Showing posts with label #TwelveLoaves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #TwelveLoaves. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Keema (Spicy Lamb Stuffed) Naan

Keema Naan - spicy lamb cooked with peas and carrots stuffed into soft dough and cooked in a non-stick pan - makes a wonderful starter or can even star in a meal rounded out by a crunchy side salad or cucumber raita.

Food Lust People Love: Keema Naan - spicy lamb cooked with peas and carrots stuffed into soft dough and cooked in a non-stick pan - makes a wonderful starter or can even star in a meal rounded out by a crunchy side salad or cucumber raita.


This month’s Twelve Loaves challenge was to create a bread with herbs but I decided to take that one step farther along the herbaceous road and use cilantro in my dough AND in a stuffing, making a savory keema naan with ground lamb and curry spices. This is perfect summer food, cut into wedges as a starter for a party, or to take along for a picnic. I don’t have a tandoor – nor would I want to hover over one in this heat – but, though far from traditional, a non-stick pan with a tight-fitting lid works beautifully.

Many thanks to our host this month, the delightful Sherron of Simply Gourmet. If you haven’t met her yet, you need to stop on by. I love her honest life storytelling as much as I enjoy her beautiful recipes.

Note: I’ve given approximate weights for some of the ingredients in the filling, just to give you an idea of the size of my tomato, for example. Don’t dwell on this too much. A little more or a little less will not make a difference. It’s all going to cook down anyway.

Keema (Spicy Lamb Stuffed) Naan


Most folks are familiar with naan, a soft yeast dough traditionally brushed with butter or ghee and baked to brown-spotted perfection in a tandoor or cylindrical oven. A few charred bits are considered essential. Just as traditional but less well known in the western world are variations like keema naan, which is stuffed with seasoned ground meat, or Kashmiri naan, stuffed with nuts and raisins.

Ingredients
For the dough:
1 cup or 240ml tepid water
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 level teaspoons or one 7g sachet dried yeast
1/2 cup or 125g active natural yoghurt at room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 125g strong bread flour
3 cups or 375g plain white flour
Small bunch cilantro or fresh coriander (about 3/4 oz or 20g)

For the filling:
Olive oil
7 oz or 200g ground (minced) lamb (Beef can be substituted.)
1 thumb-sized knob of fresh ginger (about 1 oz or 30g)
6 garlic cloves
1 fresh hot red chili pepper
1 medium-sized tomato (about 3 1/2 oz or 100g)
1 small carrot (about 2 oz or 55g)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup or 70g frozen peas, thawed
3/4 or 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
Small bunch cilantro or fresh coriander (about 3/4 oz or 20g)

To cook the keema naan:
4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter or ghee (clarified butter)

Method
Add the sugar and warm water into a big mixing bowl with the yeast and allow it to sit for a few minutes until it gets foamy. If it doesn’t get foamy, you need to start again with new yeast.

Cut the hard stems off of your cilantro and chop the leaves and tender stems finely.

When the yeast water is all foamy, add in the bread flour and stir well.



Add in the yogurt and salt and mix well again.


Now add in the chopped cilantro. And you know the drill: Mix well.



Add the rest of the flour, a little at a time until you have a nice medium firm dough. You should be able to poke a finger in like the Pillsbury Dough Boy commercial and it'll slowly puff back out. You may not use all of the regular flour.


Knead the dough for several minutes, either by hand or with a dough hook, until it is smooth and elastic. Set aside to rest for 30 minutes in a covered bowl, somewhere warm.



Meanwhile, peel and mince your garlic and ginger. Mince your red chili pepper. Dice your carrot into tiny cubes and chop your tomato. If your peas are still frozen, go ahead and take them out of the freezer to thaw.



As before, cut the hard stems off of your cilantro and chop the leaves and tender stems finely.



To make the filling, drizzle a little olive oil in the your pan and add the lamb. Cook it over a medium heat, breaking the lamb into tiny crumbly bits. If the pieces are too large, they will try to break through your naan when we get to the rolling out stage. Keep cooking the lamb until it is nicely browned and kind of crispy in places.

Add in the garlic, ginger and chili pepper. Cook until these soften, stirring often.

I kept mashing the meat, even at this stage, so the bits were smaller by the time this finished cooking.


Now add in the carrot and tomato, plus the cayenne and curry powder.



Cook for a few minutes and then add about a half a cup or 120ml water. Cover the pan and simmer this mixture for about 20-25 minutes. Stir the pan occasionally.

After the time is up, remove the lid and add the peas. Cook for a little while longer, until the peas are hot and all the moisture has evaporated.

Add in the salt and stir.

Mine seemed a little greasy so I drained the mixture on some paper towels. If your lamb wasn’t very fatty, you might not need this step.

Add the chopped cilantro to the mixture and stir well. I tipped mine off the paper towel and into a bowl to stir. Allow the mixture time to cool a little.



Your dough should be a nice puffy ball now! Knead it again and then divide it into four reasonably equal balls.

On a floured surface, flatten one of the balls and then roll it out into a circle of about five inches or 12cm across.

Spoon one quarter of the filling into the middle. Draw each side up to connect at the top, trying hard not to trap any air inside. Pinch the sides together and then set the ball aside, pinched side down, to rest.



Continue until all four balls are stuffed and resting. Sprinkle them with flour and cover with a tea cloth. Set your timer for 30 minutes and let them continue to rest.

When the time is up, melt your butter and start heating a non-stick skillet over a medium heat on the stove.

Gently roll out each ball to about 7 inches or 18cm in diameter. Brush lightly with the melted butter.


Place butter side down in the heated pan. Cook for just a couple of minutes until you see browning happen when you check the bottom side, then cover with a lid for a further few minutes.

Remove the lid and wipe the condensation dry with a towel.  Brush the top of the naan with melted butter. It should be puffy from the yeast dough rising in the heat.

Food Lust People Love: Keema Naan - spicy lamb cooked with peas and carrots stuffed into soft dough and cooked in a non-stick pan - makes a wonderful starter or can even star in a meal rounded out by a crunchy side salad or cucumber raita.


Now turn the naan over. Cook uncovered for a few minutes or until you see that the bottom is browning again.

Food Lust People Love: Keema Naan - spicy lamb cooked with peas and carrots stuffed into soft dough and cooked in a non-stick pan - makes a wonderful starter or can even star in a meal rounded out by a crunchy side salad or cucumber raita.
This was the first side down.
Pop the dry lid on and cook for a few more minutes until the naan is cooked through and golden on both sides. You can flip it back and forth if you need to. Keep drying the condensation off the inside of the lid so that the naan stays crispy on the outside. We want dry heat, not steaming, to go on in that pan.

Food Lust People Love: Keema Naan - spicy lamb cooked with peas and carrots stuffed into soft dough and cooked in a non-stick pan - makes a wonderful starter or can even star in a meal rounded out by a crunchy side salad or cucumber raita.
This was the second side down.


Repeat the process for the other three balls. You can keep the finished naan warm in a slow oven until they are all done, but these are great at room temperature as well. In fact, I ate leftovers cold the next day, straight from the refrigerator. Divine.

Cut the keema naan into wedges for serving. Serve this with some cucumber raita. That would be a very good thing.

Food Lust People Love: Keema Naan - spicy lamb cooked with peas and carrots stuffed into soft dough and cooked in a non-stick pan - makes a wonderful starter or can even star in a meal rounded out by a crunchy side salad or cucumber raita.


Enjoy!

If your garden is growing herbs like weeds this season, you’ll want to make a few of our wonderful herby breads! We have a great selection for you this month.


Pin it! 

Food Lust People Love: Keema Naan - spicy lamb cooked with peas and carrots stuffed into soft dough and cooked in a non-stick pan - makes a wonderful starter or can even star in a meal rounded out by a crunchy side salad or cucumber raita.




Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Crusty Caprese Loaf for #TwelveLoaves

All the gorgeousness of my favorite summer salad, baked into a lovely crusty loaf, with basil proofed in the dough, mozzarella tucked inside and, finally, a smattering of colorful little tomatoes roasting on top. 

It’s summertime and that means plentiful, flavorful tomatoes and long and leggy overgrown basil. Which makes this the perfect season for making Caprese salad. And crusty Caprese bread. This month Twelve Loaves is celebrating summer fun! We’ve got nine great recipes for you and hope you will be inspired to turn that stove or oven on, despite the heat.

What’s your favorite taste of summer? Aside from the cherries and homegrown tomatoes, mine has got to be fresh purple hull peas, which are really a type of bean. They are hard to come by most of the year but my farmers’ market in Houston has them during the summer and they are divine. A fresh bean is NOTHING like its dried cousin. If you’ve never tried them, start looking for them now. Well, right after you bake some bread, okay?

Ingredients
1/4 oz or 7g active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups or 355ml tepid water
1 teaspoon sugar
12 oz or 2 3/4 cups or 345g flour plus extra for kneading
3 oz or 3/4 cup or 85g wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon salt
11 cherry/grape tomatoes, approximate weight  4 1/4 oz or 120g
7 oz or 200g mozzarella
2g or about 10 medium-sized leaves fresh basil plus more for garnish, if desired
Olive oil

Method
Put 1/4 cup or about 30g of flour into your large mixing bowl with the sugar and yeast. Add the tepid water and stir well. Allow to proof for 10 minutes. If the yeast gets foamy, it’s all good.

Meanwhile roll your basil leaves up really tightly and slice thinly. Fancy chefs call this chiffonade and you can too.

When the yeast mixture is ready, add in the basil and stir.



Add in the rest of the flours and the salt.  Mix until well combined and you have a soft dough.

If you are using a stand mixer, change to the bread hook and knead. You may have to add a little more flour. Otherwise, remove from the mixer and knead by hand until smooth and stretchy.

Form into a nice round ball. Drizzle a little olive oil in your bowl and roll the ball around until coated with oil.



Cover the bowl and put in a warm place for a couple of hours. You can continue the process at this point or you can let it rest overnight in the refrigerator for added flavor.



If you put the dough in the refrigerator overnight (like I did) remove it and allow it to come to room temperature before proceeding.

Meanwhile you can cut your mozzarella into thick slices.



Punch down the dough and form it into a nice circle again. Put it in a greased pan.

Use a sharp knife to cut deep slits in the dough and tuck a slice of mozzarella into each.



Pierce a hole with that same sharp knife in each small tomato and push them into the dough.



Cover with a mixing bowl and put in a warm place to rise for about an hour. Set your timer for 45 minutes and preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C when it rings.

Bake the loaf, uncovered, in your preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes or when the internal temperature of the loaf reaches 180°F or 82°C.

If you want a crusty loaf, turn the oven off and leave the bread in it for 10 more minutes. Otherwise, remove from the oven and allow to cool.


Remove from the loaf from the pan and cool completely on a rack. If you can wait that long to slice it.


Enjoy!



Check out all the beautiful summer breads we’ve been making for you!


  • Blueberry and Japanese Yuzu Citrus Muffins from Kim at NinjaBaking.com
  • Citrus Pecan Quick Bread from Renee at Magnolia Days
  • Courgette, Feta, Honey and Sesame Seeds Pull-apart Bread from Luisa at Rise of the Sourdough Preacher
  • Crusty Caprese Loaf from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
  • Fruit and Veggie Quick Bread from Felice at All That’s Left Are the Crumbs
  • Gluten Free Berry Bread from Sherron at Simply Gourmet
  • Grilled Naan Bread from ReneĂ© at Kudos Kitchen by ReneĂ©
  • Iron Skillet Pizza by Karen from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
  • Upside Down Banana Bread from Holly at A Baker's House 


  • Would you like to join us this month? Choose a recipe featuring the flavors of summer! Whatever you bake (yeasted, quick bread, crackers, muffins, grissini, braids, flatbreads, etc.) have fun and let's have a delicious month of seasonal bread. Let's get baking!

    If you’d like to add your recipe to the collection with the Linky Tool this month, here’s what you need to do!

    1. When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone's posts. Please make sure that your bread is inspired by the theme!

    2. Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to this month’s Twelve Loaves theme – Summer Fun.

    3. Have your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked this July 2014, posted on your blog by July 31, 2014.

    #TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Cake Duchess.




    Tuesday, June 3, 2014

    Cherry Sweet Bread Twist for #TwelveLoaves

    Sweet yeast dough filled with cherry jam and fresh cherries and baked into a golden twist is great for breakfast, brunch or tea time. In fact, anytime at all.

    I’ve spoken here before about my love of cherries and summer and Paris so it won’t come as a surprise to a lot of you, but one of the things I most look forward to when I am back in the States for summer holidays, is cherries. I pick up big boxes of them at Costco and eat and eat and eat cherries till I just can’t eat any more. Then I eat some more. In the non-cherry growing places that we have been living lately, they are crazy expensive and I can’t bring myself to pay the price, even as a treat. The point of this whole long story is that I was thrilled when cherries were chosen as the Twelve Loaves theme/ingredient for June. Because I would be in Houston and could buy fresh cherries. HA! I guess I am too early because Costco doesn’t have them. And I made the rounds of my local supermarkets and kept coming up empty handed. Things were starting to get desperate and my Twelve Loaves deadline was looming, not to mention my growing depression over no summer cherries. Finally, on Sunday night we were at my sister’s for my mother’s birthday celebration and I was telling my woeful cherry-bereft tale (My family is very kind to put up with my food blogger problems.) when my sister said that HER nearby grocery store had cherries. Score! (Just don’t ask me what I had to pay for them. Desperate times, people!)

    Ingredients
    1 packet (1/4oz or 7g) active dry yeast
    1/3 cup or 70g sugar
    3/4 cup or 180ml very warm water
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    3 – 3 1/2 cups or 375-440g flour plus more for kneading and sprinkling on your work surface
    1 egg
    1/4 cup or 60g butter, melted then cooled
    1 cup or 310g good quality cherry preserves
    12 oz or 340g ripe cherries

    Method
    Put yeast in a large mixing bowl with one teaspoon of the sugar and pour in the warm water. Let stand until foamy, about five minutes. If your yeast doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.

    Add in the vanilla, one cup or 125g of the flour and the rest of the sugar.  Beat until thoroughly mixed and you have a thin batter.

    See that stuff on the left? Foamy yeast.



    Add the cooled melted butter and the egg to the batter. Beat again.



    Add in the next two cups of flour, one at a time, mixing with each addition.


    When the dough gets too stiff to use beaters, switch to the bread hook or turn it out onto the counter top and knead by hand.

    Continue kneading until the dough is elastic and supple.  Roll it into a ball and put it in a greased bowl (use butter or canola oil) and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, 30 minutes - one hour.



    Meanwhile, stem and pit your cherries and chop them roughly.

    I looked like someone had been slashing at my hands with a big knife. It was a blood bath!



    When the rising time is up, punch down the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface, into a rectangle about 12 x 16 inches or 30 x 40cm.



    Spread the preserves all over the dough with the back of a spoon.  Sprinkle on the chopped cherries.



    Now roll the dough up from the long side.



    Using a sharp knife, cut the roll in half lengthwise. Here’s where it gets messy because we are going to twist the two lengths together.


    Turn the half rolls so the cut sides face up and twist the dough ends together on one side. Tuck them under. Gently lift one half and place it over its neighbor.



    Then lift the other half and place it over its neighbor. Poke cherries back in where they try to escape as you go along. And they will try. I like to think mine would have turned out neater if I didn’t stop and wash my hands and take a photo between each maneuver, which gave it time to slump and open and release cherries.



    Continue until you reach the end of the two halves, then pinch the ends together and turn them under.



    Carefully transfer the whole thing to a sheet of parchment paper cut to fit your baking pan, then slide it into your pan.

    Tidy up by putting escaping cherries back in the folds and using a paper towel or kitchen roll to wipe the parchment clean of jam around the dough. More is going to leak out while it bakes but we can’t worry about that.



    Put in a warm place for the second rise of about 45 minutes.

    When the time is almost up, preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C.



    Bake your loaf in the preheated oven about 35-40 minutes or until it is golden brown. Check it about halfway through. If it’s browning too fast, cover with foil for the remainder of the baking time. Do as I say, not as I do. As you can see, mine’s a bit too brown. Ironically, I was busy writing these instructions while I let it overbake.



    Enjoy! My mother and younger daughter assured me that, looks aside, it was still delicious.


    If you love cherries like I love cherries, this month’s Twelve Loaves is for you! Check out all the gorgeous cherry recipes from my fellow bakers:





    Would you like to join us this month? Choose a recipe featuring cherries of any kind - fresh, dried, canned, jam, or preserves. Whatever you bake (yeasted, quick bread, crackers, muffins, grissini, braids, flatbreads, etc.) have fun and let's have a delicious month of bread with cherries. Let's get baking!

    If you’d like to add your recipe to the collection with the Linky Tool this month, here’s what you need to do!

    1. When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone's posts. Please make sure that your bread is inspired by the theme!

    2. Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme.

    3. Have your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked this June 2014, posted on your blog by June 30, 2014.

    #TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Cake Duchess.  #TwelveLoaves runs so smoothly thanks to Renee from Magnolia Days and Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake.


    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.