Spicy Lentil Samosas

A few weeks ago I decided I really wanted to try making Indian food. I love Indian food! I didn't know where to look for the best recipes, but found this recipe on the way. It was definitely time-consuming, but I love that these are baked instead of fried! They were really easy (just, like I said, VERY time consuming) and made a TON (we had that plateful, above, as well as a bunch more I froze to bake up sometime in the future).

These were pretty good, although not very spicy. I definitely have to play around with the insides recipe to get it perfect, but it's a great starter-recipe! I served this with long-grain rice and some easy chicken curry (I tried to find a legitimate "easy" recipe, which definitely decreased the quality, but at least the samosas were yummy). Great to make ahead!

Spicy Lentil Samosas
Recipe from Eat Healthy Eat Happy

1 c lentils
3 c water
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 small or 1 large carrot, diced
a 2' cube fresh ginger, chopped fine
5-7 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 large onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 green chile (optional), seeded and diced
2 Tbs olive oil
1-2 tsp curry powder
1-2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp paprika (ideally smoked)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
¼ - ½ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp salt
12 egg roll wrappers
nonstick cooking spray

Heat the oven to 375. Rinse the lentils well, then combine with water in a medium pan. Put a lid on tilted so steam can escape, and simmer on medium heat about 20-25 minutes. While the lentils cook, get the veggies, ginger and garlic ready.

In a large pan, combine the oil and chopped onion over medium heat. Cook until the onions start to get tender, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, carrot and spices and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat if things start to stick. Add the pepper, ginger and garlic and cook for another 10 minutes. Add some water if it starts to look dry.

When the lentils are done, stir them in. Cook everything together for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water if needed.

Spray two cookie sheets with nonstick. Prepare samosas as shown and arrange on the sheets. Bake 10 minutes, then turn them over and bake another 10 minutes.

Sriracha Chicken

Lately I've been posting things from forever ago in random orders at random times. I'm going to have to continue to do that since I'm super backed up with recipes and never have time to sit down and really go through all of these (aka I don't have time PERIOD to work on this but trying to find bits of time here and there to do what I can), but first while it's fresh in my mind I really really want to share this recipe.

SO.

YUM.

I found this recipe a while ago but was cooking with a friend who didn't want deep-fried (I don't really like deep fried either, but luckily my boyfriend does so I get to eat it on occasion) so we stuck with another Sriracha Chicken recipe that I'll post another time (it was also SUPERB).

This recipe was really easy to follow. SO easy to tweak the sauce, which was perfect and I honestly barely measured exactly I just threw things approximately together and heated it up and it seriously tasted as good as those Trader Joe's Orange Chicken things that you get in the freezer isle and reheat and OMG. I mean, different sauce, but same idea. This recipe was really fun and simple to follow. The sesame seeds tossed in at the end was also a great touch.

Chinese Sriracha Chicken
Recipe From Blog Chef

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into chunks)
salt and pepper (to taste)
2 eggs
1 cup cornstarch
oil (for deep frying)
Sauce-
¼ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt
Sriracha hot sauce (to taste)
crushed red pepper flakes

In a medium bowl whisk together sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic salt, and Sriracha sauce, and crushed red pepper flakes. Set aside.

Heat oil in a deep-fryer to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl beat the two eggs. Add the cornstarch to a shallow plate or pie dish. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Dip the chicken pieces first into the eggs and then roll in the cornstarch. Place chicken into the deep fryer, and deep fry the chicken pieces in batches at 375 degrees until golden brown and fully cooked (the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees). Drain on paper towels.

Pour the sauce mixture into a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. In a large bowl toss the chicken with the sauce. Top with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.