• 12Jul

    I have had naan bread on my mind for a few weeks…now it is on the kitchen counter. Finally had a chance to try out the latest recipe I found on the internet. Internet searches for recipes can be quite overwhelming. You can end up with so many versions of one thing that you never get a chance to try any of them. That’s what’s happened with my Chicken Tikka Masala search but I do plan on getting to one of them this week.
    Naan bread is traditionally cooked in a tandoor oven. This is a clay oven with an opening on the top. The hot burning coals go in the bottom creating temperatures of up to 500 to 600F and even higher. The bread dough is cooked by sticking your arm into the oven and slapping the dough onto the inside wall of said hot oven. I used to work a tandoor oven back in LA – it literally singes the hair off your arms. I did find a site on the internet that shows you how to make a tandoor in your very own backyard but I figured that project will have to wait another day. I can see it now, the neighbors poppping over and asking what I am up to while I am mixing a bag of cement in the wheel barrel. “Oh, I’m making bread…”
    The recipe I settled on had yogurt, yeast and baking powder…of course it had the other typical bread ingredients too. Not able to follow a recipe exactly, I subbed 1/4 c of all purpose flour with gluten flour to give the bread a bit more chewiness and as I was mixing the dough noticed that it was going to be awfully dry so I added a half cup of water. I would have used milk but we didn’t have any. 

     

    The texture was almost what I was looking for: chewy yet tender with large air bubbles. Taste wise they were a bit tart for my buds so next time I will cut back on the yogurt – maybe even sub with an egg. I think I’ll stick with using water instead of milk just because it’s one less thing I have to buy special since I don’t usually have milk around. 

     

    Wish I had some Chicken Tikka Masala to go with this bread. Hmm, I think there’s some Aloo Gobi in the freezer. Off I go…  

    Oh, by the way, you can leave comments now so please do if you are so inclined. Just click on the green colored “Comments” at the end of each post. 

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  • 29Jun

    This is our very first post…  

    We’re on an Indian food obsession these days. A few favorite clients love Indian food so in the quest to provide diverse choices and authentic tastes I have enbarked on the spice trail with my taste buds ready.  

    Yesterday I made Shami Kabab – this version from one of Madhur Jaffrey’s vegetarian books. It’s a great recipe – a complete protein with soybeans and rice. Of course I couldn’t help myself, I made a few adjustments to the recipe to punch up the flavors – I added more garam masala (even made my own to ensure the spices were fresh and punchy) and threw in a few dashes of…dare I admit it…balsamic vinegar. The balsamic kind of reminds me of tamarind chutney so I haven’t completely fallen off the continent! I don’t know, the Kabab mix just needed some acid to take away the flatness. In my humble opinion it worked. The family I cooked for yesterday love hot hot hot food so for yesterday’s batch I threw in a finely dice jalapeno…ouch. And then there was the texture – the original recipe called for white rice. The first time I made it the whole thing came out too mushy for me so now I use brown rice instead. The Shami Kababs are served with a nice zippy Tamarind Chutney. For yesterday’s sides, I did a saute of spinach and a bright yellow (from a bit or tumeric) coconut rice. Yesterday’s menu also included Aloo Gobi, Curried Lentils, Garlic Naan, Curried Summer Veggies with Tofu and Vegetable Biryani. All in all it was a very hot day of cooking.  

    Ok, a little aside. The bright yellow tumeric reminds me of the violin I varnished. One of the base coats is shellac colored with tumeric and saffron – Wow, talk about bright! Curiously enough, music played from said violin is quiet tasteful…at least in the right hands! 

     My next project – fluffy, bubbly Naan Bread….

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