A bite of this middle eastern syrup-drenched crispy fried mini samosa will dazzle you with its creamy cream cheese, crunchy almonds and sweet dates!
Prep Time1 hourhr
Cook Time15 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr15 minutesmins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: arabic, middle eastern
Servings: 24samosas
Author: Famidha Ashraf
INGREDIENTS
For sugar syrup
½cupsugar
¼cupwater
1green cardamom
a squeeze of lemon
½teaspoonrose water
¼teaspoonorange blossom wateroptional
1pinchsaffroncrushed
For mini samosas
24mini samosa sheetsSwitz
100gramscream cheese squares6 cubes
24almonds1 for each samosa
5 to 8dateschopped or use date paste
Oil to fry
For edible glue
1tablespoonall-purpose flourmaida
1 to 2tablespoonswater
garnish
almondscrushed
saffroncrushed
dried rose petals
INSTRUCTIONS
Prepare the syrup
First, prepare the sugar syrup by boiling the water and sugar with a dash of lime juice. Bring to a full boil on high and reduce the flame and let it simmer for 5 to 8 minutes and switch it off. Add flavour water as desired and keep it aside to cool. You can make this a day ahead and refrigerate it.
Have the samosa sheets ready to use
Remove the samosa sheets from the pack and keep them covered all time under a clean kitchen towel. If it is frozen sheets, make sure to thaw them as per pack instructions. Exposure to air will make them dry and brittle.
Keep the filling ingredients ready to use
Keep a few cream cheese squares cut into 4 or 6 smaller cubes. As the cheese squares tend to get messy at room temperature, unwrap the squares and keep them in the fridge. Use as and when needed while wrapping. Chop the dates or divide the date paste into small bits so they are available readily to pick and stuff. You may use any kind of almonds or any other nuts.
Prepare the edible glue
Mix the flour and water without lumps into a paste that is not too thick or too runny.
Prepare the sweet mini samosas
Wrap the samosas stuffed with cream cheese, almond, and date paste. Seal the end using edible glue. Keep the wrapped mini samosas covered while you work with the rest. Refrigerate the batch until needed (you may freeze too). To freeze, place the wrapped mini samosas on a tray and freeze them open until frozen. Transfer to a box and store in the freezer. Use without thawing.
Shallow or deep fry the mini samosas
Heat oil in a thick-bottomed pan enough to fry. Add as many mini samosas as the pan can hold comfortably and fry turning sides until browned evenly. Remove and transfer to a kitchen tissue.
Dunk in syrup and serve
While the samosa is warm, dip them in the cooled sugar syrup. Transfer them onto the serving platter and drizzle more syrup. Garnish with rose petals, saffron strands or crushed almonds.
Serve
Serve warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers and consume them within 3 to 5 days.
Notes
• Any excess sugar syrup can be stored in the fridge and used later. I am sure you will make these again.
• You can avoid the date paste and almonds and just keep cream cheese as in the original recipe.
• There are endless possibilities, so go get creative and make your version!