Snacks

Matri
All-purpose flour: 4 cups
Water: 1 cup
Oil (Canola): 1/2 cup or to-taste. Depending on how much oil you add, crispiness is added to the dough
Oil (Canola): deep frying
Salt: to taste otherwise 1/2 tsp
Ajwain/Carom seeds: 1 tsp

Mix the oil and flour first. To make crispy matri, add enough oil such that the oil and flour mix kneads into small crumbly balls while mixing.
This will form a rough dough
Add the water so that a hard dough is formed (the harder the dough the less oil it will absorb in deep-frying
Add salt and ajwain
Roll a portion of  the dough and cut round circles with a circular cookie cutter making circles that can be fried
Roll a portion of the dough and cut long lines across the dough both vertically and horizontally making think rectangles that can be fried
Heat the oil for frying. The oil is ready when a pinch of dough floats to the top.
Deep Fry the cut dough

Samosas - Mom Style
The pastry


The filling - try the Potato medley with peas described below
Potato Medley with Peas (Also makes a great Samosa filling)
Potato Medley 1.5lb
Frozen Peas: 1/2 to 3/4 cup
Onion: 1/4 cup
Mustard seeds: 1/4tsp
Chines 5 spices : 1/4 tsp (Cinnamon, Anise, Cloves, Ginger, Licorice ground)
Oil (Canola): 1tbsp
Salt: 1/4tsp or to taste

This morning I found a 1.5lb bag of small medley of Potatoes (Safeway) and realized if I didn't cook them soon they would be unedible.
So I quickly boiled the potatoes in a pressure cooker for about 15 mins. If you let the water cool down sufficiently, it is really easy to peel warm potatoes making this task a lot easier if you don't want the potatoe skins in your dish.
I then took out a cup of frozen of peas and let them defrost.
Since the potatoes were already cooked, only the peas needed to be cooked.

Heat the oil on high heat and fry the mustard seeds so they are greyed and pop. Lower the heat to medium.
Add the onion and fry until pink
Add the Chinese 5 spices
Finally add the peas
Cook the peas until they are tender.
Since the potatoes were already boiled, they were added last and roasted in the pan until they took a soft golden brown color.

A great dish to go with the above is Skinless Urad Dhal (Lentil)
It also makes a great samosa stuffer