Put cooking demo onstage at Pulse Days 2010

Syngenta sponsored a cooking demo at Pulse Days in Saskatoon last week. Syngenta hired Saskatoon chef Simon Reynolds to prepare a few recipes with peas, chickpeas, lentils and beans in them. Cooking demos at farmer meetings are a great concept. The Canola Council of Canada had a cooking demo at its conference in New York City three years ago. The demo was a big success. It was fun to watch, and farmers got to hear why a top New York chef liked canola oil.

The pulse cooking demo was a sideshow at Pulse Days, and almost nobody watched. Too bad. I think it’s important for growers to know how their crops are being used. Maybe it’s not critically important. You can be a successful pea grower and never eat dry peas — as in pea soup — or know anyone who does. But I think part of the passion of farming comes from knowing that somewhere down the line you’re making chefs and food consumers really happy. I hope next year Saskatchewan Pulse Growers try the demo again, this time making it part of their on-stage program.

One of chef Reynolds' recipes was for samosas, which are little fried pastries filled with mildly curried potatoes and peas. I really like them, but I’ve never made them myself. The peas in this recipe are green garden peas, not green field peas, so this isn’t exactly a “pulse crop” recipe. 

Here’s the samosa recipe:

Note, Chef Reynolds is from the U.K., where they use weights (pounds and ounces) rather than volumes (cups) for their main ingredients. You’ll have to convert half a pound of flour, for example, into a volume measure. I don’t have a kitchen scale and I couldn't find a quick answer online.

The pastry ingredients

Half a pound of all purpose flour

1 tsp semolina flour

Pinch salt

1 Tbsp canola oil

Half a cup of lukewarm water

Method

Mix the dry ingredients together

Add the warm water and bring together to a dough

Knead for 1 minute and then cover and rest for 20 minutes

Filling

2 medium-sized red potatoes, un-peeled and boiled to tender

3 oz green peas

2 Tbsp canola oil

½ tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander powder

¼ tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp garam masala (Indian spice. Use curry powder as a substitute)

2 green chillies seeded and chopped

1 tsp salt

Method

In a saucepan on medium heat add the oil

Then add the cumin seeds and stir 

Add the peas, then the coriander and garam masala, and stir

Add the chopped green chillies

Then add the potatoes which have been diced and stir

Add salt and stir fry for 2 minutes

Taste for seasoning and heat

Add the red chili powder

Taste and then rest on a plate to cool 

To Finish Samosas

Take the dough and knead again for a minute

Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, roll each piece into balls and press flat

Take a ball and roll to a 6 inch diameter piece, avoid using any flour to roll as this will make it too dry

Cut the circle in half - place one half in your hand and wet all edges 

Shape to a cone then put 2 spoons of the mixture in and press down

Fold over the two flaps and seal the edges

Do this to all eight samosas

Cooking

Shallow fry in medium heat oil for 2 minutes then turn and cook for another 2 minutes

Drain on paper once golden brown and serve with mango chutney