Pob, The Coconut Samosa

Sweet coconut samosa  widely known as pob, is very popular in assam. It is made  on many festivals like Eid, Sankranti and Bihu etc.

Makes/Serves: 15 to  20 pieces

Ingredients:

•          Oil for deep fry

•           For the pob pastry:

·  2 cups of All Purpose Flour  (Maida) 

·  ¼ tsp Salt

·  ½ cup warm Water or as required

·  1 tbsp Oil (ghee)

•          For the Pob Stuffing:

·  1 cup Grated Coconut

·  ½ cup Powdered Sugar (regular sugar) or how much sugar you like.

·  3 to 4 cardamoms, two bay leaves, 1 inch long cinnamon.

Method:

Preparing the Pastry:

•          Take the all purpose flour, salt, and oil in a bowl.

•          Rub the oil with the flours, with your fingertips to form a breadcrumb like texture.

•          Then add water in parts and begin to knead. The amount of water needed will depend on the quality and texture of the flour.

•          Knead the dough till firm.

•          Cover the dough with a moist cloth and keep aside for 30 minutes.

Preparing the stuffing:

•          In a pan add coconut, sugar and all whole garam masala mix them well.

•          Now start stove and put the pan on heat, stir it continuously on a low heat.

•          Cook the coconut till it begins to gather and dry .It takes about 10 min, turn off the flame and keep the pan down. Let the coconut stuffing cool down completely.

 Assembling & Preparing Pob

•          Divide the dough into equal small balls. Cover with a moist kitchen towel.

•          Dust the rolling board lightly with some flour. Roll each ball with the rolling pin to a small circle like small puris. Don’t add too much flour while rolling. If you can roll without the flour, then it is better, or you can use oil for rolling.

•          Place about 1 tbsp or 1 and1/2 tbsp of the stuffing on one side of the circle, keeping edges empty. Don’t add too much of stuffing as then it’s difficult to shape them and the pop may break in the oil. With your fingertip, apply water (or oil) all over the circumference/edge. Carefully, bring together both the edges and join. Gently press the edges.

•          With a small pob cutter or pizza cutter, trim the extra edges. 

•          Prepare pob this way and arrange them on a plate or tray. Cover them with a moist napkin so that the dough does not dry out.

•          Now in a pan heat the oil and start to fry them. It will be golden color.

Recipe Credit: From my GrandMa’s Rasoi

Cook Tip:  Instead of using oil you can use ghee. Quantity will depend on your size of pob.