter to cut the dough and remove excess dough at the corners. Cut each circle in half. (Subsequently, you can use the tip of a round glass bowl if you do not have a circular dough cutter).
Brush the edges of the dough with water and fold into a cone like the shape of a party hat. Tighten the seal by squeezing the edges together.
Scoop 1 tablespoon of filling into each cone. Dampen the edges with water and press together to seal tightly. Repeat process with the remaining dough and filling.
Heat oil in a deep saucepan until moderately hot. Fry as many samosas at a time without overcrowding the pan. Flip each samosa as the sides become golden brown.
Transfer to a sieve lined with paper towels to drain off excess oil.
Enjoy your samosa with a chilled Nigerian drink!

Video: Making Nigerian Samosa

Important health notes about Samosa

Made with the right quality of ingredients, there are around 300 calories, just less than 20 grams of fat and over 30 grams of carbohydrates contained in one samosa.

Samosas can pass for a healthy snack if baked with olive oil instead of frying it with vegetable oil. Another option for making a healthy variant of samosa is to opt for Air Fryers.

Replacing the potato fillings with veggies increases the fibre and protein content of samosa.

Adding more cucumber, onions, tomatoes could be what you need to consider if you’re counting carbs.

Pep up your samosa by adding skimmed milk curd and top it up with spices.

If you are diabetic, you might want to limit your consumption of samosa as it is a hidden source of fat.

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