Keema'r Shingara

(Mutton Samosa)

Ingredients: (for 8-10 shingaras)

Flour - 1 cup

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Oil - 1/2 cup for deep frying and 3 tbsp for flour shells

Salt - to taste

Making the Shell:

Fig 1

Fig 2

Fig 3

Fig 4

Cooking Procedure:

Prepare the filling: Keema filling

Now prepare the flour shells:

1. In a bowl, take the flour and add 3 tbsp oil and 1/4 tsp salt. Knead thoroughly for about 5 minutes. The more you knead, the better the shingara.

2. Now take 1/4 cup water at hand, and to the oil-kneaded flour add water by the teaspoon and continue kneading for 3-5 minutes more until the flour is moist, but a tight ball. Avoid adding too much water together, and keep it tight, if the dough becomes loose, add more flour/oil mix to compensate.

3. Pinch off five equal sized balls from the kneaded dough, roll between your palms to get a circular shape, and cover with a moist cloth.

4. Using a rolling pin (or a bottle!) on a smooth hard surface, flatten out the dough balls. Take a pinch of dry flour on the rolling surface, place the ball, and using the pin, roll into a roughly oval shape. Bisect each oval shaped dough cake across the width (not length!) to get two triangular pieces (Fig 1). Remove and place aside. You will have 10 pieces from the dough prepared above.

5. Take a single piece of the dough and fold it into a cone, cementing the folds together with a few drops of water each time you fold (Fig 2 and 3).

6.  Into the cone, stuff filling to 3/4 volume. Seal the top of the cone by closing the top flap onto the body using some water as glue, using your fingers, "staple" the top flap tightly to the body (Fig 4).

Finally, fry the shingaras:

1. In a kadhai, heat 1/2 cup oil to smoking, turn down the flame to low.

2. Place the shingara cones into the oil, and fry on low heat 3-5 minutes until golden brown.

3. Using a spatula, turn over the cone and fry for another 3-5 minutes. Turn the heat up to medium, quickly fry each side for a minute. Remove the shingaras from the oil, drain and keep aside.

Serving Suggestions:

Serve Hot with your favorite sauce or chutney. Agrees well with a cup of hot tea and gloomy weather....