Spicy Chicken Curry Samosas Recipe

Lined along the streets of cities like Delhi, Kolkata, or Indore you'll find hundreds of stalls bursting with flavor and aroma, the fried smells of pani puri and dosa filling the warm air. Street food is an integral part of India's culinary culture, the experience (and flavor) unlike that you could get in any restaurant. A landscape of mostly fried, doughy foods, vegetables, and sweet treats, the stalls are meant to showcase India's best chaat, or snacks, that can be eaten on the go.

Possibly the most recognizable of the street food dishes are samosas, which are fried, triangular pockets of dough filled with warm vegetables and curries. The most common filling for samosa chaat is made with soft, seasoned potatoes, making the snack a crispy fried pocket of flavorful starch. This recipe developed with Michelle McGlinn instead combines another popular dish, chicken tikka masala, with traditional samosa dough for a spicy and filling samosa chaat. The chicken is cooked till tender, shredded, and simmered in a creamy tomato sauce that's flavored with fresh ginger, Thai chiles, and aromatic spices, which forms a perfect contrast to the crispy dough.

For the dough, you'll need flour, salt, water, and melted ghee or vegetable oil. You can also season the dough with seasonings like cumin, coriander, or ajwain seed, or leave the dough plain like the recipe suggests. For the filling, grab chicken breasts, garlic, ginger, Thai chilies (or any spicy chile), tomato paste, tomato puree, garam masala, Kashmiri chili powder, cumin, turmeric, and Greek yogurt. From there, all you'll need is vegetable oil for frying — so grab a quart or more.

Combine the flour, salt, and melted ghee in a large bowl.

Use your hands to combine until the flour is crumbly and resembles breadcrumbs.

Add the water and incorporate it into the dough using your hands. If needed, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough forms a firm ball.

Cover the dough ball with a tea towel and let rest for 25 to 30 minutes.

In the meantime, place the chicken in a saucepan and cover with water.

Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until tender, about 20 minutes.

Drain and shred the chicken with two forks.

To make the curry filling, heat 1 tablespoon of ghee in a large skillet.

Add garlic, ginger, and Thai chilies and cook until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and stir to incorporate. Cook until the tomato paste begins to caramelize, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the tomato puree and spices and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer.

Add the yogurt and stir to incorporate. Simmer until very thick, about 2-3 minutes.

Add the chicken and stir to coat.

To make the samosas, first, add the oil to a deep pot and heat over medium heat to about 325 F.

While the oil is heating, divide the dough into 6 small balls.

Starting with one ball, roll it out to a circle shape about ⅛-inch thick.

Divide the circle in half to make 2 half circles.

Add 1 heaping tablespoon of curry mixture to each half circle. Brush water on the long straight edges.

Bring one corner up to meet the center of the curved edge.

Fold the other corner up to match, pressing on the seam to seal. Seal tightly.

Press the long edge closed and trim. Fold the edges backward and press to seal.

When the samosas are ready, carefully lower them into the oil, working in batches so as not to crowd the pot.

Fry them until just barely browned, about 10 minutes, and remove, draining on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining samosas.

Increase the heat to 375 F, or turn the stove to medium-high, and add the samosas back into the oil.

Fry until very golden brown and crispy, about 5 more minutes.

Remove, drain on paper towels, and serve.

Double-frying is a technique used to achieve super-crispy exteriors with soft and tender insides. It's a technique popularly used with French fries or Korean fried chicken, both well-known for being extremely crispy and crunchy. Samosas are cooked the same way, with a double-fry, to achieve similarly crunchy exteriors but also to avoid bubbles forming in the dough. When cooked immediately in high heat, air bubbles form in the dough and the hot oil causes permanent domes in the otherwise smooth surface. Think about pizza crust: When it's thrown into a very hot pizza oven, it bubbles — except in that case, the air pockets are a good thing.

Of course, if you're in a hurry and air pockets don't bother you, you can crank up the heat and fry the samosas in one go, knowing that the exteriors will be bumpy and darker brown. A traditional samosa, though, is meant to be completely smooth, and the best way to achieve that is with the oil temperature. Be sure to begin with a lower oil temp — around 325 F, or medium-low — to gently heat the dough. Once the dough is set, you can deep fry it at a higher temperature to crisp it.

Samosas are traditionally served with dipping sauces called chutney, which can vary widely in flavor and complement the spices of the samosas' fillings. A common chutney to pair with samosas is a green chutney made with mint and cilantro, which cools off the heat of the chilies inside. Another chutney you can pair with samosas is a red garlic chutney, made with plenty of garlic cloves and red chili powder. This is best for milder fillings but will add extra heat to the spicy chicken curry if it's not already enough for you.

It is also common to pair samosas with yogurt and yogurt-based sauces like raita. Raita, similar to Greek tzatziki, combines yogurt, spices, and cucumber for a thick, refreshing, and cooling sauce. This would work well with the spicy chicken curry samosas, which are rich and spice-forward. Our suggestion: Serve the samosas with a cucumber raita and mint chutney with a sprinkling of cilantro and sev over top.