What's crispy, spicy, and completely wonderful?

Samosas. That's what. Easiest riddle ever.

Look at that crispy, golden brown goodness. Slightly flaky pastry outside, and fluffy spiced potato filling inside. It's delicious.

I made this samosa to try out my homemade garam masala. I thought that the samosas were going to be just some kind of vehicle for the spices. You know, just a vessel. But, no. Oh, no. It was so much more than that. It's a superstar in its own right.
I wasn't in the mood for meat (weird, right?), so I made some vegetarian samosas instead. The filling was supposed to have potatoes, carrots and peas in it, but I didn't have the latter two ingredients. So, I settled for just potatoes. Don't worry. It's still awesome.

The recipe said that it would make about 24 medium sized samosas. I wouldn't know about that since I made bite-sized ones. So, try it out and see how it works out for you. The dough was wonderful. Most people say that samosas are difficult to make, but I didn't find it that troublesome. The dough was wonderful, and definitely one of the friendliest dough I've ever worked with.
The original recipe for the filling (click here) is wonderful, but I didn't have a couple of the ingredients on there. So, I just adjusted it according to the things in my cupboard.

Vegetarian Samosas

Dough

• 225 gr of flour
• 2 tbs of oil
• 2 tsp of salt
• 80 ml of water

Filling

• 2 large potatoes
• 2 green onions
• about 1/2 inch of ginger, smashed
• 2 green chilies, finely chopped
• 3 tbs of oil
• 1/2 tsp of garlic, minced
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric (if you have dried sliced turmeric, use 2 to 3 pieces)
• 1/2 tsp of garam masala
• 1/2 tsp of chili powder
• 1/2 to 1 tsp of salt

1. For the dough, combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a hole in the center of the mixture and pour in the oil and the water. You'll need all of it. Then, use a fork to combine. After a couple of minutes, go in there with your hands. Dump on to a clean surface, and knead into a smooth ball. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes, or until they just become fork tender. Don't make it mushy! After that, use a fork to break up the potatoes into small, crumbly pieces. Don't mash it completely.
3. Saute the garlic, green chili, ginger, and coriander in oil for a minute.
4. Add the green onions and let it cook for a minute or two. Add turmeric, chili powder, salt, and garam masala. Let it cook for about 2 minutes, and add the cooked potatoes. Only cook until everything is nicely combined.
5. After the dough has rested for 30 minutes, divide it into two parts. Then, the divided the two parts into six portions.
6. Roll out each portion into a circle as best as you can. Mine were jacked up, too. Don't worry. Cut the circles in half, making two half moon shapes. Take one of them and brush the straight edge with water. Don't overdo the water; it'll make your dough mushy and more prone to tearing when you stuff it. 
7. After brushing it with water, fold it over and crimp it together to make a cone. Open it up, and insert about 1 tbs of filling. Brush the inner edges of the top of the cone with water and crimp it up nice and tightly.
8. Fry the samosas on low to medium heat until they are golden.

The frying part is a little tricky. You kind of have to watch the temperature with these guys. If the oil is too hot, the shell will start to form bubbles that look like tiny blisters. You don't really want that. If the oil isn't hot enough, the thing won't really puff up. So, uh, good luck with that.

The best omelette on the face of the planet...

Though I have not posted, I have been cooking. I made this about a week ago.
The Spanish tortilla is a giant omelette traditionally made with potatoes. It's very simple and very delicious, and it's usually found in various tapas bar in Spain. This was my attempt at it.

cooked potatoes

I saw the recipe for it in NY Times, and well, it turns out that you don't really need a freaking recipe for it. It's that simple. Just potatoes, eggs, onions, salt and pepper.

Spanish Tortilla

3 or 4 medium sized potatoes
2 medium sized shallots, thinly sliced
5 to 6 eggs
salt and pepper
oil to fry

1. Peel and thinly slice the potatoes. It is faster to use a mandolin, but since you don't really want paper thin slices, a knife will suffice. You want 1/8 inch slices. Submerge in water to prevent discoloration.
2. Heat oil in a 8 to 10 inch nonstick skillet. To test the temperature, put a slice of potato in the oil. If small bubbles appear around its edges, the oil is ready. Fry the potatoes just until they are tender, not brown!
3. Take the potatoes out and drain on a paper towel. Reserve around 2 tbs of the oil for frying the omelette later. Let the potatoes cool for a couple of minutes before mixing it with the eggs, salt, and pepper. Remember that during this stage, you are seasoning the whole thing!
4. Heat the skillet back up over medium heat. Sautee the shallots in reserved oil until it becomes soft.
5. Add the egg and potato mixture. As soon as the edges firm up, lower the temperature slightly, and cook for 5 to 6 minutes.
6. Insert a spatula around the edges of your omelette to loosen it from the pan. Slide it off on to a large plate, one that would cover the top of your pan. Carefully put the top of your skillet on top of the omelette, and flip it over. There's enough residual oil on the skillet to cook the other side. Don't worry!
7. Cook the other side for 5 to 6 minutes, and slide it off on to a plate. Serve at room temperature. 

It's almost always served with bread, specifically bocadillo. I didn't have any baguette or bocadillo laying around the house, but I did have my potato bread. It's extreme potato bonanza.

Delicious.

In search of future projects and lumpia (Indonesian spring rolls)

It was not a very happening day yesterday. I got home from work and had a serious hankering for grilled cheese. So, I made myself some. With lots of butter. Yum.

When evening came, I made myself some dinner (left over fried chicken and gratin) and began to rummage through my mother's stash of cookbooks. It was interesting. I found Chinese cookbooks. That are in Chinese. Huh. I set those aside. 

Then, I found a book solely about cupcakes. I thanked God. I'm not much of a cupcake baker. I mean, I try. And, recently, I failed miserably; I tried to make Bakerella's sweet potato and bourbon cupcakes. Did not work out at all. But, in my defense, I didn't start out baking cupcakes and cookies with my mom like other normal kids. I made food.

Later that night, I flipped through Burnt Lumpia's posts. Have you heard of him? 'Cause you absolutely should. His posts are wonderful. I love how he incorporates his Filipino upbringing in his food and in his blog.
Anyway, I got home this afternoon from a failed attempt to see Transformers 3 (it was sold out. I'm failing a lot these days). And, I made some lumpia.

Lumpia is the Indonesian word--and apparently, also the Filipino word--for spring rolls. Not the Vietnamese kind (you know, the one wrapped in rice paper and isn't cooked?), but the Chinese kind. A bajillion (yes, that is an exact number) years ago, Chinese immigrants settled in Indonesia and the Philippines, bringing this wonderful food. The Hokkien (a group of Chinese dialects) word for spring roll is lunpia. Under Dutch rule (cause it might as well have been), the word evolved to lumpia.

If you look carefully in the first picture, I did kind of burn one of them, the one with the busted end, in honor of Burnt Lumpia. Don't worry. It's still great; I ate it just now. Unfortunately, I can't disclose the recipe for these lumpia. Sorry. It's kind of a family thing. My mother would flip her shit.

I can, however, tell you a couple of general ingredients. As you probably know, the wrapper is store-bought. Do not, I repeat, do not get the white spring roll skin. Those are for Vietnamese spring rolls. Get the ones that say "spring roll pastry". The filling contains shrimp, bamboo shoots, and Indonesian sweet soy sauce (we use this A LOT). It's called kecap manis. Kecap sounds a lot like ketchup. So, when my family first got here, there was a lot of confusion. Anyway, this type of filling originated from Semarang, the capital city of Central Java. It's traditionally eaten with a thick brown gravy, but I was lazy.

So, I had some sweet and spicy chili sauce with it. Still awesome. Yum.
I now have a pretty uneventful evening ahead of me. I have stuff I need to prep for work. I guess I'll reluctantly do that. meh.