Filled Puff Pastry Pillows

For the filling:

Take some oil on a pan, add diced onions and saute until brown. Add peas and tiny diced potatoes. Add salt, some cumin, turmeric and garlic powders. Stir fry until potatoes are cooked. Add some wedges of laughing cow cheese... I used pepper jack.

For shell:

Take one package of Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheet. Thaw the sheets and preheat oven to 400F. Lay out the sheets. Cut each sheet into 12 rectangles. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and lay out rectangles. Bake for 15 minutes or until puffed like pillows. Take out of oven, make holes at the center of the pillows gently with teaspoon and put in 1-2 teaspoons of filling in each. Bake for another 15-20 minutes or until golden brown like in photo.

I'm sure it'll work great with many other filings!

Daal (lentils) and Pumpkin Soup

Made this as a soup for 11-12 people... below is exactly what I did, will have to adapt for smaller portions.

Mix 2 cups masoor daal and 1 cup moong daal (or red and yellow lentils), wash and soak lentils in water for 30 minutes. Put on stove with lots of water. Simmer with 1.5 teaspoon turmeric powder until lentils are cooked. Add salt. Add cumin powder, one jar patak's mild curry sauce, 15 oz pure pumpkin puree, kaffir lime leaves. Let cook another 30 minutes. Soup will be thick so add chicken stock to make more volume... I added about half a large box. Add cilantro and heavy cream.

Taste and add salt or other spices as you need. Daal is very forgiving and you can play around with quantities/ingredients :)

I kept it in a crock pot on warm for 4-5 hours for convenience, but think it enhanced the flavor more!