Pseudo Samosas

It may be stretching it to call these roll-ups samosas. Where are the potatoes? Where is the crunchy deep fried crust? Where is the zingy green sauce?


A raw foodie will go that extra imaginative mile to call a dish by its favorite cooked food name, I guess. This was a first attempt at capturing the spicy memory of a favorite street food — the simple samosa. Encouraged by similar combinations I've been reading about, particularly in Matthew Kenney's book, Raw Food, Real World, and with a head of cauliflower beckoning to be used, I tossed together this spicy melange of cauliflower, peas, cashews and spices.


Instead of potatoes, peas and a spice mix cradled in a tender whole wheat flour crust, then baked or deep fried, here's a fresh mix of cauliflower and peas processed with a clove of garlic into small bits, then dressed in a sauce evoking the flavor memory of samosas using a tablespoon of garam masala, another of freshly minced ginger, and a generous helping (about 2 tsp) of Penzey's blend of hot curry powder, all puréed together in the blender with 1/2 cup cashews and one cup of filtered water.

I spread the wet mix onto a large dinner plate and placed it in the dehydrator at 115° for about 4 hours. This softened up the cauliflower a bit and also dried out the mixture. The finished dish was moist but not runny.

When dinner time rolled around, I washed three large dark green outer leaves from a head of romaine, sliced out the crunchy stem (don't waste it, nibble on it while proceeding) then sliced each leaf in two along the stem line.

Place a heaping tablespoon of filling on a leaf piece, wrap the skinny tail up over the filling then continue wrapping, much like a burrito fold. I used the peanut dressing I've posted before to accompany the rolls. It was a bit difficult to actually dip the rolls. Using a teaspoon to drizzle the sauce onto the rolls as I ate was much less messy. However you do it, it's fun and pretty tasty!