Each week we're sheltering in place, students are participating in a voluntary virtual market basket competition on Instagram. This week's challenge had a must-use ingredient — hot sauce — and Nandini shares how she was inspired to prepare the winning dish using hot sauce four ways.
Anyone who knows me knows my love for all things spicy – so last week’s hot sauce-themed market basket challenge was especially exciting.
When I started developing my dish, I wanted to incorporate hot sauce in every element of the recipe. However, I needed to make sure that the spice didn’t overpower other elements of the dish — a failed dinner experiment with ghost pepper hot sauce a couple of years ago immediately sprang to mind. I used other ingredients in the basket – mangos, avocados, lemongrass and basil — to balance the spice and add some fresh clean taste to the dish.
The main element of my dish, the hand pies, were inspired by an Indian street food delicacy. Matar kachori, or puffed bread, with a spicy pea filling is a weekend breakfast staple for many Indians (long lines outside confectionery shops on Saturday mornings are a common sight in Indian cities). It requires very few ingredients and the resulting flaky and crispy pastries make for a very fulfilling meal. I added my own twist to the filling and used homemade mango habanero sauce to add some zing to the pastries.
Hand Pies Filled with Spiced Peas and Mango Habanero Sauce
Yields 4 servings of 2 pies each
Pastry Dough
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons semolina
- Salt, to taste
- 3 tablespoons oil/ghee, plus more for frying
Directions
- Add the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, semolina and 3 tablespoons of oil/ghee to a mixing bowl. Rub the ingredients together to make a coarse mixture.
- Add water, little by little (as required). Knead to make a soft dough.
- Cover the dough with a clean, damp cheesecloth and set aside.
Filling
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups green peas, boiled and coarsely mashed (I thaw the frozen green peas before boiling)
- 2 tablespoons Sriracha lemongrass butter (see recipe below)
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder (I dry roasted cumin seeds and made a powder)
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely grated
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder (I dry roasted coriander seeds and made a powder)
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mango powder
- 2-3 green chiles, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon hing (asafoetida powder)
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons chickpea flour
- 2 tablespoons mango habanero sauce (see recipe below)
Directions
- Heat the Sriracha lemongrass butter in a pan.
- Once the butter is hot, add the hing and cumin seeds and let it crackle.
- Add the mashed peas, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder, dry mango powder, green chili and salt. Fry for 3-4 minutes.
- Add ginger and fry for another minute.
- Add the chickpea flour and fry for 1 minute.
- Adjust seasoning according to taste.
- Remove the pan from heat and let filling cool.
Sriracha Lemongrass Butter
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1/2 tablespoon Sriracha
- 1 tablespoon minced lemongrass
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
Directions
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the softened butter with the Sriracha, lemongrass, garlic, ginger and turmeric, and season with the salt.
- Microwave on high power until soft enough and set aside.
Mango Habanero Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 ripe mango, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 habanero chili, destemmed (and deseeded, if desired)
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon ginger juice
- 2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Directions
- Destem the chile and remove some or all seeds to reduce heat, if preferred.
- Peel the mango and roughly chop the flesh.
- Mince the garlic and prepare the ginger juice (grate some ginger and wring the ginger in a cheesecloth to get the juice).
- Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
- Transfer the sauce into a small pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Let it cool.
Assembly
- Divide the pastry dough into lemon-sized balls.
- Dust a ball with dry flour and roll to make 3- to 4-inch disc.
- Spread a small amount of the mango habanero sauce and place a tablespoon of the pea filling on one half of the disk.
- Pinch the ends together and shape the dough (as desired).
- Heat oil in a pan (I used sunflower oil – other oils like canola oil will also work. Avoid olive oil as it will change the flavor of the pastry).
- Test the oil and if it is hot, drop 2-3 pastries in the oil and reduce the heat to medium low.
- Fry the pastries from both sides until golden brown.
- Drain on a plate lined with a kitchen towel.
- Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
Wild Rice Salad with Shallot Harissa Vinaigrette
Ingredients
For the Wild Rice Salad:
- 1 cup wild rice (cooked according to instructions on the package and cooled)
- 1 green mango, peeled and cut into medium dice
- 1 avocado, peeled and cut into medium dice
- 5-6 pearl onions, halved and caramelized
- Basil leaves, minced
For the Shallot Harissa Vinaigrette:
- 1 tablespoon harissa paste
- 2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 jalapeno (deseeded, if you prefer less heat)
- 2 shallots, roasted
- 2-3 garlic cloves, roasted
- 1/4 teaspoon roasted coriander seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon roasted cumin seeds
- Salt, to taste
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons mustard
Directions
- Combine all the ingredients for the salad in a bowl and mix well (make sure to mix gently so as to not break the mango and avocado pieces).
- Place all the ingredients for the vinaigrette, except the oil, in a blender. Start at lowest speed and slowly increase to its highest speed and blend for 30 seconds.
- With the blender running at a lower speed, slowly add the oil and blend for another 30-45 seconds.
- Add required amount of the vinaigrette to the salad. Taste and add salt/pepper, as required.
Lemongrass Basil Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 stalks lemongrass, inner bulb only, roughly chopped
- 1 cup packed basil leaves, blanched
- 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon roughly chopped ginger
- 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
- 1 splash yuzu hot sauce
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
- Combine all the ingredients in a blender with water (as needed) and blend to a smooth sauce-like consistency.
- Transfer the sauce to a squeeze bottle and chill until ready to serve.
Assembly
Once all the elements are complete (pie should be prepared last and served hot), plate as desired. I garnished the pie with some tempered mustard seeds and red chiles. For the tempering, heat 1 teaspoon of ghee in a butter warmer/pan and add mustard seeds. Once the seeds start spluttering, add the red chiles and turn off the heat. Let it cool slightly and spoon the tempered mustard seeds and chiles on the pie before serving.
Follow on Instagram to see more market basket challenge entries.
