Vegetarian Potstickers

Happy Lunar New Year to all of you! In many parts of Asia, today marks the advent of the Year of the Snake. Though the Thai New Year (Songkran) falls in April, the Chinese New Year as it's often called is a pretty big deal here, particularly among the Thai-Chinese community of which there are many in Bangkok. While we didn't make it to Chinatown to check out the festivities (too much work!), I decided to try my hand at making potstickers for the first time to mark the occasion.

Spicy pumpkin & edamame samosas with sweet chili-yogurt sauce

I have a little confession to make. Shhhh...here it goes....I've never made my own samosa dough. I love making samosas of all different types (such as the traditional potato & pea as well as my special chili paneer version), but I've never bothered with the process of mixing and rolling my own dough. Before you start questioning my Indian girl credentials, let me tell you why. It's all because after I moved to Paris, I discovered the joys of brick pastry, or feuilles de brick. Also known as warka, brick is a wafer-thin pastry dough that originates from the Maghreb (North Africa) but which has become a common supermarket product in France, which is home to many immigrants from this part of the world. Usually sold in circular sheets, brick pastry is usually used to wrap fillings such as meat, tuna or eggs and is typically then fried. I discovered in France that brick pastry is super easy to fold and work with and makes for perfectly light, crispy samosas...just the way I like them! And better yet, samosas made with brick can be baked rather than fried, yielding equally crispy, delicious results without the guilt.