Aloo Pie and Reflecting on Sweet Hands
In today’s world where a few clicks of the keyboard we have recipes one may wonder why cookbooks exist? Well, I think that there is a certain level of heart and soul that only a cookbook can convey. Like the story of Aloo Pie, that Ramin Ganeshram talks about in her cookbook.
It is for such cookbooks, that we still make bookshelves. And for their recipes wecreate room in our kitchens and hearts. Yes, one such cookbook in my collection is Sweet Hands by Ramin Ganeshram.
My story of Aloo Pie
Today’s recipe for Aloo pie, is closely adapted from Sweet Hands. In fact, since I have made this quite a popular snack for the kids. I add in a whole lot of spinach or other seasonal greens to make this somewhat nutritious.
One of the things that struck me, while reading Ramin’s book, (or really I should say reading it many, many times over) is how we daughters all have a soft spot for the culture and dreams that out father’s gave us. Sure, we reminisce about cooking with mom and grandma. Yet, in this culinary heritage and memories remains a tribute to our fathers as well.
More about Sweet Hands
Ramin mention’s her father on various occasions fondly and in the introduction to the mentioned recipe she speaks of how her father slathered a knish with hot sauce to bring back memories of his traditional aloo pie.
The Islands and Aloo Pie
The island cooking of Trinidad and Tobago had strong influences in Indian flavors as there are many people of South Asian ancestry who have peppered the culinary heritage with their foods.
It is for example, not difficult to see some similarity between this recipe and a samosa, you will find similar flavors in the channa and of course many other dishes. So, the aloo pie, is at core the amazingly wonderful goodness of well seasoned mashed potatoes, seasoned with garlic and pepper sauce (I used sriracha for this dish, encased in dough and fried, simple indulgence at its best. Actually, even with the addition of all that spinach this dish is perfect for this strange and cold evening.
Another one of my favorite Trini recipes includes this Trini Chicken Stew that I have happily adapted for the Instant Pot.
A recipe for aloo pie, a savory potato pie from Trinidad, this variation has some spinach added in.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Water to form a stiff dough
- 1 pound of yukon gold potatoes, boiled peeled and mashed
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- 11/2 cups of finely chopped wiled spinach (see note)
- Sri-racha or hot sauce to taste (1 used about 1 tablespoon)
- salt to taste
- Oil for frying
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix with enough water to form a firm dough. Set aside.
- Mash the potato with the garlic, spinach, hot sauce and the salt to a uniform filling. Note: For the spinach, I chopped it finely and microwaved it for 2 minutes and squeezed out any excess water.
- Break a small amount of the dough and roll out to a fairly thin circle, add some filling in the center and cover and seal the dough. Flatten and shape to a oblong shape. I sort of did a semi-circular shape here as I did not know exactly what was needed.
- Set aside and complete the remaining dough and filling in this manner.
- Heat some oil in a wok or skillet for about 2 to 3 minutes. Gradually fry the pies on medium heat until crisp and golden. These need to be turned once.
- Serve hot.
Notes
Recipe from Sweet Hands - Hippocrene Books 2010