September 4, 2009: Green pea puffs

Our second Green Line delivery was not quite so large as the first, and I was disappointed not to see any more of those incredible pears. What I did get a little excited about, though, was a paper bag of fresh peas! Buoyed by my recent dumpling success and with some leftover ricotta in the fridge, I converted them into Monica Bhide's Chile Pea Puffs, as seen and drooled over at 101 Cookbooks.

These are a cinch to pull together, and the little parcels develop a nice browned crunch with just a light spray of oil and 10 minutes in the oven - they'd make a delightful appetiser with some mango chutney to dip into. Chutney-less and in need of a full meal, I drizzled mine with ketjap manis and ate a half-dozen of them with a lemon and sesame-dressed side salad.


Green pea puffs
(from 101 Cookbooks, though it's published in Modern Spice by Monica Bhide)

1 cup green peas
1/4 cup ricotta or crumbled paneer
2 green chillis, finely chopped
salt, to taste
red chilli flakes, to taste
1 clove garlic
14 wonton wrappers
spray oil

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Briefly steam the peas until tender and lightly mash them. Stir in the cheese, green chillis, salt, chilli flakes and garlic.

Place sparing spoonfuls of the mixture on the wonton wrappers and wrap them up, sealing the edges with a little water. Use whatever wrapping style you like - half moons, triangles or little spring roll-style rectangles as I copied from Heidi.

Line a baking tray with paper, give it a light spray of oil, and arrange the puffs on it. Give them another light spray on top, then bake them for about 10 minutes, turning once, until they've started going golden.