I know it’s weird to call something a quesadilla without any cheese, but this dish is a whole mashup of techniques, flavors, and language. I really just went for it. The filling is very samosa-inspired but I tried to keep the spice list to things I’ve called for in the past and that you can find at most big box grocery stores. While this spicing is very similar to the Punjabi style treat, you can find samosas in so many different cultures and regions. The earliest mentions of them come out of Middle East in the 10th century where they had a meat and vegetable filling. Scholars think the dish came to the Indian subcontinent in the 14th century with royal chefs for the court of the Delhi sultanate and then traveled all over all over the world. You can find a version of them in Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Indonesia, Pakistan, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, and of course, Iran. Then came the potato all the way from Peru and the dish got reimagined again. So while this version I’m making today is anything but traditional, its part of a long line of reinventions based on what was available. Or at least that’s how I’m going to justify my extremely lazy dinner.
Flour tortillas replace a more complicated crust or dough to make things faster and easier. If you want more of a crust, the curry hand pie crust in Party Grub is a solid choice. But there’s no need to show off here so I went with tortillas. The shape and eating experience end up being so quesadilla -adjacent that the goofy name felt like a natural conclusion. I present to you my version of the Samosa-dilla.
You can keep the filling in your fridge for a couple days and just make the quesadillas when mealtime rolls around. It will save you a lot of time and teens or other equally clueless people in your house can do it for themselves when they get hungry. Want something fresh to pair it with? Try my firecracker slaw or the everyday cabbage slaw from Hungry as Hell.
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