These Samosa Buns are a fun, savoury variation on traditional cinnamon rolls. Stuffed with a flavourful chickpea filling, it's a meal to go!
We were looking over the vendor list for the next day’s market. One vendor - Bake Me Wishes - offered something called a Tandoori Roll. The description was pretty sparse, so we started speculating on what it might be like.
We kind of snowballed on each other’s thoughts, and ended up with this glorious idea of a savoury version of a cinnamon roll, but with a samosa-like chickpea filling rolled into a spiral.
Then we went to the market the next morning and ordered one. It was nice - a lightly spiced chickpea bread. It would have been perfect for myriad different Indian inspired sandwiches... but it definitely wasn’t the same thing we’d conjured up!
SO, here we are. The bread dough is more savoury than those I use in Cinnamon rolls, and it’s spiced with some Carom Seeds (or Cumin seeds), and Turmeric.
The filling is based on my usual vegetarian samosa filling, a spiced chickpea filling with carrots and onions.
The whole thing us done up, cinnamon roll style, and makes a GREAT meal on the go - just heat and eat! It’s not quite an actual sandwich, but it’s also not NOT a sandwich, you know?
Anyway, let’s look at what you’ll need for making a batch of these samosa buns...
Ingredients
If you’ve got a fairly diverse spice rack, you’ll find this recipe uses really basic ingredients - you shouldn’t have any difficulty finding anything else you’ll need in basically any grocery store.
If you have a fairly basic spice rack... you may find yourself needing to pad it out, to be able to make this recipe.
As always, I have some ingredients for you:
All Purpose Flour
This recipe was developed using regular all-purpose flour, but there are some tweaks you could make, if you want.
If you want to add some whole wheat flour, I wouldn’t recommend swapping out more than a cup or so of the white flour.
Any more than that, and you could run into texture issues - the water absorption differs between white and whole wheat flour.
You can swap bread flour in 1:1, no problem... but I wouldn’t use cake/pastry flour, as it’s too low in gluten for this recipe.
Spices
The bulk of the ingredient list is made up of various spices. These warm Indian spices work together to give the chickpea filling a complex flavour, and also to bring a bit of interest to the bread itself.
Overall, you’ll need:
Carom Seeds or Cumin Seeds
Cayenne Pepper
Cumin Seeds
Curry Powder
Fennel Seeds
Garam Masala
Ground Black Pepper
Ground Coriander
Salt
Turmeric
Everything Else
Rounding out this recipe, you will need:
Canned Chickpeas / Garbanzo Beans
1 Onion
1 Large Carrot
Frozen Peas
Garlic Cloves
Fresh Cilantro
Olive Oil
Ginger Paste
Lemon Juice
Granulated Sugar
Active Dry Yeast
... I just don’t have anything to add, as far as these last few ingredients go. Pretty straightforward!
Share the Love!Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you post it to Bluesky, be sure to tag us - @CelebrationGen. We're also on Pinterest, so you can save all your favourite recipes to a board! Also, be sure to subscribe to my free email newsletter, so you never miss out on any of my nonsense. Well, the published nonsense, anyway! |
How to Make Samosa Bread Rolls
The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the visual walk through:
Samosa Inspired Bread Dough
Stir yeast and sugar into warm water, allow to stand for 10 minutes – it should get very bubbly.
Dump dough out onto a floured surface, knead until soft and elastic, 5-10 minutes. (OR: mix it in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 5 minutes or so!)
Once dough is fully kneaded, place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for one hour, or until doubled in size.
Samosa Filling
In a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat, sauté onion and carrot in olive oil until tender. Add garlic and ginger, cook for another minute.
Add the spices to the pan, continue cooking for another 30-60 seconds, until fragrant.
Add drained chickpeas, lemon juice, and water; mash lightly, stir to combine everything.
Add peas and cilantro, simmer just until thickened, then remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Set aside, allow to cool to room temperature.
Assemble the Rolls
Generously grease or spray a 9x 13″ baking pan.
Once dough has doubled in size and chickpea mixture has cooled, roll dough out on a floured surface. Aim to make it a large rectangle, say 15 x 20″ or so.
Starting with one of the shorter edges, tightly roll the dough up.
Using a very sharp knife, slice the roll into 6 even rounds. I recommend wiping your knife down between each slice, to keep them looking clean and pretty.
Carefully place each roll into the pan, spacing them evenly.
Once final rise is over, pop the pan in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown and perfect.
Allow to cool for a few minutes, if you’re patient. Serve hot, with a bit of cilantro-mint chutney, if desired!
Leftovers
Once cooled to room temperature, rolls can be wrapped in plastic and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Leftovers are best served room temperature or warmer.
We like to microwave it for 30 seconds to take the chill off it, then pop it in the air fryer for a few minutes. It gives it a freshly baked taste and texture.
More Indian Food Recipes....
Love Indian food? Be sure to check out these other fabulous Indian - and Indian inspired - recipes! (Those marked GF are inherently gluten-free)
Aloo Pakora [GF]
Butter Chicken Recipe [GF]
Chicken Pakora [GF]
Chicken Shahi Korma Recipe [GF]
Cilantro-Mint Chutney Recipe [GF]
Coriander Chicken [GF]
Corn Pakora [GF]
Cucumber Raita [GF]
Easy Campfire Chicken Curry
Gobi Pakora [GF]
Mango Lassi Popsicles Recipe [GF]
Mixed Vegetable Pakora [GF]
Mushroom Pakora [GF]
Onion Pakoda [GF]
Palak Pakoda [GF]
Paneer Burgers Recipe
Paneer Pakora [GF]
Samosa Recipe
Tandoori Spiced Chicken Burger with Mango Recipe [GF]
Specialty Diet Versions
Looking for gluten-free and/or low carb versions of traditional Indian recipes? Here are a few from my other blogs:
Gluten-Free Samosas
Keto Chicken Biryani
Low Carb Butter Chicken
Keto Chicken Korma
Low Carb Shrimp Curry
Keto Chicken Samosa
Samosa Rolls - Savoury Chickpea Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
- 1 9 x 13 Baking Dish
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 ½ Cups Warm - not hot! - Water
- 4 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
- 1 tablespoon Granulated Sugar
- 3 ½ Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2-3 teaspoon Carom Seeds or Cumin Seeds
- 2 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric
Samosa Filling
- 1 Onion Finely Chopped
- 1 Large Carrot Chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 3 Garlic Cloves Minced or pressed
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger Paste
- 1 Tablespoon Curry Powder
- 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 1 teaspoon Fennel Seeds
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
- ½ teaspoon Ground Coriander
- ½ teaspoon Cayenne
- 2 cans Chickpeas Rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 2 tablespoon Water
- 1 cup Frozen Peas Thawed and drained
- 2 tablespoon Chopped Cilantro
- Salt and Ground Black Pepper
Instructions
Dough:
- Stir yeast and sugar into warm water, allow to stand for 10 minutes – it should get very bubbly.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, seeds, salt, and turmeric. Pour in yeast mixture, stir well to combine. Dump dough out onto a floured surface, knead until soft and elastic, 5-10 minutes. (OR: mix it in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 5 minutes or so!)
- Once dough is fully kneaded, place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for one hour, or until doubled in size.
- While the dough is rising, make your filling:
Samosa Filling:
- In a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat, sauté onion and carrot in olive oil until tender. Add garlic and ginger, cook for another minute.
- Add the spices to the pan, continue cooking for another 30-60 seconds, until fragrant.
- Add drained chickpeas, lemon juice, and water; mash lightly, stir to combine everything.
- Add peas and cilantro, simmer just until thickened, then remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Set aside, allow to cool to room temperature.
Assemble the Rolls:
- Generously grease or spray a 9x 13″ baking pan.
- Once dough has doubled in size and chickpea mixture has cooled, roll dough out on a floured surface. Aim to make it a large rectangle, say 15 x 20″ or so.
- Evenly scatter the samosa filling across the rolled dough, avoiding the very edge of the rectangle.
- Starting with one of the shorter edges, tightly roll the dough up.
- Using a very sharp knife, slice the roll into 6 even rounds. I recommend wiping your knife down between each slice, to keep them looking clean and pretty.
- Carefully place each roll into the pan, spacing them evenly.
- Cover pan with plastic wrap, allow to rise one more time – about 45 minutes. While waiting for the buns to rise, heat oven to 375F.
- Once final rise is over, pop the pan in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown and perfect.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes, if you’re patient. Serve hot, with a bit of cilantro-mint chutney, if desired!
Notes
Nutrition
Thanks for Reading!... and hey, if you love the recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and comment! |
Marie Porter
One of our favourite savoury versions of a cinnamon bun - hope you love it too!