Ang Pompano: It’s my pleasure to welcome my friend, Manju Soni, to the kitchen today. I first discovered Manju's short fiction several years ago, and from the very beginning, I hoped she would write a novel someday. Well, that day has arrived, and I couldn't be more delighted to help celebrate the release of The Masala Chai Mystery Club. Better yet, she's brought along a delicious recipe to share with us.
Manju, take it away!
MANJU (MJ) SONI: Thank you for having me on as a guest, Ang!
In my debut, The Masala Chai Mystery Club, my protagonist, Neeti Shah, a retired librarian who wears a saree, is inspired by my mom.
My mom was never sent to school, but when her marriage to my dad, a young lawyer, was arranged, she took advantage of that opportunity to learn to speak, read, and write English, to get her driver’s license, and even become his legal secretary. But her newfound career ambitions came to an end when my siblings and I were born.
In spite of this, she remained a lifelong learner, always trying out new technologies, such as the iPad, so she could expand her world. She was a fantastic cook and loved surfing the Internet for new recipes.
As a teenager, I was her sous chef, grinding fresh ginger and garlic with green chilies, and also adding various ingredients to dishes she was mixing, such as handvo, a spicy lentil cake. Our roles were reversed when it came to baking, something she was not that proficient in because it required exact measurements, which Indian cooking usually doesn’t. So, when baking, I would be the chef, and she would be my sous chef.
Almost ten years back, to preserve her recipes, I began to transcribe most of them either by watching her cook, or by calling her and asking her to describe them in detail. Of course, it was difficult to not have her resort to ‘a pinch of this’ or a ‘fistful of that.’
But there are certain things that cannot be transcribed. Two years ago, after my mom passed, I tried to make gulab jamun for Diwali, our Festival of Lights. My son loved my mom’s gulabs, but sadly, mine tasted nothing like hers. I’m still in awe of her managing to recreate a food she made only once a year entirely from memory, and still have it taste exactly the same every year over decades.
One of my mom’s talents was to blend sweet, sour, and spicy flavors to create something so flavorful it would cause a mini explosion in one’s mouth. The recipe I’m highlighting today is an easy combo of a samosa filling, in pre-made phyllo pastry cups, topped with pomegranate seeds, finely chopped cilantro, and a drop of tamarind sauce to create a flavor-packed, bite-sized appetizer that causes the ‘mini taste explosion’ I learned from my mom.
Mini Samosa Phyllo Cups: minimal cooking required!
Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas, roughly chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
Five cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 lemon, juiced
3 to 4 green chilies, or jalapeño, finely chopped, or 1/2 - 1 tsp cayenne pepper, adjust to taste
1/2 a bunch of cilantro, washed and chopped. Set aside 1/2 cup for garnish
1 – 1 1/2 tsp salt to taste
2- 3 Tbsp sugar
Pre-baked phyllo pastry shells
Pomegranate arils for garnish
Tamarind sauce for topping (available in most Indian grocery stores or online)
Method:
Mix chopped chickpeas, onion, garlic, chilies (or cayenne pepper), and most of the chopped cilantro in a bowl, keeping some aside for the garnish.
Microwave the potatoes covered in a glass dish for ~five minutes. Test with a knife or taste to ensure they’re cooked but just slightly crunchy.
Drain extra water from the potatoes.
Add to the chickpea mixture.
Add salt, sugar, and lemon juice.
Mix thoroughly, using a potato masher.
Taste to ensure the mix of salt, spice, sugar and tang is well balanced.
Allow to cool.
~30 mins before serving (the phyllo cases may soften if filled too early)
Scoop generous portions into each phyllo case. You could bake the phyllo cases for 5 mins at 350F to restore the crunch but I usually don’t find that necessary.
Sprinkle with pomegranate arils, cilantro and a dollop of tamarind sauce.
I typically account for 3 phyllo cups per person if there is another appetizer on the menu. As a standalone appetizer, consider 4-5 per person.
I hope you enjoy this simple appetizer, and remember my mom when that little mini explosion of taste takes you by surprise!
Check out my debut novel, The Masala Chai Mystery Club, available July 21 from Crooked Lane Books for more recipes!
Ang: Thanks, Manju, for sharing this wonderful recipe and the touching story behind it. Best wishes on the release of The Masala Chai Mystery Club!
Readers, please be sure to leave a comment with your email address below for your chance to win a paperback copy of The Masala Chai Mystery Club. U. S. only, please.
The Masala Chai Mystery Club
Retired librarian Neeti Shah was hoping for a restful life with her chai-loving friends, but when the body of a neighbor, a childhood friend of Neeti's, turns up dead and the killer’s MO is similar to that of Neeti's most recent book club read, things start to get out of control.
When Neeti hears a commotion at a neighbor’s house, she finds Rohit’s body sprawled across the bottom of the staircase with Agatha Christie’s Dumb Witness nearby. Blackmailing his neighbors, threatening them with lawsuits, and calling them by nasty nicknames were only some of the hateful things that made him so disliked. But were they angry enough to kill?
Neeti is indebted to her old friend, and she's determined to find his killer. But she can't do it alone, so she enlists her mystery-loving friends, the Masala Chai Mystery Club, to get to the bottom of the murder.
But Neeti and her club members need to be careful. As more bodies turn up and more suspects start to appear, they’ll need to find the killer before they end up in hot water!
Bio:
Manju (MJ) Soni grew up in South Africa and wrote, DEFYING APARTHEID, a part-memoir about being a doctor/ activist under apartheid. Since then, drawing on her American, African, and Indian background, she's written mystery short fiction and her debut cozy mystery, THE MASALA CHAI MYSTERY CLUB, which are full of heart and humor, with a saree-wearing librarian protagonist, will be published on July 21 with Crooked Lane Books.
Links:
Facebook: @SoniAuthorMJ
Instagram: @mjsoniauthor
Substack newsletter: @mjsoniauthor
And if you’re in the Northeast, I would love to see you at one of my book launch events:
Tuesday: July 21: 5PM: Bank Square Books, Mystic, CT Register Here
Friday: 24 July: 6:30PM: Barrett Bookstore, Darien, CT Register Here
Wednesday: July 29: RJJulia, Middletown, CT: Register Here
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