Samosa Wraps

This recipe came about when I was trying to decide what to cook for dinner one weekday and all I could think of was eating samosas. Deep fried samosas; cooking them on a busy weekday evening in less than an hour's time seemed impossible. And I would have still had to cook something more to make it a balanced complete meal. Instead I decided to add lentil flour to whole wheat flour and make  rotis which would be a nutritious wrap cover. To make sure that it was well balanced with vegetables and a complete meal, I used cabbage and carrot for the stuffing which were the vegetables I was planning to use up that week. And then I roasted these on a flat pan/tava with about a teaspoon of oil per wrap. What could have been a regular roti sabji meal was now transformed into a delicious and exotic fare which the kids enjoyed thoroughly. It turned out so well, that I get requests to make it often.

Ingredients

1/2 cup urad  dal flour

1/2 cup chick pea flour/besan

1/2 cup green mung dal flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt 

1 tbsp oil

water (1to 2 cups) to knead a dough that is soft to roll out the chapatis

1 napa cabbage head, shredded or finely sliced

1 carrot, grated

1 onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tsp tava fry masala

1/2 tsp garam masala

Salt to taste

Chili powder, optional, to taste 

1 tbsp oil

Oil to pan fry the samosas 

Method

Combine all the flours in a bowl and mix them. Mix the tbsp of oil and salt in and then add a little water at a time to knead the dough. It should not be too stiff. Cover and let it rest for 20 mins, if you have the time. If it is sticky, add a little more wheat flour.

Now, take a fistful of dough, and roll it out into a thin round roti/chapati/poli. And then roast each chapati till it is partially cooked, a couple of minutes on each side. Since it is going to be cooked again, make sure to not cook them through completely. Stack these up and keep aside. 

In a flat and large saucepan, heat up the remaining tbsp of oil and add garlic and onion to it when hot. Stir fry them till the onion is transparent and then add the carrot and napa cabbage. Let it cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the tava fry masala, garam masala and salt (and chili powder if using). Mix well and let it cook till the cabbage is cooked through. The water should evaporate as it cooks. If there is any water left after cooking, drain it.

Heat up a flat saucepan or tava on which you can pan fry the samosas. Now cut each partially cooked chapati into a semi circle. Roll it up into a cone and then add the napa cabbage and carrot stuffing into the cone. Since the chapati is partially cooked, you will not be able to seal the cone opening. Spread a couple of tsps of oil onto the pan surface. Now place the stuffed chapati cone onto the pan with the open side face down, so that the open side gets cooked first. Now let this cook on medium heat till the chapati is cooked well and starts to crisp up. Then flip it over and cook the other side till crisp. You can cook a few samosa cones at a time. Be careful when flipping it over to make sure that the stuffing doesn't fall out and add oil as needed while pan frying them.  Serve warm with ketchup.

This can be a main meal for a weekday dinner as it is a wholesome, healthy and tasty meal.

Tips

Since the dough has a lot of lentil flour, the resultant dough maybe a little sticky. You can use some wheat flour or oil to reduce the stickiness.

Napa cabbage has a lot more water content than regular cabbage and hence a large open pan will provide enough surface area for the quick evaporation of the water that is released from the cabbage. If you stuff uncooked chapatis you will be able to seal it properly, however since the cabbage will retain some water, the result may end up being soggy and uncooked. Hence the chapati is partially cooked to reduce the moisture content. 

Place the cooked ones on a wire rack if possible as you cook the entire batch. This will help keep the samosa crisp till it is served. You can use the same recipe with a variety of vegetables. If you cannot find tava fry masala, add 1/4 tsp of fennel powder or 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds and 1/4 tsp of aamchur instead and increase the quantity of the garam masala to 1 tsp.