Samosas

Samosas are the quintessential Indian snack food. I have eaten them at hawker stalls in Singapore, the Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi, and the Dupont Circle Farmer's Market in Washington, D.C.

Traditionally, samosas are triangular-shaped pastries with a vegetable filling served with mint or coriander chutney. Preparing samosas is quite time consuming - rolling out and shaping the dough and filling it with the vegetable mixture takes a while. Since I was pressed for time I decided to forgo the triangular in favor of the half-moon shape.

Samosa recipes from Julie Sahni's Classical Indian Cooking and Nina Simonds Spices of Life have inspired my version below. To balance the spiciness of the filling I serve samosas with mint chutney and cucumber raita.

Filling:
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 finely chopped yellow onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 green chili, seeds removed, finely chopped
2 tsp garam masala
3/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
salt
1 pound small potatoes, cooked, peeled, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 large carrots, grated
3/4 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves

• Heat canola oil in saucepan and fry onion for a couple of minutes. Add garlic, ginger and chopped green chili and fry until onion is lightly browned. 
• Add spices and salt and incorporate well into mixture.
• Add vegetables and fry for a couple of minutes stirring constantly.
• Add lemon juice and coriander leaves. Fill mixture into bowl and let come to room temperature.

Dough:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp vegetable shortening
7 tbsp cold water

• Mix flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Gradually add vegetable shortening until incorporated. Add cold water one tablespoon at a time. Form dough into a ball, coat lightly with canola oil and let rest for 30 minutes covered with plastic wrap. 
• Divide dough in half and roll each half into a rope. Cut each rope into 6 - 7 pieces and form into balls.

Filling and frying the pastries:
Canola oil for deep frying
small bowl with cold water

• Prepare one pastry at a time.
• On a lightly floured surface roll out a ball into a 5-inch circle.
• Place 2-3 tbsp of filling into the bottom half of the circle leaving about 1/2 inch at the edges. Press filling down.
• Moisten edge of bottom half of circle with water.
• Fold over top half of circle and press down firmly to securely seal the samosa.
• Repeat with remaining dough balls.

Heat oil in a large pan. When hot, carefully place 3-4 samosas into oil and fry until pasty crust is golden brown. Remove from oil and place on paper towels. Fry remaining samosas.

Serve samosas warm or at room temperature with mint chutney and cucumber raita.

Serves 3 as a light meal.

Fried Tofu Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing

Until 12 years ago our family was not particularly fond of tofu. Nobody liked the texture, there was no taste to it and dishes I made just seemed boring. All of this changed when we were invited to a friend's home in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and sampled her Asian fried tofu appetizer. We were hooked. Since then I have experimented with various spices and condiments to make tofu dishes more appealing. Below is my version of a spicy tofu salad adapted from a recipe in "The Cooking of Singapore" by Chris Yeo and Joyce Jue.

Ingredients:

Dressing:
1/2 tsp mashed garlic
2 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tsp tamarind paste dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup ground roasted peanuts
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used smooth peanut butter, but you could also use the crunchy kind)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp sriracha sauce
1 tsp lemon or lime juice

Salad:
1 cup shredded green cabbage
1 pound tofu, drained, patted dry and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1-2 tbsp sesame oil
3 finely grated carrots
1/2 English hothouse cucumber, thinly sliced. Take about 6 cucumber slices and sliver them. Keep separate.

• Bring dressing ingredients to room temperature.
• Measure 1/2 cup of peanut butter into a small bowl.
• Combine minced garlic, soy sauce, tamarind water, ground roasted peanuts, sugar, sriracha sauce and lemon or lime juice and mix well. Add to peanut butter and blend until smooth. Set aside.
• Heat sesame oil in non-stick frying pan and fry tofu slices until lightly browned, about 2 - 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and cut into 1/2 inch cubes when cool enough to handle.
• To assemble salad, put several cucumber slices on a plate, add desired amount of tofu cubes, spoon some spicy peanut dressing over tofu and top with shredded cabbage, grated carrots and slivered cucumbers.

Serves 4 as an appetizer.

Fig and Mozzarella Kebabs

As a kid I really didn't like figs. I remembered the dried figs my grandmother used to eat around Christmas time in Germany. They were not at all appealing to me - I thought that their gooeyness was quite off-putting. I have since tried a number of dishes with fresh figs, which I found delicious. I particularly like black figs - goat cheese and black figs on a cracker with a glass of chilled white wine make a delicious pre-dinner snack.

Curious about figs? Try this simple appetizer kebab using black figs:

Quantity of ingredients: For one 5-inch skewer you will need one red grape, one slice of prosciutto, one mozzarella ball and 1/2 or 1/4 black fig (depending on size).

black figs
red seedless grapes
mozzarella balls (one should weigh approximately 1/3 oz.)
prosciutto slices
good quality balsamico
salt and freshly ground black pepper
wooden skewers (5 - 6 inches long)

• Carefully wash and dry figs. Depending on size, cut into halves or quarters. Drain mozzarella balls and roll up prosciutto slices individually.
• For one kebab thread fig, mozzarella ball, prosciutto and grape onto wooden skewer.
• Prepare as many kebabs as you like and arrange on a platter.
• Sprinkle coarse salt and grind black pepper over kebabs. Sparingly dribble balsamico over kebabs.

Hummus - Chickpea and Tahini Spread

One of my favorite appetizers/dips is hummus, a spread made of pureed chickpeas and tahini (sesame) paste which is very popular in the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and in Middle Eastern cuisine all over the world. The earliest known recorded recipes for hummus were found in cookbooks published in 13th century Cairo.

There are many variations on this spread, but the main ingredients are cooked, mashed chickpeas, tahini paste, olive oil, salt, lemon juice and garlic. The following is one of my go-to recipes with a few extra spices added:

Ingredients:

1 14 oz can chickpeas, drained and liquid saved
3 tbsp tahini paste
1/8 tsp crushed garlic
3/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 scant tbsp olive oil
chopped fresh cilantro

• Place chickpeas, tahini paste, garlic, salt, lime juice, ground cumin, cayenne pepper and olive oil in a food processor. Add approximately 1/8 - 1/4 cup of the drained chickpea liquid and puree. Add more liquid as necessary to have a fairly thick puree.
• Taste for seasoning and add cayenne pepper, salt or cumin as desired.
• Pour into bowl and sprinkle with chopped cilantro leaves.

I like to serve the hummus with toasted pita triangles, peppers, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and olives.

The pottery shown in these photos is from Uzbekistan. Rishtan, a center for ceramic art in the Ferghana valley to the west of the capital, Tashkent, is known for its bright green and blue ceramics, which were in high demand among those traveling along the Silk Road from China to the Arabian Peninsula.  There are several ceramic centers in Uzbekistan, but Rishtan is believed to be the oldest, producing ceramics for over 800 years. Geometrical patterns and ornamental designs grace the surface of bowls, plates, cups, platters, and teapots. Unfortunately, lead paint is used in the production process (this was at least the case when I purchased my pieces), so I don't use them to serve any hot food or beverages.

This recipe is adapted from Silk Road Cooking by Najmieh Batmanglij.

Prosciutto with Cantaloupe, Watermelon and toasted Hazelnuts

Several weeks ago I took my daughter to Fiola da Fabio Trabocchi (Fiola) for her birthday. Featuring Northern Italian cuisine, the restaurant comes highly recommended (great reviews in the Washington Post and the Washingtonian among others). Reservations are a must if you are going for dinner on a Saturday evening, and I was glad that I had reserved a table inside as it was too hot to sit on the outside terrace. The restaurant's decor is modern with a few interesting accents - I liked the wooden Pinocchios sitting on a shelf in the window in one of the rooms, and there is a rather large bar with a separate bar menu.

Our appetizers and main courses were absolutely delicious. I particularly enjoyed my appetizer and decided to recreate it at home - so here is my variation on it:

Prosciutto with Cantaloupe, Watermelon and toasted Hazelnuts

Ingredients:

1 oz of prosciutto

1/2 cup of each cantaloupe and watermelon balls (use a melon baller to make the balls and remove seeds from the watermelon

1/2 cup of dry-roasted, unsalted hazelnuts, toasted and chopped into coarse pieces (I did not remove the skin of the hazelnuts)

1/2 - 1 tsp high-quality balsamico (I used a 12-year-old balsamico from Acetaia Leonardi which I had picked up during my cooking class in Tuscany)

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, washed and dried

• Arrange prosciutto slices, melon balls and hazelnuts on a platter.
• Drizzle with balsamico and sprinkle with thyme.
• If desired, serve with baguette.

Serves 1-2 as an appetizer

Villani di Pastorello di Parma - Delicious Prosciutto from Parma