What better day to whip up some Samosas than Holi! Holi, the festival of colors, falls on March 17 this year. The festival has several mythological stories behind it and celebrated is different ways in parts on India. Most celebrations involve a bonfire and playing with colors, dry or wet, loosening of the norms. Over the years, the meaning and the reasons to celebrate have been forgotten and twisted up.



This year, let us celebrate this festival to celebrate family and friends, healthy food, celebrate life, human or animal and make these plant based goodies!



Samosas are a very popular snack in India too, and there are several variations that are available. These pretty pastries on today’s post are filled with Mung dal and peas spiced with fennel and coriander. The pastry dough has whole wheat and semolina and is Baked. You can also deep fry these at medium high temperature.



Fill them with Samosa potatoes and bake. You can also bake the wrappers into Mathri/Crackers. Roll them out. Cut up into squares and bake.







What are your favorite Indian snacks? Did you see the new Zouq snack products – the golden lentils, curry crunch. I was like what the.. all that is just different forms of Indian Chivda packaged up and renamed a bit. and Vegnews and everyone picked it up! Ha!



Steps:

Dry roast the fennel and coriander seeds.







Grind the seeds. In the same pan, add oil and heat on medium heat. Add the ground seeds, turmeric, cayenne and coriander powder and cook for a minute.





Add the soaked mung dal and cook for 5 minutes. Add peas and continue to cook until dry.







Knead the dough and let rest for 10 minutes. Then roll out small balls into circles. Cut the circles into halfs.







Fold the edges of the half circle and seal with water. fill the cone with the filling and seal the bottom with water.







Make all the samosas.







Bake or fry and serve with chutneys.







Baked Mung Dal Samosas. – Savory Pastries filled with spiced yellow lentils.

Allergen Information: Free of dairy, egg, corn, soy, yeast. Use a gf pastry dough to make these gluten-free.

Makes 8 to 10

Ingredients:

Filling:

1/2 cup Mung dal (split moong bean) also called petite yellow lentils

2 tsp fennel seeds

2 tsp coriander seeds

a generous pinch of asafetida(hing)

1/2 tsp each of garam masala, cayenne powder, coriander powder, turmeric, salt

2 tsp oil

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Tbsp ginger minced

1/4 cup peas, frozen or fresh



Wrapper:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup unbleached white flour

1 Tablespoon semolina

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

a generous pinch of baking soda

a generous dash of black pepper

1/4 tsp ajwain (carom seeds) or cumin seeds

2 tsp olive oil

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp water



Method:

Filling:

Wash the mung dal. Soak the Mung Dal in hot water for an hour. (heat up 1 cup water to a good hot state. Add to the bowl with the washed mung dal and let sit for an hour).

In a pan, dry roast the fennel seeds and coriander seeds on medium heat for 2 minutes.

Cool and blend with the garam masala, cayenne, coriander powder, turmeric, salt and asafetida into a coarse mixture.

In a pan, add oil and heat on medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 2 minutes or until garlic is golden.

Add the ground spices and cook for half a minute.

Drain and add the mung dal and mix well. Reduce heat to low-medium.

Add 2 Tbsp water, mix, cover and cook for 6 minutes.

Add in the peas, mix in, cover and cook for another 4 minutes or until tender to preference. Add a splash of water and cook longer if needed. Taste and adjust salt and spice.



Wrapper:

In a bowl, add the flours, starch, semolina, salt, baking soda, carom seeds and black pepper and whisk well. Add the oil and mix to form crumbs. Add 1/4 cup water and knead. Add more water if needed, and knead into a smooth dough (not too soft, not too stiff).

Let the dough sit covered by a towel for 10 minutes.

Make small balls and roll it out to 5 to 6 inch rounds. Cut the round into half circles.

Take one half circle, fold and make a cone. Apply water on the edges to join. Fill the cone with 1-2 Tbsp of the filling. Seal the bottom using water. Here is a video.

Keep the samosas covered until all are ready to bake.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Brush a little oil on the samosas. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Serve with cilantro chutney and date tamarind chutney.



Variations: Use other fillings like Samosa potatoes. other lentils cooked with indian spices, berbere spiced lentils.







Other Savories to make for Holi.



Butternut Rosemary Onion Crackers.







Cooked Chickpea Crackers. GF





Potato Rice Paare. GF Baked









Chivda – Crunchy Snacks with puffed grains, roasted nuts/chickpeas/lentils and dried fruit.





Drinks:



Thandai – Spiced Almond milk drink





Mango Lassi – Mango Yogurt Smoothie





Sweets:



Kesar Peda – Saffron Infused almond cookie fudge GF





Gulab Jamun – doughnuts soaked in cardamom syrup. Regular and Gluten-free versions





Rajgira Burfi – Amaranth Coconut burfi. GF







Apple Jalebi with Rabri – Sweet Apple fritters with saffron cream





Besan Laddoo – Sweet chickpea flour balls GF









Kesar Kulfi – Saffron Infused Ice cream GF





Choorma – Oil-free Wheat crumble





For more Vegan Sweets like Rasmalai, Rasgulla, Mysore Pak, Sandesh, buy my Ebook here.







Happy Holi!



