Naan Bread

It's difficult if not impossible to recreate authentic naan at home unless you happen to have a tandoor oven (and if you do, I doubt you need my recipes !), but it is easy imho, to beat that cardboard that purports to be naan that the supermarkets sell. It doesn't even take very long. Please, if you can be bothered to make your own curry, you should try this.

• 1 tsp of dried active yeast - I use half a sachet of Hovis Fast Acting Yeast
• 1tsp sugar
• 200g Plain Flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp plain yoghurt
• 2 tbsp milk
• flavourings - garlic, corriander, pepper, onion seeds for example.

Mix the dried yeast with a tablespoon of water in a small bowl. Stir in the sugar and leave somewhere warm for a few minutes. It will bubble and froth a little as the yeast starts to do what yeast does.

In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking powder together. Add in any flavourings you wish. I usually go for chopped corriander and a few twists of black pepper, but whatever floats your boat naan wise - crushed garlic is good, as are onion seeds, never tried coconut because I can't stand peshwari, but go right ahead - it's got to be worth the experiment.

Stir in the oil, milk and yoghurt, and then the yeast mixture. Bring it together to form a dough - yup you're going to have to get your hands dirty with this one ! Kneed the dough for a few minutes. It should go smooth and silky as the gluten in the flour starts to work. If it's a little sticky sprinkle on a little flour, but try to avoid adding more liquid unless you really can't get the mixture to come together. All flours have differing abilities to take up moisture, but you'll be suprised how things start to combine as you work.
Place the ball of dough back in the mixing bowl, cover with cling film and put in a warm place for about 15 minutes. The dough should increase in size.

This didn't increase quite as well as I hoped last night - If I wasn't so hungry I'd probably have given it another 5 minutes ...

Heat the oven to 140 C, and put a lightly oiled baking tray in to warm. Break up the dough into 2 large or 4 small pieces. Squish each to a flattish circle, and then roll out on a floured surface to around 0.5cm thick. I tend to flip the dough back and forth between my (floured) hands to do this as it gives a more rustic shape. Put the naan on the tray and bake for about 15 minutes.

And there we have it. I forgot to take a photo of the bread before it went into the oven and when it came out, but it tastes divine. It should be soft in the middle with a crumbly texture, not dry like the shop bought stuff often is. I thought of a way to perhaps make it more authentic last night, by dropping the cooked bread onto a seriously hot dry frying pan (or better my cast iron griddle plate) to char each side, and I will test this theory out next time I do it and let you know the results.

Curry

I made curry last night. Veggie curry. I'm not a veggie, but it's a really cheap meal and we eat it a lot.

So here's what you need ....

• Lentils 300g - I used red here, but sometimes I use yellow dahl instead
• Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes- about 1kg in total.
• Onion - 1 large
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Ginger - a good chunk - about an inch
• Chili - fresh or dried.
• Mustard Seeds - 1tbsp
• Fenugreek - 2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
• Turmuric - 1tsp
• Cayenne Chilli Pepper - to taste !
• Garam Masala - to taste !
• Paprika = 1tsp
• 1 tin of tomatoes - chopped.
• fresh corriander

First prepare the lentils. Put them in a fine sieve and rinse them under cold water. Then into pan with about a litre of water or stock, and boil vigourously for about 20 minutes. A froth will form on the surface of the water - skim this off.

Eventually the lentils will have boiled down to a soft mushy texture. Set the pan aside. We'll use that to bulk out our sauce. It should still be fairly liquid, and may seperate slightly when you leave it to sit - no bother.

While the lentils are cooking, prep the rest of the dish. Peel the veg and dice it - I like big chunks, they tend to hold together better in the final dish. Peel the onion, ginger  and garlic, and place in a blender with the chill. It's hard to tell you how much chilli and ginger you should add - much of the heat comes from these ingredients. Last night I used 3 red chillis that I bought fresh but that had dried out. Sometimes I'll use more, sometimes less, depending on mood, and also how hot the chillis are - there's trial and error at work here. As for ginger, I usually bung in about a golf ball's worth. Glug a little oil in there to help it bind together as a paste, and blitz it.

Time to cook.

Take a big pan - I use a wok, and get it nice and hot. Then add a dash of oil, and as soon as that is hot (almost smoking) add the mustard seeds. fry these off for a few seconds. They may start to pop - this is a good thing, but boy does it make a mess if you forget to put a lid on the pan. What you're doing her is releasing the flavours in the seeds - the frying bit is important. Skip this, and your curry will appear to have tasteless grit in it! As the mustard seeds start to pop, bung in the cumin and fenugreek. Continue to fry for another 20-30 seconds. Then add the onion paste you made earlier. Stir well, and fry this mixture for a minute or two. You can let it take on a little colour here, but be careful not to burn it.

Now chuck in the veg, toss well so that paste starts to coat the veg, and continue to fry off, stirring/tossing frequently so that the veg doesn't stic. Again, let it take on a little colour.

Add in the garam masala - I use about 2 tablespoons usually, but again, it depends on taste and the strength of your spice mix, the turmuric and paprika (which are essentially for colour) and also the chilli powder if you want to heat things up a little. The lentils and tomatoes will tone this curry down quite a bit, so don't be shy.

Finally add the lentils and the tomatoes. Stir, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until the veg is done (15-20 mins), then stir in some fresh chopped corriander.

Sometimes I find that as the veg cooks the sauce thickens too much. If this happens I'll let it down with some water.

And there we have it - my vegetable curry. Note - this is not a definitive recipe. It changes depending on what I have in the larder. Try it with other root veg as well as or instead of the potatoes. Aubergine and Okra are both good (need less cooking time), and it's also good to chuck in french beans or perhaps cauliflower. Whatever you fancy, try it. Sometimes I add fresh whole chillis which means that people can choose not to eat them, and so vary the heat to their requirements. You can also skip the blitzing of the onions etc and just chop them finely, or even roughly if you wish. In fact, adding a lot of onions, and I mean a LOT, sliced and then fried gently until soft, is a really nice way to add texture to the sauce. Use chopped fresh tomatoes so that that there is colour and texture. Really, whatever you fancy. No two curries that I cook are ever quite the same. The above is just a starting point.

There are also plenty of other spices you can try. The list is huge, and I've not experimented much, mostly because those above are what I happen to have in the cupboard.

Happy cooking.

Now - will you be wanting a naan with that ? Oh you do ? ok then .....

And so it begins.

Ok, be gentle with me, I'm fairly new to this blogging malarky. I tried LiveJournal once way back in the day, but never seemed to have the energy or will to keep it up. Maybe this will be no different, but I know there is one difference for starters - this blog has a purpose.

I've been twittering for a while now, and I often tweet about food. If I say so myself (and I do) I'm a reasonably competent cook - some might say pretty good, and every time I tweet about something I'm cooking, it brings a host of replies usually along the lines of "set 2 extra places" or "do you do take out?". So I thought it might be time to put my money where my mouth is so to speak and actually extend the food chat past 140 characters. Maybe you'll learn something along the way, more likely I will.

So the purpose of this blog is to talk about food. I like food. Not just eating, but also cooking, and even the raw ingredients. I'm passionate about it. Perhaps I could have been a chef, but life didn't turn out that way, and I'm too old to get into cheffing now (or rather I couldn't and wouldn't want to, do the hours). Mostly I cook for myself and my family - my lovely wife and three daughters. Sometimes friends and relatives get to taste my wares. Generally feedback is good (but it probably would be from them).

I'm my biggest critic. I get really angry with myself when something I've tried to cook doesn't go as planned, but I also appreciate honesty. Never make the mistake of saying you like something in our house if you didn't - you'll likely get it again !

So here goes. I hope to cover everything from every day cookery - lunch, dinner etc, to full blown dinner parties catering for perhaps 20 or more people. I've been known to dabble in fine dining food. If you happen upon my journey and like what you see, be sure to let me know. I'd also welcome criticism (both of my appalling blogging skills, and my food). Don't be afraid to tell me that something I cooked was wrong or I could have done it better with this ingredient or that method - all feedback is welcome, indeed encouraged.

This is my food, the way I cook it. that doesn't make it right !

Thanks for reading.