CHICKEN SAMOSA / SHINGARA / CHICKEN STUFFED SNACK

Doing a minced chicken & potato filled savoury snack was in the wish list for long. Back in India there is a practice of making meat filled chicken & mutton samosa / shingara which might had been a colonial influence. I mean was meat samosa being influenced by meat patty? No local shops usually sell it. Because we had been very very middle class and I did not even know anything about club culture or the food hunts in Park Street, I did not know if Flury's sold meat samosas besides sandwiches & patties or not. The institute I attended during my teens was within a protected area which housed a clubhouse that sold mutton shingara / samosa. I used to get those hot from the wok around 4 pm on some days, these days I surely had marked in the calendar to remind the mother next month; "mani, its one month already; when can we get again?" Once the confectioners like Tulika, Monginis, Kathleen opened their doors in the nook & corner of the Kolkata neighbourhood, pastries & patties became easily available to us middle class Bengalis.

I first entered Flury's after marriage, till date I am not comfortable spending that amount on a piece of cake or on a teatime fair. Does that mean I do not respect history, tradition? Not really, I am just conditioned that way. We always preferred buying patties & pastries from Nahoum's; go home, change clothes, take shower, sit under the fan and eat; eat for the next two days. The very rustic father did not have any interest about meat filled patty also, he was so contained with his "tiffin" with mango, banana, jackfruit, milk and beaten rice, popped rice, chapati or puffed rice. Why haven't I blogged about his favourite "kathal kheer" as yet? I fear the jackfruit variety we get here may not get us much of juice / nectar whatever. Before I decide on it, let me share a non-vegetarian savoury snack recipe CHICKEN SAMOSA / SHINGARA / CHICKEN STUFFED SNACK which we can do with whatever ingredients are available in the kitchen considering there might be 250-300 gm of minced chicken lying in the corner of our freezer all the time.

Though the local confectioners then in Kolkata got meat patties and savouries to the doorstep of the middle class Bengalis, we were not allowed them on a regular basis; for health reasons and also because of both our parents' extreme control on finance. We did not even have electric oven at home, so no question of our mother trying fish & meat patties at home. Fulkopir Shingara was what she would make during winters; egg & meat filled paratha rolls were a regular at home. Monthly few times, we did get samosa / shingara, rolls from outside, my most coveted ones still remains to be meat & fish cutlets; I love those in Kolkata. But you must know the right shops to buy them, else you fail to find decent amount of meat & fish in them. With food adulteration rampant in India, if one has the ability, they should avoid eating meat & fish from anywhere & everywhere.

For the present me, quality is a big concern. Hygiene was always a concern in the family; after a decade of stay in this island, this concern has multiplied. I have taken the mother's route, what she was in her hay days and try my hands on different kinds of sweets & savoury snacks, bread & rice dishes. I already have two Bengali and a mutton samosa / shingara / stuffed savoury snack recipe in the blog if I am not wrong. Let me add this new one, a non-vegetarian fried savoury snack recipe with a filling made of chicken & potato, spices CHICKEN SAMOSA / SHINGARA / CHICKEN STUFFED SNACK. Below is how we had it last Friday, that is my plate, we still have some to fry.

I keep eating around in the island, get outside food too but restaurant hopping on a regular basis is not my cuppa. I will not do that. I have ample time to try my hands on things that are within my limit. In fact, I make things simpler bringing them down to my level of convenience, hence seldom I get to use the authentic tag to my food. About this snack; the shapes are not exactly like the store bought. I shaped only one or two, Cristine did the rest. All the other jobs with regards to it is done by me but that shaping part is very important. I had to keep Cristine's contribution on record. This morning, there was practically no job for us. Believing in zero waste, I used all of the stale rice to prepare a potato-egg rice and packed the man's lunch box. His snack box has swiss roll and a ladoo made by me, I know it's rakhi poornima around. My brother can get happy with a meat samosa, not all who are celebrating, I have to balance the varied needs. Our lunch would be paratha / porota / flat bread; the son gets mutton on the side, I will have the bitter gourd bhaji, Cristine shall decide her's. Yesterday, for lunch I had got chicken chop meal for the men, I had "double dimer omelette & fried kangkong rice"; all the three of us had "doi maach" meal for dinner. Cristine again does not eat with us on Sundays.

It feels good to have used up the rice by morning; although the senior prefers his rice freshly cooked, never messy over cooked rice unless it is "fena bhaat" served.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CHICKEN & POTATO FILLING :

MINCED CHICKEN : 250-300 GM
POTATO : 2-3 MEDIUM SIZED
GARLIC PASTE : 1 TBSP
GINGER PASTE : 1 TBSP
SLICED ONION : 11/2 MEDIUM TEA CUP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1 TBSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP
GARAM MASALA POWDER : 2 TSP
DRY MANGO POWDER : 2 TSP
CHAT MASALA : 1 TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/2 TSP
CORIANDER SEED : 1/2 TSP
LEMON JUICE : 2 TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 3 TBSP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH :

REFINED FLOUR : 2 COFFEE MUG
NIGELLA SEED : 1 TSP
SALT : 1/2 TSP
OIL : 3 TBSP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FRIED SAVOURY SNACK / SAMOSA / SHINGARA :

THE COOKED FILLING
THE KNEADED DOUGH
OIL TO DEEP FRY


PROCEDURE :

We have marinated the washed and drained minced chicken with a little of salt, turmeric, lemon juice and kept aside covered for an hour.

What I do most of the time with regards to boiling potato is; wash & prick each with a fork; take them on a microwave proof plate and microwave at high for 4-5 minutes, say for those 3 potatoes, I used this time.

We will peel and mash the boiled potatoes with some salt once they are cold. You can use any method to boil them.

We have heated 3 tbsp oil in a wok and tempered it with the cumin and coriander seeds. We have pressed the seeds with the back of our ladle. 

We have added the ginger-garlic paste and fried for 2-3 minutes.

We have added the washed sliced onions & chopped green chillies and added to the wok.

We have cooked them until golden brown and added the minced chicken with the marination; folded in well and thereafter added the turmeric+cumin+coriander+red chilli powders.

We have folded in well and cover cooked for 7-8 minutes at minimal heat.

We have opened the cover, added the boiled potato and chaat masala, dry mango powder.

We have folded in very well and stir cooked the entire thing for 5 minutes at low heat. We have added the garam masala powder and some salt if only required and stir cooked for a minute or two.

We have transferred the prepared chicken & potato filling on to a plate.

For the dough, we have taken the flour, nigella seeds and salt together and mixed well.

We have added 3 tbsp of oil and rubbed well for 2-3 minutes.

Now adding water little by little; we have kneaded the flour mix to a firm, smooth dough.

We have kept it covered for 15-20 minutes, opened cover and kneaded again for 2 minutes.

We tore off small portions and smoothened each between our palms. We have rolled each onto small roundels and cut half with a cake knife.

We have applied some water at the corners and folded to join from the straight line side.

We have filled the pocket with the stuffing; and pressed the open ends to close.

I did one, Cristine shaped the rest.

Once done, we refrigerated it for an hour or two. We took them out just before frying.

We have heated the oil in a wok just little and never let it get too hot. We have added a few uncooked snacks / samosa / shingara at a time so that they can move around and we do not have a problem  turning them over. You can see the oil is mildly hot.

Once done, we will keep them onto tissue papers.

It was still hot and crisp after 20 minutes of frying them only because of the right temperature of the oil and the right technique of frying. This is what I have learnt over the years.

I served it with tamarind sauce, Thai Chilli sauce and the salad with Vietnamese lemon grass salad dressing.