COOK THE BOOK: Potato-Edamame Samosas w/Coconut-Mint Chutney (pg.80/82)

Man, oh man do we love us some samosas. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad one. Last year while experimenting with spring rolls wrappers we improvised a samosa inspired filling and they were very good. So of course these should be too. This verson uses a home-made dough which always makes you appreciate the final product a little more. As for the filling, no curry powder in sight! A blend of spices including cumin seeds, mustard seeds, ginger, coriander, turmeric and cayenne combine for that authentic Indian flavor. Edamame in the filling is a creative (and healthy) twist on the usual potato-pea combo.

So . . . the dough. Combined the wet (rice milk, veg oil and cider vinegar) and the dry (all-purpose flour, turmeric, baking powder and salt) to yield (eventually) a smooth not sticky dough. Set that aside while the filling came together.

Toasted my whole spices, added onions and carrots to brown. Then some garlic, ginger, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, salt and lemon juice. Cooked potatoes joined the party, which we smashed while everything combined. The edamame was added at the end. Time to roll out the dough, cut circles and fill. .

Used a 4” pie cutter, wet the edges and went to it.

This was a bit tedious but goes a lot faster once you get a rhythm (in fact, with extra filling we made some a few days later and it came together a lot faster!). Anyway, the samosas were brushed with oil and baked, flipping once to brown evenly.

Here are the cute little buggers. They looked like mini empanadas really but tasted delicious. The lemon juice really perked up all the flavors (potato and lemon are great companions) and the classic “curry” aroma was not overpowering (but just right). We wouldn’t even think of frying these, it just wasn’t necessary.

The homemade dipping sauce was really a revelation though and I’ll be finding many more uses for it in the future. All we had to do was combine coconut milk, mint, cilantro, garlic, maple syrup and lime juice. Perfection. The other dipping sauce was some leftover tamarind chutney that was hiding in the back of the refrigerator. The two sauces combined worked well too.

The samosas made a great appetizer we enjoyed on the back porch with some sangria. A few days later we made a meal of them (mainly because we wanted to have the coconut-mint chutney again!) with some Indian inspired rice.