Paneer singara and misti singara samosas, Signature

Rahul Mandal’s Paneer Singara and Misti Singara Samosas

The handshake card

• Baker: Rahul Mandal
• UK series: Series 9 (2018)
• Week/theme: Week 6, Pastry
• Challenge: Signature
• Handshake fact: Rahul received a Hollywood handshake for paneer singara and misti singara samosas; the master index notes that Prue prompted Paul.
• Yield: 12 samosas for the published Paneer Singara recipe
• Difficulty: Needs skill
• Official timing: 2 hours hands-on, plus 30 minutes chilling; 30 minutes frying
• Source: Rahul’s Paneer Singara, The Great British Bake Off
• Evidence: Master index entry #29; research sources [S1], [S2], [S7].

A necessary bit of honesty about the published recipe

The verified handshake names both paneer singara and misti singara. The official page linked in the research index publishes Rahul’s Paneer Singara recipe; it is reproduced here as the sourced component, not as a claim that it supplies the separate sweet singara formula. The page’s method and quantities are paraphrased below.

Why it earned the handshake

This Bengali-style samosa builds a crisp, nigella-seeded shell around a chunky potato and paneer filling. Currants and peas bring little points of sweetness, while Bengali five-spice, ginger, garlic, peanuts, and coriander make the filling layered rather than merely hot. The official method also includes a cooling stage before shaping, which keeps the pastry work clean.

Ingredients

Dough

• 225g plain flour
• Pinch of salt
• 50g cold salted butter, diced
• 1 tsp nigella seeds
• 75ml lukewarm water

Filling

• 1 potato, about 240g, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil, plus extra for deep-frying
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• ½ tsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp Bengali five-spice
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 125g paneer, diced
• 1 tbsp currants
• 2 tbsp frozen petit pois
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• 50g shelled, skin-on peanuts
• ½–1 tsp salt, to taste

Raita

• 150g Greek-style yoghurt
• ½ red onion, chopped
• ½ green chilli, deseeded and chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• 1 tbsp chopped mint leaves
• ½ tsp toasted cumin powder
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

You will also need a fine piping nozzle. The official page notes that Bengali five-spice is made from equal quantities of cumin seeds, fennel seeds, mustard seeds, oregano, and fenugreek; its toasted cumin tip dry-fries cumin seeds until aromatic before grinding.

Method

1. Sift the flour and salt, rub in the butter, and stir in the nigella seeds. Add the lukewarm water gradually to make a dough, knead gently for 1 minute, wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Boil the potato for about 5 minutes, until just tender, then drain.
3. Fry the onion in the sunflower oil for 5–6 minutes until translucent. Add the sugar, raise the heat, and cook another 2–3 minutes until golden.
4. Add the spices, ginger, and garlic pastes and fry for 1 minute. Stir in the tomato and cook for 3–4 minutes, then add the potato. Mash it slightly while keeping the mixture chunky.
5. Stir in the paneer, currants, and peas. Cool the filling, chill it completely, then mix in the coriander and peanuts and season.
6. Stir the raita ingredients together, season, cover, and chill.
7. Heat frying oil to 160°C/315°F. Divide the dough into 12 pieces, roll each into a ball, and keep them covered with damp kitchen paper.
8. Roll one ball into an oval about 17cm long and 9cm wide. Make six holes in its upper half with the fine nozzle, dampen the lower half, and fold the top down.
9. With the straight folded edge toward your wrist, dampen the straight edge and bring the two corners together to make a cone. Pinch to seal.
10. Fill the cone with one twelfth of the mixture, fold the rounded edge over the filling to make a three-dimensional pocket, and pinch closed. Repeat.
11. Fry in batches of three or four for about 10 minutes each, until crisp and golden. Drain and serve with the raita.

Baker’s tips

• Cool the filling completely before shaping; warm filling weakens the pastry seam.
• Keep the dough balls covered while you work so their edges do not dry out.
• Fry at the stated temperature in small batches so the oil does not cool and leave the shells greasy.

Make-ahead

The filling and raita can be made ahead and chilled. Shape the samosas shortly before frying, or freeze shaped, unfried samosas in a single layer and cook from fully thawed according to the source’s method.