Chili Pea Puffs

So these are delicious. And it is not really my recipe, I got it from 101cookbooks.com which is such a great site. Heidi, the writer, samples recipes from different cookbooks and this one is from Monica Bhide's Modern Spice cookbook. I've made this a couple of times, once vegan and once with paneer. Both were delicious, and I couldn't really tell the difference between the two. This is mostly copied  from the recipe on the website, but I've changed a couple of things.

Chili Pea Puffs

1 cup cooked mashed peas

1/4 crumbled paneer or tofu

2 small serrano peppers (remove seeds and veins - I left the seeds in one since I like my food pretty spicy)

1/2 - 1 teaspoon of chili powder or flakes

2 cloves minced garlic

salt and pepper

About 32 wonton wrappers (I used the square shape)

(I've omitted the use of egg white...I hate wasting yolk and this way it can easily be made vegan)

Preheat the oven to 400F - I hope you have air conditioning. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. Place a teaspoon of the filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper. It's tempting to add a whole lot of filling, but that will make it so much harder to fold. Dab warm water on one side of the wrapper, and press the two sides together. I followed Heidi's example and made it into a small spring roll shape. It was pretty simple, you just need to fold the wrap diagonally, and then fold in the sides to make the spring roll shape. 

Spray or brush the puffs with cooking oil, and cook in the oven for about 10 minutes, making sure to flip half way. 101cookbooks says 7-8 minutes, but for some reason my oven always takes longer than recipes say. Serve warm, and with a sweet/spicy sauce. I actually made a sauce from a cherry butter I had on hand. I added some spice and tartness, and it was great. 

Also, these puffs freeze really well. You can stick them in the oven straight from the freezer.