For this year's Readers' Choice Week, we asked our readers to prove their cooking prowess by sharing their best recipes with us—and dang, you guys are good. These are the five winning recipes—and the story behind the cooks who created them. Today, Kumi Banerjee shares her recipe for shingaras.
Whenever reader Kumi Banerjee wants to transport herself back to childhood summers visiting her grandparents in Calcutta, she makes a batch of shingaras. The spicy cauliflower-and-potato-stuffed Bengali pastry was always piled high into pyramids in the windows of sweet shops and corner stores, and she would run out to grab paper bags full of them to enjoy with afternoon chai.
This recipe was handed down by her mom, Jhula, who originally started making them so she could satisfy her family's cravings for the savory snack when they got back from trips to India. However, Banerjee notes that her mom never officially taught her the recipe. "I'd mill around the kitchen as a kid, watching my mom make the dough and filling and form the triangles, then my dad, Santi, would fry them at the stove," she explains. "I learned the techniques by watching—and tasting when my brother and I grabbed them as soon as they came out of the fry oil."
These are similar to their "better-known cousin, the samosa," Banerjee explains, but the "distinctly Bengali" shingaras are smaller and have cauliflower added to the potato-pea mix. The main spice component comes from bhaja masala, a condiment made of equal parts heavily toasted ground cumin and cayenne. The spices are dry-toasted until so dark brown that they resemble ground coffee, and adds pivotal flavor to both the traditional Calcutta-style vegetarian filling.
To make them a little less time-consuming to make—and in turn, quicker to devour—Banerjee uses a shortcut of frozen empanada wrappers as a "decent substitute." (She suggests Goya's Criolla-style puff pastry empanada wrappers, which are flaky, buttery, and the closest to the ideal texture and flavor.) Her tips for filling are to "put in as much as you can without it ripping" so it's a plump, fat package. "My mom suggests putting the seam in the middle so they come out more perfectly-circular-shaped. The first few times they look funny, but once your hands learn it, they’ll be easier and faster."
There isn't a dipping sauce typically served with shingaras in Calcutta, but Banerjee likes to add extra flavor with a cilantro chutney (cilantro, green chile, Greek yogurt, lime, and optional ground coconut). She sometimes serves it with tamarind chutney: tamarind concentrate, water, sugar, bhaja masala, and salt thickened into a syrup. For a tart, sweet, sour, and spicy combination, she swirls the cilantro with the tamarind.
There is one last secret that Banerjee and her mom don't share: making them healthyish. "I've air-fried them and most people can't tell the difference," she shares. "As much as I love them, nobody should be eating that much deep-fried stuff."
Here's how to fold shingaras:
First, cut your circles in half—you'll use one half per shingara.
Fold one half over to the center.
Brush water on top of the folded edge.
Fold the second half over and press the ends together.
Pinch the edges so it's secure and no filling will leak out. You should have a cone.
Fill with a heaping Tbsp. of filling.
Brush out the outer edges with water.
Pinch edges to seal.
Double check that all edges are sealed properly. Otherwise, oil will get in and the filling will soak it up. Now get ready to fry and devour.
