SAMOSAS SAUCE
Serves: makes enough for six samosas.
Prep Time: 5 minutes.
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Dietary Style: GF. DF. Vegetarian. Vegan.
A zingy little sauce with a bit of acidic tang, some hot kick, and a tail of sweetness is what every samosa needs! This is a simple sauce to make. The key tip is to remove the pan from the heat and whisk the sauce while cooking in order to ensure the oil and the tomato-spice base comes together into that thick, glossy end result. It may take some time to emulsify, so don’t panic if it looks at first that it isn’t coming together.
If you have a nut allergy, skip the peanut oil and just use a simple vegetable or even a grapeseed oil. Likewise, if you also don’t have tamarind concentrate, then do as I do and replace with pomegranate molasses. You can look to my video on the channel to understand the similarities and differences between these two acidic additions. If you don’t have jaggery, use an unrefined sugar like rapadura or a soft brown sugar. Jaggery is widely available for Indian and Asian grocers.
Long story short, I wouldn’t make samosas without this sauce, now.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/3 cup of peanut oil
- 1/4 cup tomato paste or sugo
- 1/4 cup of a sweet rice vinegar
- 1 tsp fine white salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp amchur
- 1 tsp sumac
- 1/3 tsp hot ground chilli powder
- 1/3 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 tsp tamarind concentrate
- 2 pinches jaggery powder
In a frying pan on a medium heat whisk together the oil and tomato paste or sugo until the oil splits the tomato, and the tomato begins to change colour to a richer, darker red. This will take around five minutes.
Once this step is achieved, add the sweet rice vinegar and all of the spices EXCEPT the tamarind / pomegranate and the jaggery powder. Continue to whisk until the sauce thickens, around two or three minutes.
At this point, add in the tamarind concentrate or your pomegranate replacement, and a few pinches of jaggery sugar. You can experiment with doing this by taste to achieve the balance that best suits your palate.
Whisk one to two minutes. Remove from the heat and continue to whisk as the sauce cools to ensure it comes together effectively.
Turn out into a cool bowl.
Serve with your hot aloo samosas.