Indian Samosas

Talk about comfort food. I may be half Indian, but I know which side my stomach pledges allegiance to...

Ingredients:
For the pastry dough-

• 1 1/2 c all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp salt
• ~2/3 c cold water

For the potato filling-

• 2 med gold potatoes
• 1/2 c green peas (frozen are preferred to canned)
• 1 c spanish or sweet onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Preparing the dough-
  1. Combine flour and salt. Mix in oil by rubbing the flour between your hands. Slowly add water in small portions and mix with your hands until a dough forms, then continue working dough for 2-3 minutes.
2. Cover the dough in plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.
3. Roll a ball of dough (slightly bigger than a golf ball) into a circle to be about 5 inches in diameter. Do this with all of the dough.
4. Cut all dough circles in half, into two semi-circles.

Preparing the filling-
1. Boil, cool then slightly mash potatoes. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, and once seeds start to dance around in the oil, add onion. Cook onion 5-10 minutes until the onion turns almost clear.
3. Add peas and turmeric. Once peas are cooked, add coriander powder.
4. Fold in potatoes. Let cool before stuffing samosas.

Making Samosas-
1. Preheat a deep fryer to 360 degrees.
2. Wet a q-tip or your finger and moisten the straight edge of a dough semi-circle. Make an "O" with your hand (thumb meets 4 fingers) and create a cone in the hole of your hand. Slightly overlap moist edge of dough with dry edge and press together.
3. Add ~2 tsp potato filling to the cone.
4. With the seam you created facing forward, seal the top of the cone using a bit of water to moisten the dough. You should have a triangle with the seam in the front. Repeat until dough/filling are gone.
5. Fry for 5-6 minutes, until a dark golden brown.
6. Serve with a favorite sauce or Indian chutney.

Gulab Jamun

This is one of my favorite Indian sweets. It's a really simple dish, and it's something different that most palates will still find to be agreeable.

Ingredients: (makes about 25 gulab jamun)

For the dough balls-

• 3 c powdered milk
• 3/4 c all purpose flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 c milk
• oil for frying

For the syrup-

• 2 c sugar
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 3 pods cardamom
• 1 T all spice pods
• 1 c water

Directions:
1. Combine all of the syrup ingredients in a pan over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Set aside on the stove top to keep it warm.
2. Combine dry ingredients for dough balls and mix thoroughly.
3. Add the milk 1 T at a time and mix after each. Stop adding milk when you have a dough ball.
4. Break off the dough in little hunks about 1 T each (smaller than a ping pong ball. I'd say the size of a sea turtle egg... lol). Roll each hunk into a ball in the palms of your hands. Note: don't just form it into a ball, you have to roll it in circles your palms so that it stays together when you fry it.

Note the size of the balls in relation to a ping pong ball.

5. Heat a pan with enough oil to cover the dough balls on high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and drop each dough ball in. Don't agitate them while they're still stuck to the bottom. Once they start to float up a little and roll over, agitate the pan so that the balls roll and brown evenly.
6. Let the balls brown for 5 minutes until they're dark brown. (See picture)
7. Remove from oil and put directly into syrup.



8. For best results, let the dough balls sit in syrup over night in the refrigerator. I serve them still sitting in the syrup, but you can remove them and put them into little cupcake papers.

Baked chicken tikka, tomato lentil cous cous, and mango lassi

Two ways to do Tikka:

1. Nani's way
2. From a jar that you can find in the Indian section of your local grocery store.

 If you are so inclined, here is Nani's way :)

• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 4 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• small can tomato paste

Combine these ingredients and marinate chicken drum sticks. Grill or bake at 375 x 30 minutes.


While the chicken is baking, prepare the cous cous according to the directions on the box. I used Near East tomato lentil cous cous. It was a great compliment to the chicken.


Mango Lassi: (delicious Indian beverage)

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 mango - peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 2 cups cold water
• 1 cup ice
• 1 dash cinnamon, 1 dash cardamom
• 1 pinch salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender. This is one of my favorite treats. It's so cool and refreshing! 

Grilled Tandori Chicken, Tunisian Vegtable Salsa, and Flatbread

This is my take on Indian/Mediterranean food. I tend to mix the two as flavors and concepts can be similar. I served the grilled chicken, salsa, and flatbread with raita (recipe below), boxed batsmati rice, and aloo matar (a Northern Indian vegetable dish made from potatoes and green peas in a medium sauce).

Tunisian Vegetable Salsa
I only made half of this salsa recipe and I had plenty left over. It is great chilled and served the next day with left over flatbread.

Ingredients
Makes 4 cups

4 large unpeeled garlic cloves
4 plum tomatoes (about 12 ounces total)
2 small whole unpeeled onions (1/2 pound total)
2 large red bell peppers
1 large poblano chile
1 Japanese eggplant (about 5 ounces)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Directions
Prepare a grill to medium-high heat. Thread garlic cloves onto a metal skewer. Put garlic skewer, tomatoes, onions, peppers, chile, and eggplant on grill rack. Grill, turning occasionally, until tender and lightly charred all over, 6-7 minutes for garlic and tomatoes; 10 minutes for eggplant; 15 minutes for peppers and chile; 20 minutes for onions. Place peppers and chile in a large bowl; cover with plastic wrap and let stand 15 minutes. Peel, seed, and coarsely chop peppers and chile. Coarsely chop tomatoes and peeled eggplant. Peel and coarsely chop onions. Pulse all vegetables in a food processor, along with oil, until puréed to desired consistency. Transfer to a large bowl. Season to taste with lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

Grilled Flatbreads
I made all of this dough recipe but froze half of the dough. The best point to freeze the dough is right after you break it into 8 balls before you let it rise the second time. Thaw it out in the fridge over night the day before you want to use it. Before use kneed each one and let rise on the counter until they reach room temp. Follow the same grill directions. In place of the standing mixer and dough hook you can also use a food processor with a sharp blade.

Ingredients
Makes 8

1 1/4-ounce envelope active dry yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil plus more for brushing
5 cups (or more) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt plus more for seasoning
Freshly ground black pepper
Cumin
Corriander
Red pepper flakes

Directions
Pour 2 cups warm water (105°-115°) into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, or food processor with blade in. Sprinkle yeast over. Let sit until yeast dissolves, about 10 minutes. Mix in 1 tablespoon oil. Add 5 cups flour and 1 Tbsp. salt; beat until dough forms, about 1 minute.

Transfer dough onto a floured work surface and knead until smooth, adding more flour by spoonfuls as needed for soft but still slightly sticky dough, about 5 minutes. Place dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl; turn to coat. Cover bowl with a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Turn dough out onto a floured work surface. Divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll into balls; space 2" apart. Cover with a kitchen towel; let rest 15 minutes.

Prepare a grill to medium-high heat. Lightly brush 4 baking sheets with oil. Working with 1 dough ball at a time, roll out into 9" round. Place 2 dough rounds on each prepared sheet. Brush lightly with oil; season with cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.

Brush grill rack with oil. Working in batches, place flatbreads spice side down on rack. Brush with oil, season with salt and pepper, and grill until lightly charred in spots and cooked through, 1-1 1/2 minutes per side. Transfer to a work surface. Cut into wedges.

Raita

Ingredients

Makes 1 cup
1/4 c cucumber finely diced
1/4 c cilantro
1/2 Tbs lime juice
1 c plain Greek yogurt
Salt and pepper

Directions
Combine all ingredients and chill until ready to serve.

Grilled Tandori Chicken

Ingredients
1 package tandori marinade
2 Tbs plain Greek yogurt
1 lb skinless, bone-in chicken quarters

Directions
Make a slit in the chicken quarters. Mix all ingredients together in a plastic bag and let marinade overnight.

Pre heat the grill to medium. Grill for 20 minutes or until cooked through. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes. Once easy to handle you can pull the chicken to make eating it with the flatbread easier. That is my suggestion.