Samosa-Tomato Salad with Sizzling Spices and Fresh Herbs

Part hearty salad, part chaat—all delicious!

Samosas are a perfect snacking dinner. They’re portable, filling, and flavorful, full of potatoes and other vegetables (or various kinds of meat, if you prefer). But just because something is perfect in its original form doesn’t mean it isn’t also equally perfect when turned into something else, and there are all kinds of delicious foods you can make using samosas as a base: In India and Pakistan, for instance, you’ll find samosas cut up and turned into a sort of chaat-filled chaat, mixed with stewed chickpeas and topped with flavorful sauces and herbs. In Myanmar, where samosas are also popular, they’re sometimes tuned into a salad with raw onion and tomato, topped with a tangy dressing.

I thought about both of these dishes, plus Hetty Lui McKinnon’s dumpling and tomato salad, earlier this week when I was reheating a samosa and happened to see a partially cut up tomato sitting in my fridge. I also had Clare Langan’s tomatoes in spiced oil in my mind, plus a bunch of fresh herbs sitting on my kitchen counter in jars of water. I combined all of these ideas (making my own take on spiced oil, using the whole spices I keep in my pantry), added a little tamarind chutney to round out the flavors, and voila!—a perfect meal was born. The chopped-up samosas were warm and soft with crisp shells, the tomatoes and herbs added fresh summery flavors and textures, and the spices and tamarind made everything rich and aromatic.

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Since that first serving, earlier this week, I’ve made this dish again a couple of times (I even fed it to my mother, who was visiting this weekend). It works with any kind of samosa you might find in an Indian or Burmese restaurant or shop (or in the supermarket’s freezer section), but I find I like this combination best with classic potato-pea samosas as the flavors blend well with the tomatoes. It’s also best when made with smallish samosas, but if you have large ones, that’s totally fine—the result might be a bit mushier and less photogenic, but it will still taste fantastic.

The combination of spices I’ve used here—mustard, fennel, cumin, and coriander—were chosen because they’re what I usually have as whole seeds in my cabinet, but you can use what you have/like. And if you want to use a combination of whole seeds and ground spices (as I’ve done when I’m out of something), just sprinkle the ground spices into the oil at the end of the cooking time, after the seeds have already become fragrant.

Samosa-Tomato Salad with Sizzling Spices and Fresh Herbs

2–5 samosas, depending on size (fresh or frozen)
1–2 medium to large tomatoes (or a mix of small tomatoes)
Fresh cilantro, basil, and fennel (or dill) leaves
2 tablespoons mild olive oil or neutral oil
½ teaspoon each mustard seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, and coriander seeds (or any combination of the above)
Tamarind chutney or pomegranate molasses (optional)
Kosher salt

1. Cook the samosas according to the packages instructions (or reheat in a 400°F oven until hot, about 15 minutes).

2. While the samosas are heating, cut the tomatoes into irregular, bite-sized chunks and arrange them in a bowl. Roughly chop the herbs and set them aside.

3. When the samosas are nice and hot, cut them into irregular bite-sized pieces, roughly the same size as the tomato pieces, and nestle them into the bowl.

4. Combine the oil and the spices in a small pot or pan and heat them on high, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula, until all of the spices have been sizzling for a minute or so and are very fragrant. Carefully pour the oil and spices over the tomatoes and samosas, distributing everything as evenly as possible (you may need to scrape the seeds out of the pan with the spatula).

5. Drizzle a little bit of the tamarind over everything, season it all with a big pinch of salt, then scatter the chopped herbs on top. Enjoy while the samosas are still warm.

Cooking Inspiration

If you like this recipe and want to try with making more kinds of chaat or experimenting with new and interesting ways to us South Asian flavors and ingredients, check out two of my go-to cookbooks: Chaat—Recipes from the Kitchens, Markets, and Railways of India by Maneet Chauhan and Jody Eddy (Clarkson Potter, 2020) and Indian(-ish): Recipes and Antics from a Modern American Family by Priya Krishna with Ritu Krishna (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019).

Photos: Georgia Freedman