Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Spicy Onion Paratha #TwelveLoaves

Food Lust People Love: A spicy twist on traditional plain paratha made with wholemeal wheat flour and seasoned with onion, garlic, chili peppers and cilantro as well as ground coriander and garam masala and cooked on a hot griddle.

The name paratha comes from two words in Hindi and Urdu, parat meaning layer or flake and atta, which is flour, but not all paratha are multi-layered; some are simple flatbreads. All are cooked on a tawa or griddle. (P.S. It's pronounced prata. Just two syllables with the stress on the first.)

When we lived in Malaysia all those years, I volunteered in a monthly Booster Club fundraiser called PAC Shack. PAC stood for Panther Activity Center and once upon a time, it was actually a shack out in the field where moms and dads and even students served burgers with all the fixings and other goodies to raise funds for team uniforms and sports equipment.

By the time I joined the Booster Club roster of volunteers, we had a kitchen up in the main high school building with little ventilation, sad extractor fans and cardboard spread on the floor to stop us sliding around on the inevitable grease that accumulated from cooking fatty meat patties on the big diner-type flat grills.  By the time I had left KL, we had moved into bigger better facilities, with room to work and a kitchen sink with actual hot running water. But the one thing we never could get around were the tears when it was time to peel and slice onions in an enclosed space, no matter how well ventilated. The onions were always my job because I was the only one who didn’t bawl.

I’d take my 10-15 pounds out to a picnic table overlooking the school pool and get after it all by my lonesome, creating mountains of sliced onions to adorn the more than 600 burgers the other ladies were inside grilling and wrapping and popping in huge warmers before the lunch bell rang.

The moral of this story is, always get someone who wears contact lenses to slice your onions.  Those were my shields of eye protection! I found out the hard way that without them, I do cry.

This month my Twelve Loaves group decided on onions as our theme and I was delighted! I've been making paratha and chapati and naan for years so they seemed like the perfect oniony departure from the normal yeast bread I usually undertake for these challenges. I found a recipe online for an onion paratha that sounded fabulous. And indeed it is. I've added garlic and a bit more coriander, quantified for clarity and changed the method up in a quite a few ways that I hope will encourage someone to give it a try.

Ingredients
1 cup or 150g wholemeal wheat flour, plus extra for dusting as you roll the flatbread out
1 medium onion (about 6 1/3 oz or 180g)
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 small hot chilies
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Small bunch (about 3/4 oz or 20g) cilantro or coriander leaves
1 tablepoon olive oil, plus extra for sautéing the vegetables and greasing the griddle
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Method
Mince your onion, garlic and chilies as finely as you can. Do the same with your cilantro. I cut off the long, hard stems but minced the tender parts with the leaves.



In a medium-sized saucepan, drizzle in a little oil and add your cumin seeds.

Watch closely so they don’t burn but let them toast till they are a little darker and then add in your minced onion, garlic and chilies and stir well. If the pan is too dry, drizzle in a little more oil.



Cook the mixture over a low to medium heat, stirring often. You want everything to brown but not to scorch. When the mixture is nicely browned, add in the chopped cilantro, along with the ground coriander and the garam masala. Stir well and remove from the heat and allow to cool.



In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the flour, onion mixture, 1 tablespoon olive oil and the salt.



Add in 1/4 cup or 60ml warm water and mix thoroughly.

Now add more warm water, a tablespoon at a time, mixing well in between additions. Different flours require more or less water but you are looking for a nice cohesive soft dough. I ended up adding three tablespoons to get the right consistency.



Knead the dough by hand or machine for a few minutes.  Form it into a nice round ball.



Drizzle a little oil in a bowl and roll the ball around to grease it. Cover the bowl with cling film and set aside to rest for 20-30 minutes. I find that the longer I let the dough rest, the easier it is to roll into circles once it’s divided, so I make it earlier in the afternoon and let it rest until just before I am ready to serve dinner.



When you are ready to cook the paratha, divide the ball into six equal pieces.

First cut it in half, then each half into three pieces.

Sprinkle your clean work surface with some flour and use a rolling pin to roll each ball into a circle. Sprinkle on extra flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking.

The hand is for scale. Each circle is about 8 inches or 20cm across.


Heat your griddle pan and drizzle on a little oil. Place the circle on the hot pan and watch it carefully. Brush the top with some more oil.

When little bubbles start to form on the top flip the paratha over to cook the other side.

Press down with your spatula to make sure that the paratha is making contact with the griddle. Cook for a few minutes, flipping a couple more times if necessary, until both sides have lovely brown spots all over.

I like to stack the paratha in a little sleeve made of folded aluminum foil to keep warm until I am ready to serve.



These are great with any kind of curry, like potato, chicken, fish or just dal but I must confess to warming one the next morning and nibbling on it while I sipped my cup of coffee. Divine.

Food Lust People Love: A spicy twist on traditional plain paratha made with wholemeal wheat flour and seasoned with onion, garlic, chili peppers and cilantro as well as ground coriander and garam masala and cooked on a hot griddle.

Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: A spicy twist on traditional plain paratha made with wholemeal wheat flour and seasoned with onion, garlic, chili peppers and cilantro as well as ground coriander and garam masala and cooked on a hot griddle.




Are you a fan of all things bread and all things allium, by which I mean the onion family?  Then you are going to love this month’s Twelve Loaves recipes.








Monday, May 5, 2014

Pomegranate and Pistachio Muffins with Pomegranate Glaze #MuffinMonday #Gluten-free

My first foray into gluten-free baking is this pomegranate and pistachio muffin, both ingredients that are common in the Middle East and look pretty together besides. Pomegranate juice and sugar cooked down to a syrup make a beautiful sticky glaze that will hold your extra pistachios and pomegranate arils on after baking. 

Baking gluten-free is a new challenge for me but one I handled with my usual three-pronged approach to cooking and baking things unfamiliar. 1. Lots of research 2. A bit of daydreaming, then 3. Just jump off the cliff. Turns out that baking gluten-free has a couple of caveats, like add more liquid than usual and stir until completely and thoroughly blended, even when it comes to muffin batter. But otherwise, it’s not that tricky. I took these pretty babies along to my weekly ladies Bible study this morning because one of our members is gluten-intolerant and it was my turn to bring snacks. The muffins were completely and utterly demolished. But, best of all, no one would have even guessed that they were made with a gluten-free flour mix. I figure that is the greatest endorsement of all.

Ingredients
For 18 muffins:
1 1/2 cups or 240g gluten-free flour blend (I used Dove Farms.)
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
1/2 teaspoon xanthun gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk *
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup or 125g slivered or chopped pistachio kernels, divided
2 cups or 250g pomegranate arils, divided

* A good substitute for buttermilk is one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar added to a measuring vessel and topped up with milk to one cup or 240ml. Stir and allow to rest for five minutes before using.

For the optional glaze:
1/2 cup or 120ml unsweetened pomegranate juice
1/4 cup or 50g sugar

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.  Generously grease a 12-cup and a six-cup muffin pan or line both with paper muffin liners.

Combine the flour mix, sugar, xanthum gum, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a large mixing bowl.



In another bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.


Add all the milk mixture to flour mixture.


Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the flour is completely mixed in. This is going to be thinner than your average muffin batter. Trust.



Set a good handful of the pomegranate arils and the slivered pistachios aside and then fold the rest of both into the batter.



Divide your batter relatively evenly between the 18 muffin cups.


Bake 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden and toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.


While the muffins bake, put your pomegranate juice and the sugar into a small pot on the stove. Bring to the boil and stir until the sugar has dissolved.


Turn the fire down so the juice is just bubbling slowly and cook until the liquid has reduced by half. Turn off the fire and allow to cool a little.



When the muffins are done, remove the pan from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing muffins and cooling them further on a wire rack.



When the muffins are cool, drizzle on the pomegranate syrup and decorate by sprinkling with the reserved pomegranate arils and pistachio slivers. If the syrup has hardened up, loosen it by gently warming over a low fire and stirring until it is able to drip off a spoon again.



Enjoy!



One of my ladies, the lovely Cheryl-lynn, thought you all might need proof that the muffins were devoured with relish.

Told ya! 





Thursday, May 1, 2014

Caipiracujá Cocktail


A delightful change from my favorite lime-based cocktail, the caipirinha, this deliciously refreshing libation is made with tart fresh passion fruit and cachaça. 

Ever since I made the passion fruit muffins a few weeks back, I’ve been wanting to try passion fruit in a cocktail. As I mentioned then, I came to love that funny fruit when we lived in Brazil so it seemed appropriate to switch out sour limes for tart passion fruit, but still use cachaça for the alcohol component. For the name, I mashed together caipira, the Portuguese word from whence the diminutive caipirinha comes, and maracujá, what the Brazilians call passion fruit. A most successfully mash up, if I do say so myself. By which I mean the drink although I am hoping the name will catch on as well.

Ingredients
2-3 tablespoons passion fruit pulp (I used two small passion fruit per glass.)
1/2-1 tablespoon sugar (depending on how tart your passion fruit are and how sweet you like your cocktails)
Crushed ice
Cachaça

Note: Cachaça is cane alcohol so if you can't get your hands on a bottle, substitute rum. It won't be the same but I'm betting it'll still be delicious.

Method
Cut your passion fruit in half and scoop the pulp into a short cocktail glass.


Add the sugar.



Muddle the sugar and the pulp to loosen the seeds.

This shot is really just to show off my parrot muddler. He is Brazilian.

Fill the glass with crushed ice.



Top up with cachaça.

As you can see, this is a powerful drink.





Stir vigorously and serve with a straw.


Enjoy! And saúde!


If you found your way here looking for traditional caipirinha instructions, you are in luck. I have those for you too.