3 Breakfast Rules to Follow to Lose Weight

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Now that the New Year is here, many of us are resolving to eat better, move more, and lose weight. One of the best ways to do this—and make realistic and long-lasting lifestyles changes—is by eating a healthy breakfast every morning. Studies how that eating breakfast jump-starts your metabolism, so it’s an easy way to kick-start your efforts.

But when it comes to breakfasts, not all of them are created equal. In fact, some of them can actually derail your weight-loss efforts if you’re not careful. Instead follow these breakfast rules to help you slim down.

Eat right away

Studies have found that eating breakfast helps keep your metabolism revved, so be sure to eat within 30-60 minutes of waking to take advantage of your body’s full fat-burning potential. Eating first thing helps ensure that you don’t feel so starved later in the day that you end up making bad eating choices for lunch or dinner. But what if you’re not a breakfast person? If the thought of eating something that early in the morning turns your stomach, try sipping your breakfast with this Wake-Up Smoothie.

Load up on protein

A breakfast high in protein—think eggs and Greek yogurt—can ward off hunger pangs, helping you eat less and ultimately lose weight. One study found that women who ate egg breakfasts lost twice as much weight as women who started their days with bagels. The protein in eggs increases satiety and decreases hunger, which helps you eat fewer calories throughout the day. High-protein options are also a great choice for feeling full and energized all day long since they digest more slowly than other breakfasts.

Add a banana

Eating a breakfast that’s high in Resistant Starch (RS) can help you stay full and help you burn more calories since it prompts your body to use fat for energy. RS is found in foods like bananas and oats, so try this Banana Nut Oatmeal for a seriously satisfying and delicious breakfast!

15 Health Tricks To Teach Your Body

Being in control of your body can be a great thing. Imagine overcoming physical pain. Or being able to slow down your heart at will. There are so many body functions and reactions that we don’t understand and feel powerless about. But, with a little bit of practice, there are things you can gain control over and teach your body a few health tricks.

1. Relieve headaches and migraine quickly

Instead of using pain killers, why not trying an acupressure point next time you experience the excruciating pain? The following shiatsu point works for most frontal headaches and migraines and eases the physical discomfort in less than 5 minutes.

The point is located in the webbing between the thumb and index finger, at the highest spot of the muscle that protrudes when the thumb and index finger are brought close together. Use your thumb and index finger to press on the muscle from both sides: thumb is positioned on the back of your hand, and forefinger underneath. The stimulation of this point also helps with toothaches, shoulder pain and labor pain. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), pressing on certain points, releases the blocked Qi or body energy. 

2. Encode long-term memory

If you want to remember something for good, work on it just before going to sleep. Memory consolidation, that moves information from short-term to long-term memory, happens mostly while you sleep. If you have an important exam or presentation the following day, review it just before bed time.

3. Slow down your heart rate

Sometimes, when you are anxious, you can feel your heart pounding. To get your heart rate back to normal, you need to influence the vagus nerve, which governs heart rate. This nerve can be controlled through breathing.

One way to stimulate it and release anxiety is to exhale against a closed airway. You can do this by pinching your nose and trying to breathe out while keeping the mouth closed. The pressure in the chest cavity will increase, and the vagus nerve will be stimulated.

4. Stop a nose bleed

This technique might be new to some of us. It is based on the fact that most nose bleeds originate from the front of the septum, which is the cartilage wall that divides the nose. To stop the bleeding, you need to press hard against your upper gums, on the spot just behind a tiny dent below your nose. You can use some cotton or gauze to do this.

5. Control alcohol induced dizziness

I’m not telling you this to encourage drinking, but sometimes it can be useful to know how to walk straight when your body has been affected by alcohol.

The organ for balance lies in the inner ear and floats in a fluid that is the same density as blood. Alcohol dilutes your blood, including the blood in your inner ear, and makes the organ for balance float higher. This confuses the brain, so you need to provide it with a different stimulus that will improve its perception of the world around you. The best way to do this is by putting your hand on something stable. The sensitive nerves in the hand give the brain a tactile input that will make them re-assess the situation and provide you with a clearer picture of the world.

6. Cure your toothache-related pain

The same acupressure point that was introduced under point 1 (‘Relieve headaches and migraine quickly’), can be used for toothaches. A Canadian study also showed that the technique is more successful if you use ice. Rub ice on the V-shaped webbed area between your thumb and index finger. This will block the pain signals from hands and face. 

7. Fight acid reflux by sleeping position

Studies have shown that it is less likely to suffer from acid reflux if you sleep on your left side. This has to do with the position of your internal organs. Your esophagus and stomach connect at an angle, and your sleeping position determines which one is higher.

When you sleep on your right side, your stomach is higher, which can make the stomach acid enter the esophagus easier. But, when you sleep on your left, the position is reversed. The stomach lies lower, so the acid would need to travel against gravity to reach the upper parts of your digestive system, which is of course a lot harder to do. 

8. Clear your stuffed nose instantly

This is an osteopathic trick, as explained by Lisa DeStefano, an assistant professor at the Michigan State University College of osteopathic medicine. You need to perform two movements which will cause the vomer bone (one of the facial bones) to rock back and forth and will loosen the congestion. First, thrust your tongue against the roof of the mouth. Then, press with one finger between your eyebrows. Alternate between the two movements. You should feel some relief already after 20 seconds.

9. Feel no pain while giving blood

If you are afraid of the needle prick, you can try the following: cough. Coughing makes the pain diminish. The maneuver increases the pressure in the chest and spinal canal, and inhibits the transmission of pain signals up the spinal cord. You might want to inform the person taking the blood about this technique though, so you don’t disturb their procedure too much.

10. Cure a tickling throat

Tickly throat can be particularly annoying as you can’t reach inside and give it a proper scratch. But, there is a trick to do it indirectly. Simply, scratch your ear instead. Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose, and throat specialty center in Gibbsboro, New Jersey, explains that by stimulating the nerves in the ear, you cause a reflex in the throat that can make your muscles spasm. The muscle contraction helps with the itch and calms down the throat.

11. Use cold water to cool your nerves

Splashing your face with cold water – make it as cold as possible – is a good way to calm yourself down. It’s even better if you simultaneously hold your breath. This tricks your body into believing you’re diving into cold water and triggers an old mammalian reflex. Your body wants to economize with oxygen when it feels there will be a shortage, so the oxygen use becomes better. You are prompted to take deeper breaths and this relaxes the nervous system. 

12. Delay your most primal urge to pee

This suggestion is particularly useful when you feel a sudden need to urinate, yet you are miles away from the nearest bathroom. Instead of thinking about peeing, you should re-direct your thoughts and occupy your brain with something else. Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of male reproductive medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, suggests thinking about something that turns you on as this will preoccupy your brain and make it easier for you to reach the nearest toilet without any embarrassments.

13. Unstitch your side when you run

Many people experience a burning pain on the right side of their tummy when they run or exert themselves. The uncomfortable feeling comes from the area of your liver, which is located on the ride side, below the ribcage. When they run, most people follow a certain movement pattern– they exhale when their right foot hits the ground. This puts downward pressure on the liver and creates a side stitch when it jerks the diaphragm – the biggest breathing muscle. All you need to do is become aware of your movements and step forward with your left foot as you breathe out.

14. Swallow you tablets painlessly

A lot of people struggle swallowing their pills. It doesn’t help that some medications and supplements come in huge sizes. When you have to get a few of them down, this can result in gagging and discomfort. Most people are used to putting their heads back as they swallow. But, you should really do the opposite. When you try to swallow your next horse-sized supplement, tilt your neck forward instead of backward. Take a sip of water, bring your head forward, and then swallow the tablet. It should be easier now that the pill is floating in your mouth.

15. Extend your time underwater

To do this trick it might be useful to understand how the body works. The urge to breathe doesn’t come from the lack of oxygen. It comes from the buildup of carbon dioxide in the blood. When your body becomes more acidic, the brain is aware that there is a problem. You can delay this reaction if you hyperventilate just before making the dive. This lowers the blood’s acidity and can make you stay underwater for up to 10 seconds longer. Before your plunge, take a few short, quick breaths and then dive in. Hyperventilating will trick your brain into believing it has more oxygen than it really does, and let you enjoy the underworld for slightly longer.

How ‘Everything in Moderation’ Is Wrecking Your Diet

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We’ve all heard the “everything in moderation” rule, and it seems like such a common sense way to approach your diet. Allowing yourself small portions of all sorts of foods, including treats like ice cream and bacon, lets you enjoy yourself while still saving calories, right?

Not necessarily, says a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE. For the study, researchers recruited more than 5,000 adult men and women, and then followed them over a period of 5-7 years, periodically surveying them about their diets. They also tracked how their waist circumferences (which measures belly fat) and overall weights changed over time.

In the end, they found that people who tended to eat a little bit of everything were much more likely to gain belly fat over time. In fact, among the people with the most diet diversity, waist circumference grew 120% by the end of the study.

They also found that those who consumed a broader spectrum of foods tended to eat more unhealthy ones, like processed meats, desserts, and soda, rather than fruits and veggies.

So should you stop enjoying a wider variety of small indulges and just really go for it with fewer, healthier foods? Maybe, but there’s a little more to it than that. Here are my five tips for making moderation work for both your taste buds and your waistline.

Rank potential splurges

Any time you’re faced with a treat use a scale from 1 to 5 to rank it, with 1 being “meh” and 5 being “can’t-live-without.” If something doesn’t score at least a 4, skip it. I bet you won’t regret passing up these foods in the moment, and you especially won’t be missing them the next day when you’re stepping into your jeans. This simple strategy can help you cut back on foods that add extra calories, but aren’t satisfying enough to prevent you from still reaching for something else.

Budget your shopping trips

Rather than budgeting financially I’m referring to limiting the number of splurge-y foods you bring home at one time. A 2013 study from the journal Appetite, found that more often you eat a food without mixing things up, theless exciting it becomes— kind of a “been there, done that” phenomenon.

In fact, even small variations can stimulate your senses in new ways, which can prompt you to eat more. So if you bring several different treats home from the supermarket at once (a pint of ice cream, chips, cookies, and candy) you’re likely to sample a little of each, which can add up to downing far more calories than if you had fewer options available. Test this trick out for yourself to see if it impacts your overall intake.

Make room for splurges

To create balance and reduce the number of total foods you eat, omit some things to build in others. For example, if you want fries, order your turkey burger wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun. Or if you’re craving a cookie, have stir fried veggies and protein without the rice, or a salad topped with lean protein in place of a wrap. Most of my clients’ favorite indulgences are high in carbs, so omitting other carb-rich foods within the same meal just makes sense.

Go for quality first

Make it a rule to only treat yourself after consuming quality calories first, like splitting a dessert after lunching on lean protein and a generous portion of veggies. Or take it a step further and make nutrient-rich foods your treats, like a few squares of 70% dark chocolate, or a sliced apple dipped in almond butter.

Even if you’re tracking your food intake religiously and making room for your treats with the smart swaps, focusing on quality is still key. For example, a University of Florida study found that people who ate more whole plant-based foods had smaller waist measurements, and lower body fat percentages than those who had low intakes, even though they consumed about the same number of daily calories.

Track yourself, even briefly

Most people underestimate how much they eat, sometimes significantly.

In a Cornell University study researchers used a hidden camera to spy on people at an Italian restaurant. Just five minutes after the meal they asked diners how much bread they had consumed. Most people ate about 30% more than they thought, and 12% who were seen eating bread on camera denied having any at all.

If you tend to mindlessly munch, like many people do, one of the only ways to get a handle on your intake is to track it. You can use good old-fashioned pen and paper, an app on your smartphone, or a website. If that’s too time consuming I ask some of my clients to simply snap a photo of everything they eat and drink and text them to me. Within a day or two they’re often shocked by how much more they eat, or how many more foods they eat, than they realized. But once they’re aware of it, they learn to cut back.

Just a few days of tracking can raise your awareness significantly, and allow to catch yourself before you follow through with nibbling on autopilot.

Chole Chana Masala Recipe (with Step by Step Photos)

Preparation Time: 8 hours
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 2 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 cup White Chick Peas (garbanzo beans/kabuli chana)
1 teaspoon Tea Powder or Tea Leaves or (1-2 teabags)
2 Red Ripe Tomatoes, chopped
1 large Onion, finely chopped
1½ teaspoons Ginger-Garlic Paste
1 Green Chilli, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
3 tablespoons Cooking Oil
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons finely chopped Coriander Leaves
For Dry Masala
1 small piece of Bay Leaf
1 Black Cardamom
1 tablespoon Coriander Seeds
1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
4-5 Black Peppercorns
1 Dry Red Chilli
2 Cloves (lavang)
1-inch piece of Cinnamon

Directions:




Soak white chickpeas in water overnight or for around 8-10 hours.



Tie 1 teaspoon tea leaves in a plain muslin cloth. Tied tea leaves used for enhancing the color and flavor of chana. You can also use tea bags in place of tea leaves.



Pressure cook soaked white chickpeas with a tied tea leaves pouch, enough water and salt in a 3-liter capacity steel/aluminum pressure cooker over medium flame. After 4-5 whistles, turn off the flame and let the pressure comes down naturally. Do not open the lid immediately to cook the chana perfectly. Open the lid and remove tied tea leaves pouch. Drain the excess water from boiled chickpeas in a large bowl. Keep the drained water to use later in the recipe. If pressure cooker is not available, you can also use a deep pan to boil chickpeas but it would take more time to cook.



Dry roast bay leaf, black cardamom, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, dry red chilli, cloves and cinnamon in a pan until nice aroma starts or for around 1-minute over low flame. Let them cool for a while and then grind them in a small jar of a mixer grinder to make smooth dry punjabi masala powder.



Mash 2 tablespoons boiled chickpeas with backside of a large spoon or grind in a grinder to make a medium coarse paste. Grind tomatoes in a mixer grinder to make tomato puree.



Heat 3-tablespoons cooking oil in a kadai or pan over medium flame. Add chopped onion and sauté until it turns light brown or for approx. 1-2 minutes. Add ginger-garlic paste and chopped green chilli. Mix well and cook for 30 seconds.



Add tomato puree and salt (only for tomato puree because we have already added salt while boiling white chickpeas). Cook on medium flame until oil starts to separate, around 4-5 minutes. Stir it in between occasionally to prevent sticking.



Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and dry masala powder (prepared in step-4).



Mix well and sauté for a minute.



Add boiled chickpeas, mashed chickpeas and 1-cup water (preserved drained water of boiled chickpeas), mix well.



Cook until gravy becomes thick, it will take around 4-5 minutes. Turn off the flame. Transfer white chana masala curry to a serving bowl and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve it hot with bhatura or steamed rice.

Tips and Variations:

If pressure cooker is not available, you can also use a deep pan to boil chickpeas but it would take more time to cook.
If you want to use canned chickpeas then drain the excess water from canned chickpeas and skip step-1 to step-3 in the above recipe. No need to boil canned chickpeas. Do not use drained canned water in the recipe.
You can also use ready-made chhole masala powder (around 1 teaspoon) instead of homemade fresh punjabi chhole masala powder in this recipe.
Adjust the amount of water in step-10 to make thick or thin gravy.
You can use the same gravy for any legumes like moong beans, lobia beans, rajma etc.
If you do not have enough time to soak chickpeas, then soak them in hot water for 3-4 hours.

Taste: Spicy

Serving Ideas: Serve spicy Punjabi chole masala with bhatura or plain paratha and onion tomato salad. You can also serve it with jeera rice andmasala papad.

5 Things You Definitely Should Not Be Doing to Your Vagina

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Oh, Gwyneth. Just when we thought we’d heard it all, Gwyneth Paltrow recently touted the restorative powers of $50 vaginal steam treatments on her website, Goop. Here’s the scoop on this and four other things you definitely should not be doing to your vagina.

Steaming it

Paltrow offers huge raves for Tikkun Spa’s Mugwort V-Steam: “You sit on what is essentially a mini-throne, and a combination of infrared and mugwort steam cleanses your uterus, et al,” the Oscar winner explains. “It is an energetic release—not just a steam douche—that balances female hormone levels.”

But ob/gyns call her bluff. “It probably feels good because the heat increases blood flow to the whole vaginal area, including the clitoris, which could turn some women on,” says Hilda Hutcherson, MD, an ob/gyn at Columbia University Medical Center and author of Pleasure: A Woman’s Guide to Getting the Sex You Want, Need and Deserve ($17, amazon.com). “But if you got too close to the steam, you could end up with second degree burns down there.” Yikes.

In addition, the steam itself can increase moisture in and around your nether regions, making you more susceptible to the growth of yeast and unfriendly bacteria, points out Taraneh Shirazian, MD, an ob/gyn at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Not to mention the fact that there’s no way for the steam to actually reach your uterus to supposedly cleanse it, and your vagina takes care of cleaning itself.

Bottom line: You’ll likely feel much more energized and balanced by opting for a relaxing full body massage instead.

Sunbathing it

“I like to…give my vagina a little vitamin D,” Shailene Woodley recently confessed. “If you’re feeling depleted, go in the sun for an hour and see how much energy you get. Or, if you live in a place that has heavy winters, when the sun finally comes out, spread your legs and get some sunshine.”

But before you peel off your bikini bottoms, consider this: “Your vagina will get the exact same vitamin D benefits if you pop a vitamin D supplement, and you won’t expose your privates to an increased risk of skin cancers such as melanoma,” Dr. Shirazian points out. Plus imagine a sunburn down there? Ow yow yow.

Inserting sticky edibles into it

While Kandi Burruss of the Real Housewives of Atlanta advocated putting sugar into your vagina to, er, sweeten the secretions down there, ob/gyns say that’s a no go.

“As a general rule of thumb, you don’t want to insert anything edible into your vagina that you can’t easily remove,” says Dr. Hutcherson. “If it stays there, it can upset the balance of good bacteria and acids in your vagina, setting you up for infection.”

Douching it

We’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million times. Douching: Don’t do it. For one thing, you don’t need to smell like a flower down there. For another, it’s just plain not healthy for your lady bits.

“Douching upsets the natural balance of your vagina,” says Dr. Hutcherson. Research has consistently shown an association between frequent douching and vaginal infections such as yeast and bacterial vaginosis, as well as the fertility-threatening condition pelvic inflammatory disease.

Piercing it

While experts say genital piercings can be safe if done (and cared for) correctly, genital piercing itself is unregulated in many states, which can make it hard to suss out if the place you’re at is using good hygiene and sterilization methods to reduce risk of infection and scarring.

In addition, while piercings are ostensibly used to increase sexual pleasure, they can cause irritation or even tears during sexual activity which would require you to stop your shenanigans and head to the ER, says Dr. Shirazian. And that’s far from sexy.

Best Places to Travel in 2016

50. Mie Prefecture, Japan

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The 50 biggest, buzziest destinations to visit this year include France’s new culture hub, a revived Hawaiian hideaway, and Mexico’s next great arts city.

To compile our annual list of the best places to travel in the upcoming year, T+L editors thoroughly and meticulously consider a variety of factors. Which under-the-radar gems are most exciting to our network of contributing writers and global correspondents? Which destinations are our A-List travel specialistsfielding requests for? Which classic vacation spots are starting to emerge—but for entirely new and compelling reasons? Which global events and changes in travel restrictions have made certain destinations easier to get to?

This year’s list ranges from the Andaman Islands, off India (which impressed even the most discerning ocean-lover, Jacques Cousteau), to an unspoiled stretch of the Caribbean, and nine other beach destinations with sun, sand, and beautiful views. For food lovers, we’ve got everything from Ghent, Belgium (where a group of young chefs is leading the culinary revolution and plans for a massive food hall are under way), to the canal town of Aarhus, Denmark, which is stepping out of Copenhagen’s shadow with three Michelin-starred restaurants of its own.

Closer to home, once-overlooked spots have proven themselves worthy of another glance. The bike-friendly town of Richmond, Virginia, has standout architecture, a burgeoning art and food scene, and a brand-new design hotel. Detroit’s renewal has been on our radar for a while, and with signs of life springing up in its abandoned buildings—including a hotel that set up shop in a historic fire-department headquarters—it’s finally earned a much-deserved spot on this list. And in San Antonio, the Roman and Williams–designed Hotel Emma, in a former brewhouse, sits at the heart of the restaurant- and shopping-packed Pearl district.

In the geopolitical sphere, the recently signed nuclear deal between Iran and the UN security council has opened up opportunities for Americans to more readily visit the cosmopolitan capital of Tehran and the mosques of Kashan. And while Cuba  was on last year’s list, a spate of new cruises that dock in Havana—all thanks to eased travel restrictions for Americans—mean the destination is continuing to blossom. Cruise ships are also heading to Batumi, in Georgia, with its gorgeous botanical garden. It’s a Black Sea port that’s gaining attention from the big cruise brands given the safety concerns in Ukraine.

Whether you’re looking for a weekend getaway close to home, a farther-flung bucket-list trip—or even a multi-stop tour that combines, say, the art- and design-filled Taipei, the classic Chinese retreat of Hangzhou, and the hip surf community of Canggu, Bali—consider the 50 incredible destinations on this list a road map for your planning and inspiration in 2016.

Flip through the slideshow for the full list, and share your thoughts (and travels) with us on social media with the hashtag #TLBestPlaces.—Stephanie Wu

Samosa Recipe (with Step by Step Photos)

It is a crispy and spicy Indian snack which has an crisp outer layer made of maida and rich filling of mashed potato, peas and spices. Samosa prepared with this recipe also has a mild lingering taste of chilli, ginger, coriander and cumin seed which makes it simply irresistible. It can be prepared with one’s liking of perfect not too hot not too spicy, crispy taste and its a favorite snack for people of all ages and perfect party food.



Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 12 pieces

Ingredients For Outer Crisp Cover:

1½ cups Maida Flour
1 teaspoon Carom Seeds (ajwain)
3 tablespoons Ghee/Oil
Salt to taste
Ingredients For Stuffing:
3 medium Potatoes
1/2 cup Green Peas (mutter)
1/2 tea spoon Cumin Seeds (jeera)
1 tablespoon Green Chilli-Ginger Paste
1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder(lal mirch)
1 teaspoon Coriander Powder
1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
1 teaspoon Dry Mango Powder (aamchur)/ Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Fennel Seeds Powder (saunf powder)
5-6 Chopped Mint Leaves, optional
2 tablespoons Chopped Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons + for deep frying Oil

Directions:



Boil green peas and potatoes in salted water in a pressure cooker. Transfer them to a colander after boiling. Peel the potatoes and mash them or finely chop them.



While potatoes are cooking, let’s bind a dough for crispy outer layer. Take maida, carom seeds, 3 tablespoons oil (or ghee) and salt in a wide mouthed bowl.



Mix all the ingredients properly with hand. You will notice the mixture will turn crumbly after mixing. Now, add water in multiple small quantities and knead firm dough (harder than paratha dough). Cover it with wet muslin cloth/any cloth and let it set for 15-20 minutes.



When the dough is setting, let’s start to make stuffing for samosa. Heat 2 tablespoons cooking oil in kadai over medium flame. Add cumin seeds and green chilli-ginger paste. Stir and cook for a minute.



Add boiled green peas and stir-fry for a minute. Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, dry mango powder and fennel seeds powder.



Stir fry for a minute.



Add chopped/mashed potato and salt (add salt only if you have not added while boiling potatoes or taste the potato and then add according it).



Mix them properly and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add coriander leaves, mint leaves and mix well.



Turn off the flame and transfer stuffing mixture to a bowl. Let it cool for a while at room temperature.



After 15-20 minutes, remove the wet cloth and knead the dough again until smooth. Divide it into 6 small portions and make round shaped balls from it.



Take one dough ball and press it between your palms to flatten it a little. Put it over rolling board and roll it out into round shaped puri having approx 5-6 inch diameter. Cut it into two semi-circles.

Spread water with the wet finger or a brush on the cut side edge (straight side – as shown in photo) to moisten the surface.



Take one semi-circle and give it a shape of cone by folding it from both sides (overlapping one side over another) and pressing them to seal the sides.



Put one mutter (pea) at the bottom of the cone to keep its shape.



Put 2-3 tablespoons filling in the cone. Do not over fill the stuffing otherwise, you will not be able to seal the edges properly in next step.



Wet the edges with moist finger or a brush and press it tightly with your thumb and index finger to seal them.



Heat oil in a heavy based kadai (pan) over medium flame. When oil is medium hot, add 2-3 samosa (depending on the size of a pan) in it and reduce flame to low. Do not over crowd the oil to cook them evenly.

If you want to prepare them in advance for guest then remove the samosa when they start to turn light brown and deep fry them again at the time of serving. Skip this step if you do not want to double-fry (two times frying) the samosa.



Deep fry them on low to medium flame until they turn brown. Transfer fried samosas to a plate and serve with green chutney and tomato ketchup.

Tips and Variations:

Use samosa maker to give a proper triangle shape.
Do not deep fry the samosa over very high flame.
If you want to make the samosa in advance(3-4 hours ahead) for guests, then double fry them (two times deep frying) -1.deep fry them until light brown as shown in the step-18 and then remove from oil 2.deep fry them again at the time of serving.
To make the punjabi samosa, add chopped onion and paneer while making the stuffing.
To make the samosa chaat, serve samosa with ragda(or chhole), curd, green chutney, date-tamarind chutney, chopped onion and sev.

Taste: Crispy and spicy

Serving Ideas: Samosa can be served with tempting mint chutney or green chutney or tamarind chutney (khajoor (dates) chutney) or tomato ketchup. Garnish it with chopped onion, green chutney, khajoor chutney, sev and curd and serve as a samosa chaat.

Author: Foram