Samosa Chaatdish (Indian Tater Tot Hotdish)

"This is you, in a recipe!"That's what my friend Lauren said when I told her about this idea to infuse the most old-school Minnesotan of recipes (hotdish, i.e. casserole) with Indian flavors. And she's right.It me.

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

It me.

Step 2

Let's chaat.

Step 3

Chop and prep all your before you start cooking.

Step 4

Using a big stock pot or Dutch oven, fry onions on medium heat, stirring frequently until they start to caramelize. Then add ghee or oil to the pan and give them a pinch of salt or two and cook until they are a medium golden color. Be patient — this can take a little while but it really lays the groundwork for all the layers of flavor in this dish. (p.s. I have a whole post on caramelized onions, if you're interested).

Step 5

Clear a space in the pan, adding more ghee or oil there. Throw in the jalapeño, ginger and garlic and fry for a minute or two until fragrant. Stir to combine.

Step 6

Add the garam masala, cumin, coriander, turmeric and cinnamon and stir to coat everything. It'll be dry, but that's normal.

Step 7

You'll probably need to brown the meat in two batches even with a very large pot, so remove about half of this masala-onion mixture and set it aside.

Step 8

Add half the ground meat to the pot, sprinkle with salt and pepper and brown as you combine it thoroughly with the onion mixture. Repeat with the remaining meat and masala-onions and then combine it all back together.

Step 9

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Step 10

Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and sprinkle with just a little more salt. Simmer on low, covered, about 15-20 minutes or until the tomatoes melt into the stew, stirring occasionally.

Step 11

Stir in the frozen spinach, lemon juice and about half of the chopped cilantro. Turn off the burner.

Step 12

Taste and adjust spices, salt and pepper as needed. Stir in the frozen peas, if desired.

Step 13

Transfer the palak keema into a 13x9 (3-quart) casserole dish. Top with a single layer of tater tots.

Step 14

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the tots are crispy and golden brown.

Step 15

Serve with the remaining fresh cilantro, plain yogurt, coriander chutney and whatever other bonus chaat toppings you like! (For the photos, I added minced red onions, tamarind chutney and sev but normally I'd let everybody top their own servings.)

Step 16

Notes

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