Have you ever had a samosa at an Indian restaurant? My samosa potato salad is a spin off of this recipe. Traditionally, it is a deep-fried pastry, stuffed with spiced potatoes and peas and served with a green chutney. The green chutney serves to cut through the richness of the fried appetizer and adds a pop of flavor.
I thought, why not just cut out the fried pastry, and instead focus on the spiced potato filling and make a green mint chutney to go along with it? It would take out all of the parts of this dish I don’t want, such as the gluten and oil, and leave me with everything I did want: a filling dish packed full of healing ingredients and flavor.
My samosa potato salad is an Indian take on the American potato salad. For those of you who want to have Indian food at home, this is for you! Once you have the ingredients on hand it comes together quickly.
Samosa Potato Salad: A Cleansing Recipe!
If you are on a cleanse or don’t want the salt you can omit this and add more lemon juice. This dish will serve you when you are on a cleanse or healing because it is fat and grain free! It is this quality that gives our bodies the opportunity to cleanse toxins. It is worth mentioning that this dish is a great comfort dish- potatoes are heralded as a very grounding and comforting food. In Life-Changing Foods Expanded, Anthony William talks about how peas are also comforting on an emotional level.
Peas are a true emotional comfort food, even for people who don’t realize it yet. If people who don’t eat peas consume peas, something would register, on some level: There is some sort of comfort happening inside my body- Life-Changing Foods Expanded, pg. 461
Samosa Potato Salad
Equipment
- 1 Steam basket
- 1 Large bowl
- Potato masher
Ingredients
- 4 - 6 Yukon Gold potatoes steamed but firm
- 1 red onion finely chopped
- 2 tsp ground cumin powder
- 2 tsp ground coriander powder
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp amchur dried mango powder
- ½ tsp chaat masala powder
- ¼ tsp kala namak black salt
- ½ tsp whole cumin seeds
- ¾ cup thawed organic green peas
- 4 - 6 tbsp
green mint chutney - ½ lemon juiced
- 2 tbsp cilantro chopped
Instructions
- You can make the mint chutney a day or two ahead if you like. It is also possible to make it fresh on the day you are cooking the samosa potatoes.
- Steam the potatoes but be careful not to over steam them so they are falling apart. For Yukon Golds, you need about 25 - 35 minutes to get steamed yet firm potatoes.
- Once the potatoes are steamed, let them cool and use a potato masher to mash them. You want them to still retain some of their solid texture.
- Then add in all the spices: cumin, coriander, turmeric, garlic, amchur, chaat masala, black salt, and the whole cumin seeds.
- Add in the peas.
- Then mix in 4 - 6 tbsp of the green mint chutney.
- Finish with lemon, chopped cilantro, and red onions.
The green mint chutney this recipe calls for is also easy to make (just place into a blender and blend until smooth), and so refreshing- find the recipe for it here.
Key Healing Ingredients in This Dish
Cilantro
A great heavy metal detoxer- this is one of the five key ingredients in the Heavy Metal Detox Smoothie. It is adept at removing metals from the brain and liver- two very critical places!
Cilantro is also great at balancing the adrenals as its mineral salts help balance blood glucose. This aspect makes it great at helping the body balance weight and stave off weight gain. Pathogens hate the taste of cilantro and this makes it anti-pathogenic, eat cilantro if you want to fight back EBV, shingles, herpetic viruses, HIV, HHV-6, cytomegalovirus, and virtually all bacteria.
Turmeric
Turmeric will lower inflammation significantly in your body and help it get out of an overly reactive state- such as from an inflammatory response to chronic illness or a virus. Curcumin is a popular supplement and comes from turmeric. One of its uses as a supplement comes from its quality as a natural and gentle steroid that targets reactive states and inflammation. Turmeric helps reverse mild brain swelling, which can result in ME/CFS, anxiety, panic, blurry eyes, and deep headaches.
On an emotional level, if you are doubting the worth of your contributions, struggle to take a compliment, or question your worth, turmeric will help you turn that around and rebuild your confidence and self-worth.
Potatoes
Potatoes often get a bad wrap… because they are such a great culinary blank canvas we love to add overt fats and salt to them. Traditional fatty potato recipes do us no good when we need to heal: baked potatoes, fries, home fries, potato chips to name a few. It’s not the potatoes fault they get a bad wrap.
If you have somehow found your way through the potato confusion, including its nightshade shaming, then you have not let a lot of noise and confusion keep you from including this healing food in your diet.
The truth is, steamed fluffy potatoes are good for you. They are affordable, highly nutritious, comforting, filling, soothing, and satisfying. If you are trying to turn a corner in your diet, leaning on potatoes will help get you to where you want to go.
If you have digestive problems, neurological symptoms or conditions, mineral deficiencies, inflammation, autoimmune disease, a lot on your plate, reproductive issues, cancer, or weight imbalances, bringing in potatoes will help positively change the path of your health. This is just a portion of how potatoes can help you. It is important when cooking potatoes to remember to ditch the dairy and excess oils and salt.
Final Thoughts
I hope you enjoy this dish. If you love Indian and Pakistani food like I do, I have a lot more recipes like this one on my website. For example, the Fat-Free Curried Aloo Mattar, my Mom’s Fragrant Aloo Chana Masala and the Baked Onion Bhaji. Feel free to tag me on Facebook and Instagram to show me how it goes for you in the kitchen!
To your health and happiness,
Muneeza
Transitioning away from a Standard American Diet? Ready to elevate your healing lifestyle? Find healthy options in my Ultimate Clean Food Guide — there are over 60 pages of healthy food swaps in this FREE download. Find gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and industrialized oil-free alternatives so you and your families can eat a healthier diet without feeling deprived.
