Suhaal with boiled potatoes - A snack from Uttar Pradesh

If you've ever wandered in the bylanes of Lucknow, Banaras or any other city in Uttar Pradesh you must have found people snacking on something beyond kachori and samosas. These crispy, savoury pastries called suhaal. Since its eaten with spicy boiled potatoes you can also call it a disentegrated samosa. Now, we don't have enough places that make decent UP style samosas or kachoris in Mumbai so finding suhaal is out of question. So this Diwali when I was craving for some I thought of making it for brunch. Sharing the recipe was the obvious next step after we gobbled down all the suhaals with the yummy potatoes. By the way they can also be eaten with pickle or boiled, spiced white peas (also know as ragda in Mumbai). But trust me, potatoes are the best. So go ahead, try the recipe and let me know how they turned out.

Ingredients

Maida or all purpose flour -  250 gms

Oil - 4 tbsp for flour and 500 ml for frying

Ajwain - 2 tsp

Salt 2 tsp

For potatoes

Potatoes (boiled) - 3 medium sized

Spring onion - 1

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Roasted cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp

Fresh coriander (chopped) - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Method

1. Mix maida and oil till all of it is soaked in oil.
2. Add ajwain, salt and water and knead it in a tight dough.
3. Make small balls and roll each one into thin disks.
4. Prick them with a fork. This is to avoid them from puffing up while frying.
5. Now cut each disk into halves, fold every half to form a triangle. Use a little water to stick the corners together.
6. Heat oil in a wok and fry the triangles till they turn crisp and brown. Don't fry more than 5-6 at a time.
7. Remove and keep aside. Let them cool down.
8. Peel and mash the potatoes, add all the ingredients and mix.
9. Serve the crispy suhaal with spiced, boiled potatoes.