August 9, 2008

Baked Somasi



It is Saturday, and it is raining! What a bummer... What would have otherwise been an awesome day to head out, turned out to be sitting-and-moping-around-at-home-day :(
Well, time for some experiments, and I wanted something different.
This is an Indian sweet dish, I would'nt exactly call it a dessert, it is mostly made during Indian festivals (those days when we just eat fried junk food the whole day) and it is also one of the rarer sweets that people make. I like it because of its very simple flavors and rarity.
It is originally fried, but here is the baked trial. I must admit it is not as good as the fried ones, but then anything fried tastes good, is'nt? But this is not bad as well.
If you like to try it low-cal like I did, then here is the recipe.
I used whole-wheat pastry flour entirely for the crust, but for people who dont like the taste of that type of crust, then feel free to substitute all-purpose flour partially or entirely.

Baked Somasi

Ingredients:

For crust:
Whole wheat pastry flour - 1 cup
All-purpose flour - 1 cup
Ghee - 4 tbsp
Salt - A pinch
Water - Just enough to make a dough (consistency of a pie crust)

For filling:
Sooji/Ravai/Cream of wheat - 1 cup
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Cardamom - 1 tsp
Nutmeg - 1/4 tsp
Roasted cashewnuts (broken)- 3 tbsp

Method:

Mix the flour, salt, ghee and crumble with fingers. Add water little by little and knead it into a dough like consistency. Something like a puri/pie crust dough.

To prepare the filling, heat a pan over medium heat and add the ghee and mix in the Sooji/Cream of wheat. Roast it till it turns light brown.

Add the coconut, cardamom, nutmeg and roasted cashewnuts.



Next, add the sugar and heat through till slightly damp. (The mixture is a dry one, so don't wait for it to turn wet)

Now, take the dough and make large balls out of it, roll it out with the help of a rolling pin and cut into circles using a large cookie cutter.
Use the scrap dough for the next batch.



Place the filling in the middle and fold over into a semi-circle. Seal the edges by pressing firmly with a fork.

Place on a baking sheet and brush with melted butter and sprinkle some sugar on top.
Bake for 15-20 min or till lightly brown.
Let rest for 10 min and serve... serve yourself :)

11 comments:

  1. Hey Divya,
    You have very nice recipes here. If you haven't already done it, have your blog feed added to Taste of India. Its a blog feed aggregator. Foodworld is another one. This way more readers will find you :)

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  2. Hey Divya first time here and very nice blog u hv.. nice recipes too.. lovd the step ny step instructions,

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  3. what a fab idea to bake..samosas are everybody's fav..baking it makes so healthy!...

    btw you have a great collection here..as priya suggested you are depriving lot of fab content!..

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  4. Srivalli - I appreciate your encouraging words. I will try to post more content and try hard not to keep it to myself ;)

    SMN - Thanks for your kind words. Again, appreciate it!

    Priya - I have taken your advice and done the blog feed. Thanks!
    You are doing a great job, and love love your blog pics!

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  5. Divya:
    Thanks for suggesting an alternative twist to the fried version of an old favorite. Do you think this can be done for the savory version too? The fried potato samosa seems to be the staple snack for so many of our office mates. Maybe I can bring in this version to the office by following your recipe.

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  6. Oh wow, that sounds awesome!

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  7. somasi ellam bake panni kalakara.. wish i could try this out.. i don't know how to operate my oven in my new apartment :( enaku romba pudikum somasi..

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  8. I tried your recipe with puff pastry sheets from Trader Joe, and the somasis were fabulous. Thanks for this great idea. Raji

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  9. Rajeswari - I am so glad it turned out well with the puff pastry sheets variation. Bet you are a great cook :)

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  10. Hi,
    At what farehnite should i bake samosas.Can i use frozen coconut for this.

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  11. Hi anudiya,


    At what temp should i bake samosas?

    Thanks
    Divya.s

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to comment on this post. I will try to respond to queries as soon as I can. If I miss anything that needs to be addressed... please feel free to ping me again.
Happy cooking/baking or whatever it is you are doing in the kitchen! :)