Recipe: samosas and spicy mango chutney (gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free)

Update March 26, 2011- Hello! Are you visiting for the first time from Angela's blog at www.ohsheglows.com? Thanks for coming by!! Lovely to have you over. :) Hope you enjoy my blog. Sign up for updates if it looks like we're on the same journey.
ps- I love comments...bring 'em on. :)
Kirsten
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Sweet mother of mercy, if you were here, you would have to peel me off the ceiling. It's funny, when you ditch gluten and dairy, you start to forget about the delectable wheaty things you once ate instead focusing on boring things like bread and crackers. But OH, Mr. Samosa. How I adore you! How I've missed you.

I've spoken before about letting an ingredient be your inspiration. Today, it was fresh peas. I got a huge bag and spent a half hour this morning sitting at the counter shucking them. So at first I was thinking green pea soup of some kind, but I started researching and found aloo matar (potatoes and green peas) at Honey, What's Cooking? and thought it would make the perfect filling for samosas. But how does one make samosas without wheat flour? You go to The Book of Yum here and completely blow your mind with awesome step-by-step instructions. THEN your husband forgets the mango chutney (which is made with white sugar and is sickly sweet anyways) so you make your own ROCKIN' version and you sit, in seventh heaven, wondering how you've survived so long without samosas and mango chutney.

Okay, so let's get started. First thing's first- you have to make the filling for your samosas. In true Dropsie fashion I used the aloo matar recipe above and made it my own. Here's the deal.

Wait- just one thing: this takes a lot of time. I would suggest doubling the recipe to get more bang for your buck. Just in case you were contemplating skipping this recipe because it was too labour-intensive to make, I'd like you to see this:

Stop drooling and get your apron...

Part 1- make the filling
Aloo matar (filling for samosas)

Ingredients:
Splash of grapeseed oil (or olive oil if that's what's on hand)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 cloves chopped garlic
1-inch piece of fresh ginger
1 medium onion
1 medium tomato
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1 small potato
1 large sweet potato
1 1/2 c fresh green peas
1 cup water
2 TB unsweetened, unsulphured coconut flakes
1/2 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
(recipe also called for fresh cilantro, but I didn't have it)

Directions:

1. Using a small chopper (or a big knife and a lot of wrist action) chop the garlic, ginger and onion).
2. Heat the oil in a large pot on the stove (medium heat). Add cumin and mustard seeds- keep a lid nearby. 
3. Once they start to pop (yes the mustard seeds will literally jump out of the pot) add the turmeric and give it a stir.
4. Quickly dump in the garlic/ginger/onion mix (I ground mine until oatmeal-like in texture) and stir. Add a sprinkle of salt. Not much needed so don't go nuts.
5. Saute on med-low for 6-8 minutes until the mixture dries out a bit. It should look like dried out cooked oatmeal at this point.
6. Dice and add the tomato.
7. Simmer for about 8 minutes until the tomato is totally dissolved and mixed into a "paste-like" texture.
8. While it's simmering, peel and chop the potato and sweet potato. Add those once the tomato is well incorporated in the above step. Add the peas also and the water. Simmer until the potato/sweet potato are starting to be very soft.
9. Add the garam masala, stir and turn the heat off. 
10. Let cool completely.

Important!!! Try not to eat all the yummy filling before you get to the samosas...

Okay, now you're ready to make the dough.

Part 2- Make the dough
Again, inspired by The Book of Yum.

To your food processor, add the following:

1 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1/6 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup teff flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt

Blend it up well then add the following, ingredient at a time, little by little:

3 TB Earth's balance shortening
3 TB Earth's balance soy-free vegan margarine
7 TB warm water

Important: This is what it took me to get a texture like wet sand when I tried to make a ball out of it. You may take more or less water or fat to get it that way, so add little by little.

You should be able to make a ball easily out of this. Now you've gotta clear yourself a spot and get ready to roll...literally.

1. Get a sheet pan and cover it with parchment paper. Get your filling ready and a small spoon to scoop it into the batter when ready.
2. Now...divide your batter up into 6 balls. 
3. Get two sheets of parchment paper ready.
4. Put one dough ball between the sheets of parchment paper and roll it out. If you don't have a rolling pin, try a wine bottle. Works very well.
5. When it's about the width of a small tortilla, gently peel back the top sheet and pick up the bottom sheet with your non-dominant hand. You should cradle the sheet thus making the dough that's stuck to it look like a taco. 
6. Drop 3-4 TB of filling along the inside of the dough, then, using both hands, fold the paper and push the sides of the samosa together. It's going to look like a half-moon. 
7. Once you've done your best at smoothing and pinching the sides together, gently roll it off of the paper into your dominant hand and lay it on the parchment paper on the cookie sheet. If you're really freaked out about moving it, just keep the samosa on the parchment and put it right on the cookie sheet. Otherwise, you can re-use the two original sheets for each of the 6 samosas.

Once you're done filling, it's time to bake them. They go in at 375 for about 25 minutes, flipping them after 20 minutes. The easiest way to flip them is using a spatula and lifting the curved side and flipping them over the straight side.

Now, when your husband forgets the mango chutney that you will dip your luscious samosas in, you need to bust out all your baking/cooking stuff one last time (he totally has to clean up all your mess for forgetting).

Step 3- Make the spicy mango chutney (and do it without any refined sugars for total rock star status)

Bring the following to a boil, then simmer until the fruit is soft:
1 large mango, chopped
1 apple, chopped
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (that will make your house smell like stinky feet while cooking)
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 sweet red pepper, chopped
1/2 cup brown rice syrup

Grab your immersion blender (or pour into your regular blender) and give it a wazz. Leave chunks; it's not supposed to be soupy.

Return it to the stove and add the following:
a generous squirt of honey (think 2-3 times around the pot quickly...I dunno, a few TB)
1/2 TB lemon juice
1 tsp curry powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Turn the heat back up and get it really bubbling while you stir it around with a spatula. It should get really gloppy and gooey. Now you're rockin'. Turn the heat off and spoon it into a spare glass jar. This recipe made about 1 cup of chutney. I would almost suggest doubling it now that I know how much it rocks. It is ridiculous. Really.

I know some of you will look at this and think "No way, too much work", but I ASSURE you I am no culinary genius and I managed to get this together in fits and spurts throughout the day. I made the curry this morning I (right after lunch) and before dinner I did up the pastry part and the chutney. It is SOOOO worth it.

We had this with a gorgeous soup...here's the sum total of how the plate looked...

...getting hungry again... ;)

Recipe: samosas and spicy mango chutney (gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free)