Red Lentils with Green Mango

Red Lentils / Masoor Dal - 1 cup
Green Mango - 1 (medium sized), peeled and chopped into small cubes
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Water - 3 cups
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Green Chili - 2, chopped
Salt

For Tempering :
Mustard Oil - 2 tsp
Dried Red Chili - 2, broken
Paanch Phoron / Five Spices - 1/2 tsp


Cook the dal with 3 cups of water and some turmeric till it is soft.

Heat a large pan. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil, mustard seeds and green chili. Add the chopped mango and a pinch of turmeric and cook till the mango gets soft. Add the dal and some water. Adjust seasoning and bring it to boil.

Once it reaches desired consistency, remove from heat.

Heat a small pan, add mustard oil. Once the oil is smoking, add the panch phoron and red chili. For the oil and the spices over the dal and serve immediately.

Adapted from http://www.bongcookbook.com/2009/02/masoor-dal-revisited-with-mangoes.html

Simplest Shrimp by Mark Bittman

Fresh Shrimp - 1 pound, peeled, rinsed and dried
Olive Oil - 1/4 cup
Garlic - 3 big olives, thinly sliced
Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Paprika - 1/2 tsp
Cayenne Pepper - 1/4 tsp
Salt and Pepper
Cilantro or Parsley for garnishing (optional)

Heat a large pan. Add the olive oil and sliced garlic and cook till the garlic is golden.

Increase heat and add shrimp, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika and cayenne. Stir to blend and continue to cook, for around 5 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice and turning the shrimp once or twice until they are pink all over and the gravy is bubbly.

Garnish with cilantro or parsley and serve immediately over steamed rice or quinoa.

Taco Samosa

All-purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup
Sooji / Semolina - 1/4 cup

Salt
Oil - 1 1/2 Tbsp 

Lukewarm water - 1/2 cup

Potatoes - 2 big ones, boiled and chopped into small cubes
Green peas-1/2 cup, lightly steamed or boiled halfway with the potatoes 

Oil-1 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Coriander Seeds - 1 tsp, lightly crushed 

Pomegranate Seeds - 1 tsp, crushed

Green Chili - 2, finely chopped

Ginger - 1 inch, grated

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Roasted Cumin Powder - 1 tspRed chili powder - 1/4 tsp
Roasted Peanuts - a handful
Salt

Oil for deep frying

Mix the flour, semolina, salt, and oil. Add water as needed to make a firm dough.
knead the dough for about 1 minutes to make the dough smooth and pliable.
Let the dough sit for at least 15 minutes.

Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Add cumin seeds, coriander seeds, green chilies, pomegranate seeds and ginger.

Add potatoes, peas, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder, peanuts and salt. 

Cook for about 2 minutes, potato filling should be moist not very dry. Keep aside.

Knead the dough for few seconds. Divide the dough into 12 to 15 equal parts, and roll them into balls.

Roll each dough ball into about 4-inch diameter. Prick each rolled up Taco with a fork in several places, this will prevent Taco from puffing and make them crisp.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. The frying pan should have about 1 inch of oil. To check if the oil is ready, put a small piece of dough in the oil. The dough should sizzle and come up slowly.

Place one rolled Taco in the frying pan and press with a skimmer, turn and fold in half. Doing this it will become taco shape. Do not press, between the fold there should be space to fill the potatoes filling. Gently do the next one same way do not over crowd the frying pan. Fry them until light golden brown on both sides. This should take about 2-3 minutes. 

Take the Taco out and place them on paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Repeat the process for remaining Taco.
You can prepare the taco shells in advance and store them in air tight container.

Fill the taco shell with warm potato filling. If desired, drizzle tamarind chutney on top and serve.

Adapted from http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/taco-samosa/