{"id":736,"date":"2015-03-03T20:45:24","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T02:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vegetatingwithleslie.org\/?p=736"},"modified":"2017-04-20T14:32:07","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T20:32:07","slug":"vegan-samosa-potatoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vegetatingwithleslie.org\/?p=736","title":{"rendered":"Samosa Double Baked Potatoes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"samosa_potato\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Two cuisines have inspired my cooking, first with vegetarianism and now with veganism: Middle Eastern and Indian. I have much more experience with Middle Eastern food since I have not only visited there but have had many Middle Eastern friends who shared recipes with me, have cooked Middle Eastern style foods for many years for my own family and based my Cafe around Middle Eastern foods. Now that I’m cooking more in my own home again, though, I’m trying more Indian foods.<\/p>\n

Both traditions have a long history of making foods that are vegetarian or vegan or at least easily converted. I like foods that are not imitations of something else but just . . . well, are what they are, and that happens to be vegetarian or vegan or at least so heavily laden with wonderful treatments of veggies that you aren’t likely to even notice the absence of meat or cheese.<\/p>\n

So I’ve long known my philosophy for making vegetarian foods, but I’m in unfamiliar territory with vegan cooking. I’m still looking for good vegan cheese and cheese sauce recipes and good egg substitutes — but\u00a0as with vegetarian cooking, I’m not sure that substitutes will finally be the right direction. I’ve wanted to find things I like that don’t try to imitate something else.<\/p>\n

This week I had a brainstorm! I wanted to make stuffed potatoes — but every recipe I found included butter or cheese or a cheese substitute. \u00a0I often make a little dish of stewed potatoes for myself with just olive oil and tumeric, salt and pepper. I like the taste and texture of mashed potatoes made with the same ingredients, and I suddenly realized my little dishes of potatoes are somewhat similar to\u00a0the filling of samosas.<\/p>\n

I love samosas! I’m very fortunate to have a small Indian grocery store walking distance from my house, and I stop in whenever I get a chance, hoping they might have fresh samosas. The\u00a0robust seasoning and substantiality of these fried dumplings make a completely satisfying little meal-on-the-run for me. If I take it home and put together a soup or salad to go with it, I suspect it is a respectable part of a nutritious meal. It occurred to me that the filling for this item doesn’t use any dairy products or eggs, just two of my favorite veggies, potatoes and peas.<\/p>\n

So\u00a0I thought,\u00a0couldn’t I use\u00a0a samosa filling in a potato skin? And I\u00a0started searching for a samosa recipe. I found one at The Tiffin Box<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and set about to make it with some changes suited to my needs. The seasoning in this recipe is exactly what I was looking for — perfect samosa flavor. I am going to add to the recipe a sauce recipe I found on Pinterest, which I’ll include below, and a fruit salad for a delicious plate in the Cafe.<\/p>\n

The great thing about this recipe is that it has the deliciousness and satisfaction of a samosa without the deep fat frying, and it is vegan without all kinds of odd substitutions to approximate something different.<\/p>\n

Samosa Double Baked Potato Filling Ingredients<\/strong>
\n(for every 2 large potatoes)<\/em><\/p>\n