Meatless Mondays: Vegetable Samosas and Fruited Rice

I had some veggies left over from making stuffed peppers the other day and some egg roll wrappers that needed using, so, what’s the logical conclusion? That’s right! Indian samosas and fruited rice! Since I had all the veggies already prepared and rice and dried fruit at hand, this was a really easy dinner. With a little Apple Mango Chutney and some yogurt and fresh cilantro, it was delicious!

Vegetable Samosas

Makes 12

1/4 C small diced peeled new potatoes
1/4 C grated carrot
1/4 C small diced white onion or shallot
1/4 C small diced yellow or orange bell pepper
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1″-2″ peeled ginger, minced
1/4 C peas
I added 1/2 tsp garam masala, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp turmeric and a tiny bit of salt
Additional ingredients you could use: minced chilies, crushed red peppers, ground cayenne peppers, cilantro, parsley
Wrappers – I used some egg roll wrappers, you could use won ton or even small spring roll wrappers
water or egg white for sealing the samosas
1-2 C peanut or canola oil (peanut oil is the best) You want about 1 1/2″ depth in the pan

Dice everything down to the wrappers and toss the spices in. Heat the oil in a medium to small pan to about 320 or medium high. I used a medium sauce pan. Take a sheet of the wrapper and place a Tablespoon of the filling in the middle and wrap, sealing with the water or egg white. There are many ways to wrap…triangles, squares, rectangles, cones, half-moons. Do your own thing, just don’t have too much wrapper for the filling. The object is using a small amount of filling and sealing all the edges of the wrapper so, when it is fried, it won’t fall apart. Drop in the hot oil and when one side is golden, turn over and when it’s all golden, place on a cookie rack or on a plain brown paper bag until cool enough to eat. DON”T put your samosas on paper towels! The paper towel lets the oil soak back into the samosa making them less crisp and tasty.
The main reason I diced all the veggies so fine is that I didn’t have to cook them first. If you want a larger dice, cook the veggies first as they won’t cook through in the frying.
These samosas can actually be reheated in an oven or a toaster oven and they are still as tasty!

Fruited Rice

1 C basmati rice rinsed twice and drained
1/4 C dried apricots and golden raisins plumped in hot water for 15 minutes and drained (water can be used to cook the rice)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp saigon cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
4-6 crushed green cardamon seeds
1/2 tsp funugreek seeds plumped in hot water for 15 minutes and drained
1/2 tsp black sesame seeds

Toss everything together add hot water and cook in your rice cooker or steamer. Add sea salt and/or freshly ground black pepper if wanted.

P.S. You could add naan and some other condiments like green or tomato chutney or a side of spinach paneer or curried cauliflower.

Tags: cooking wisdom, Food, Frugality, Recipe, Teaching