🍢 SNACK
Aloo Samosa (Punjabi Spiced Potato Samosa)
Flaky, ajwain-scented pastry cones stuffed with spiced potato and peas, fried slowly until blistered and golden and served hot with tamarind and mint chutneys.
Indian (Punjabi) · advanced · serves 6
prep 60 min · cook 35 min · plus 30 min hands-off time
~426 cal · 6g protein · 46g carbs · 24g fat · 3g fiber · 1g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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The samosa came to India long before the potato did. Its name goes back to the Persian sambosag, a small stuffed pastry, and cooks from Central Asia and the Middle East brought it to the kitchens of the Delhi Sultanate; around 1300 the court poet Amir Khusrau wrote of nobles enjoying samosas made with meat, and onion.
The version sold on every street in North India today is vegetarian. The Punjabi samosa is large and cone-shaped, its pastry made with maida flour rubbed with a generous amount of fat and scented with ajwain, then rolled, cut and folded around a filling of boiled potato and green peas fried with cumin, ginger, green chilli, coriander, and dried mango powder.
The secret is slow frying. The samosas go into oil that is only warm and cook gently for a long time, which makes the pastry thick, blistered and crisp rather than oily. They are eaten hot from the kadhai with sweet chutney and green mint chutney, often with a cup of chai.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 250 g plain flour (maida)
- 3/4 tsp ajwain (carom seeds)
- 3/4 tsp salt (for the pastry)
- 4 tbsp (for the pastry), ghee is also traditional
- about 6 tbsp cold water (for the pastry)
- 500 g potatoes, boiled, peeled and coarsely crumbled
- 1/2 cup green peas, fresh or frozen
- 1 tbsp (for the filling)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds, coarsely crushed
- 1 tbsp ginger, grated
- 1 to 2 green chillies, finely chopped
- 3/4 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 3/4 tsp
- 1 tsp amchur (dried mango powder)
- 1/2 tsp salt (for the filling)
- 3 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
- 1 l , for deep-frying
- 1/2 cup each chutney and mint chutney, to serve
Instructions
- 1Make the pastry: mix the flour, ajwain and salt, add the 4 tbsp oil and rub it in with your fingertips for 3 to 4 minutes until the flour looks like breadcrumbs and holds together when squeezed. Add the water a little at a time and knead to a stiff, smooth dough. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.✎ Chef’s noteRubbing in plenty of fat is what makes the pastry short and flaky. If a pinch of flour crumbles when you press it, rub in a little more oil.
- 2Make the filling: heat the 1 tbsp oil and fry the cumin and crushed coriander seeds until they sizzle, then add the ginger and green chillies for 30 seconds. Stir in the peas for 2 minutes, then the chilli powder, ground coriander, garam masala, amchur and salt.
- 3Add the crumbled potatoes and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, turning gently. Stir in the fresh coriander, taste, and let the filling cool completely.
- 4Divide the dough into 6 balls. Roll each into an oval about 20 cm long, not too thin, and cut it across the middle into two half-moons.
- 5Wet the straight edge of a half-moon, overlap the two halves of that edge to make a cone and press to seal. Fill the cone three-quarters full with filling, wet the open edge, pinch a small pleat at the back and press the edges firmly shut. Repeat with the rest.✎ Chef’s notePress out any air as you fill. Trapped air makes the samosas balloon and burst in the oil.
- 6Heat the oil for deep-frying until only warm, so a piece of dough rises slowly with tiny bubbles. Fry the samosas over low heat for 10 to 12 minutes without touching, then turn the heat to medium and fry until crisp and golden all over. Drain and serve hot with the chutneys.✎ Chef’s noteOil that is too hot blisters the surface and leaves the pastry raw inside. Low and slow gives the thick, crisp crust.
Punjabi and North Indian street-food tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Punjab. India's Punjab is the land of the tandoor, five rivers, and generous vegetarian tables, buttery dals, sarson ka saag with makki roti, and rich paneer dishes. Ghee, dairy, and wheat define its hearty north-Indian cooking.
🗺️
India. A grain line runs across the country, rice through the south and east, wheat rotis through the north and west, and the cooking fat shifts with it: coconut oil and curry leaves in the south, mustard oil in the east, ghee and dairy-thickened gravies in the north. Chilli is a relative newcomer to all of them, carried in by Portuguese traders in the sixteenth century.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
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Frequently asked questions
What is Aloo Samosa (Punjabi Spiced Potato Samosa)?
Flaky, ajwain-scented pastry cones stuffed with spiced potato and peas, fried slowly until blistered and golden and served hot with tamarind and mint chutneys.
Where does Aloo Samosa (Punjabi Spiced Potato Samosa) come from?
Aloo Samosa (Punjabi Spiced Potato Samosa) is an Indian (Punjabi) dish from Punjab, India.
Can Aloo Samosa (Punjabi Spiced Potato Samosa) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Aloo Samosa (Punjabi Spiced Potato Samosa) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Aloo Samosa (Punjabi Spiced Potato Samosa) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Aloo Samosa (Punjabi Spiced Potato Samosa) take to make?
About 2 h 5 min in all: 60 minutes prep and 35 minutes cooking, plus 30 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 6.
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