While I was shopping for red lentils for my previous Thai Basil Lentils recipe, something interesting caught my eyes. An ingredient that I have never tried before, something not commonly used in our Asian cooking except for a particular Chinese New Year cookie. Yes, that’s the main ingredient used in this recipe (video below), USA Split Green Pea.
A quick search on the internet returned a whole list of nutritional benefits to consuming these U.S. imported pulse. Call me an easy consumer, but I was immediately sold. Low fat, high protein, high fiber, and extremely economical. It was perfect for my self-proclaimed ‘vegetarian’ daughter who has been refusing to eat meat.
The challenge was to make it to suit the family’s palate given that my girls doesn’t like peas. However, I’m really proud to say that this recipe did just that! Everyone at home was popping it one after another. The girls even requested for me to pack them in their school snack box!
It’s becoming a family staple and makes excellent finger food for entertaining. I make a big batch of samosa to freeze so it’s easy to fry them up as snacks. I’m still working through the 1 kg bag and will be trying out other recipes.
The largest difference between these USA pulses vs others is that it is sustainably farmed to encouraging biodiversity, and conserving scarce water resources. All these while building healthy soil through techniques like composting and planting cover crops. There is a huge push to support sustainable food supplies because it’s puts less stress on our planet to ensure healthier food supplies and food security for generations to come.
Before I jump into the recipe, here are some health benefits to consuming this superfood:
- Reduce cholesterol, hypertension, and inflammation
- Reduces risk of colon, breast, & prostate cancer, pre-diabetes and osteoporosis
- Reduce the amount of plaque in your blood vessels, improving heart health
- Soluble fiber stabilizes your blood sugar levels while providing a steady supply of energy
- Mineral molybdenum helps detoxify sulphites used in deli meat
Let’s cook, shall we?
Split Green Pea Samosas
Ingredients
- 1 cup Split green peas
- ½ yellow onion
- 1 tbsp garlic grated
- 1 tbsp ginger grated
- 3 heaping tbsp curry powder
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 15 pieces of spring roll wrappers cut into thirds
- 2 tbsp flour & some water to make slurry
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Boil 1 cup split green peas with 1 tsp salt over low heat for 45 minutes. Check that they are soft.
- Drain and keep the liquid for later.
- Heat pan over medium heat with ghee.
- Sauté onion, garlic, and ginger until onion is soft.
- Add curry powder and sauté to combine.
- Add the softened split green peas with ½ of the liquid.
- Season with salt to taste. (optional)
- Remove from heat and mash everything together until paste like.
- If it’s too wet, return to heat to cook the liquid down. If too dry, add reserved liquid a bit at a time.
- Place a heaping tbsp of the mashed curried peas onto the 1/3 length wrapper and fold into samosas. Use the flour slurry to seal the edge.
- Heat oil in pot until 175C and fry samosas in batches.
- Drain on paper towel and serve immediately.
This post was made possible by USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council
