Nigerian Small Chops: Recipe for making Samosa

Samosa is one snack that has succeeded in capturing the hearts of many Nigerians with its rich and delicious taste. This lovely snack teamed up with others like puff-puff, spring rolls and plantain puffs to form the legendary “Nigerian small chops”. One can never miss out on being served “small chops” in a Nigerian party/wedding ceremony. Unfortunately, the pandemic lockdown has hindered many samosa lovers like myself from getting this small chops delicacy and many of us have no idea how to go about making it. Arranged for you below is the recipe for making samosa.

Ingredients needed; (the ingredients listed make 16 samosas)

For the Samosa dough:

• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 3 tbs vegetable oil/ melted margarine
•  1/2 tsp dry parsley/ thyme
• 120g of flour
• warm water (as required)

For the Samosa fillings:

• 1 stock cube
• salt (to taste)
• 1 long stalk of spring onion/ minced onion
• 1 tsp curry powder
• a pinch of black pepper
• 200g minced beef/chicken
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 tiny garlic/ a pinch of garlic powder
• 2 cooking spoonfuls of vegetable oil
• chilli pepper (to taste)
• 2 medium Irish potatoes
• Vegetable oil for frying

Procedure;

To make the samosa filling:

• Cut spring onions into thin strips and keep
• Wash and peel Irish potatoes and carrots. Cut into tiny bits and cook in salted water for 5 mins until soft. Strain and set aside.
• Pour some vegetable oil into a pot and heat up. Add the spring onions, garlic, curry powder, black pepper and stir-fry for a while. (This will release their natural flavours)
• Add the minced beef/chicken and stir-fry until it changes colour.
• Add in the stock cube, chilli pepper and salt to taste. Then finally, add the cooked vegetables. Mix thoroughly and set aside to cool.

To make Samosa dough:

• Pour the flour into a bowl, add salt, the 3 tbs of vegetable oil/ margarine and warm water. Mix well until stretchy dough is formed. Cover with an airtight plastic wrap/ aluminium foil and leave to set for about 15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes, knead dough to make it more stretchy and elastic. Cut out a bit and roll out with a rolling pin. Make sure its a little thick and not too thin.
• Using a circular cutter, cut the rolled dough and remove the excess dough at the corners and then cut the circular shape into 2 half circles of equal sizes.
• Rub water on the straight edges of one dough and shape into a cone; then take a spoonful of the samosa filling and scoop into the cone-shaped dough. Fill moderately. Rub some water on the edges and seal tightly.
• Repeat for the remaining dough.
• Heat up some oil in a pan and fry the samosas.
• Fry both sides of the samosa until light brown and transfer into a strainer lined with paper towels.
• Enjoy delicious samosa alone or with any chilled drink of your choice.

Optionally, if you’d want to bake the samosa instead, brush with oil or egg white. Set your oven to 180 degrees and bake for 15 minutes.

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