My parents are coming from Ontario to visit so we’ve been busy this week cleaning up the yard, trimming back the encroaching forest and sowing the last crop from the garden so when they arrive they’ll have a place to lounge in the sun and something to snack on. I intend to do quite a bit of grilling for them, but not every meal. Here and there I’ve packed away freezer bags full of pre-made nibblets for the nights when we’ve had a bit too much adventure.
One of these instant meals includes a heaping helping of our local Spot Prawns, which I’ve still got frozen in water-filled bags from back in June. I mentioned that spot prawn makes a fine stuffing for dumplings of all shapes ‘n sizes and that goes for stuffed pastas as well!
Samosas are beautiful little flour dough dumplings that originated in medieval Persia and spread throughout the Middle East into India and Southeast Asian. The Indian version is by far the most famous, often stuffed with a vegetarian-friendly mixture of potatoes, chilies and peas but there’s a gang of regional variations including beef, mutton, nuts, sweet pastes and whatever else you got. 
Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year, a festival celebrated in China, Japan, Vietnam, heck, all over Asia and in North America. It’s a time for cleaning house, settling debts, lighting crazy chains of firecrackers and spending time with family and friends eating good food.