Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Making Naan (Gluten-Free!)

Let me start by saying I have never before made naan. Unfortunately, because I am gluten intolerant, I should not eat traditional naan because of the wheat flour. And I miss it! So I have taken it upon myself to develop a gluten-free variety.

I did not use an actual recipe... Instead, I read a few tips about the process, and developed this recipe purely by texture. Here are the ingredients that I used:


Gluten-Free Naan
~1 cup warm water 
1 package dry active yeast
~1 Tbsp sugar
~1 Tbsp agave nectar
1/2 package Arrowhead Mills pizza dough flour
1/2 package Arrowhead Mills sorghum flour
2 eggs
refined olive oil (~4 Tbsp)
butter (~4 Tbsp)
dried crushed garlic

Step 1. Add yeast to warm water in a large bowl. (I microwaved distilled water for about 45 seconds, placed it in a bowl, then added yeast.) After the mixture starts to bubble, stir together with sugar for a couple minutes until it gets frothy.


Step 2. Add beaten eggs and just enough sorghum flour to make the dough into something kneadable. (Is that a word?) Knead for about 10 minutes on a floured surface, shape into large ball, cover with damp towel and set in warm place to rise for 1 hour. Try to err on the side of too little dough! You can always add more, after all.


Step 3. Once the dough is about double in size, knead again for a couple minutes and then shape it into about eight to twelve balls. (I went with eight, but they resulted in naan nearly the size of my head.)


Step 4. Cover with warm towel and set in warm place to rise for half an hour.


Step 5. Flatten the double-sized balls into thin round flatbreads. Mine came out about 8 inches in diameter.


Tip: It's a lot easier to flatten using your hands, flipping the dough back and forth between your palms as if you were working with pizza dough. :) I don't recommend using a floured surface. The naan I made this way wound up with a bit of flour on the exterior and I don't find that as palatable as a somewhat smooth surface. Ideally, the flour should be a little bit sticky, but not so much that it's unmanageable.


Step 6. Coat pan with olive oil and place flatbread at medium-high heat. If the heat is too low, the naan consistency will be a little bit more like a pancake. If it's too high, you'll wind up with a sadly burned, uncooked flatbread. Be very careful of oil splashback.


This is what the naan should look like as it cooks. See how it bubbles? Cook on one side for about 3-4 minutes, pick up with a spatula, and I find that throwing half a tablespoon of butter in the pan next, swishing it around to coat, tossing in the naan on its flipside and then heating for another 2 minutes works perfectly.

Tip: Refined olive oil has a higher burning point than virgin olive oil; in other words, it is refined for cooking at high temperatures. Any other refined oil will probably work, whether it's peanut, coconut, or canola. Coconut has a higher burning point; canola has the lowest. Do not use extra virgin or virgin olive oil! Unrefined oils are high quality oils for dipping! (Besides, heating them would destroy all those delicious antioxidants.) Also, keep in mind that butter has a low burning point, so you don't want to cook the buttered side for too long.


This was the prettiest naan I made. Depending on how much oil you use, you might want to let the naan cool whilst folded up in paper towels.

The naan I made today works out to about 250 Calories per piece... I had one with hummus for lunch, and though it was quite delicious, I think smaller naan would be ideal.

A friend of mine informed me that paratha is very similar, but is pre-blended with the oil. Hmmmm. I may have to try this in the future.

Got any tips or tricks? If so, please share! :)


Spicy Peanut Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Yesterday was a glorious day of which I spent most lazing about in the sun. Then I trekked a mile to the store to grab fresh produce and a mile back, snapping photos along the way. By the time I got home, it was about 8pm and I was starving, so rather than follow a recipe, I threw this together last-minute. I apologize for not having exact measurements, but here's what I used:

Ingredients
• approx. 1 Tbsp peanut oil
• approx. 1 Tbsp agave syrup
• whole romaine lettuce leaves
• 1/2 white onion, sliced
• approx. 1/4 cup fresh ginger, sliced
• approx. 1 cup green napa cabbage, sliced 
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 1/2 green bell pepper, sliced
• 1 jalapeño, sliced
• approx. 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 can coconut milk
• approx. 3/4 lb chicken breast, cut into small pieces
• Spices: cumin, chili powder, paprika, cayenne powder, dried crushed garlic
• green onion, chopped
• fresh cilantro
• fresh mint
• rice noodles


Step 1.  Caramelize onion in peanut oil on med-high heat.


Step 2. Slice ginger and stir in at med heat. Cook long enough for peanut oil to absorb flavor.


Step 3. Add spices; stir to coat onion and ginger. 


Step 4. Add coconut milk and peanut butter. Stir until smooth consistency.


Step 5. Put cabbage and carrot into small saucepan of shallow boiling water.


Step 6. Add chicken to peanut sauce. Stir to coat and place lid over pan to cook on med. heat for approximately 20 minutes, or however long enough to thoroughly cook chicken.


Step 7. Chop bell pepper, jalapeño, and fresh herbs.


Step 8. Once cabbage and carrots seem slightly soft, remove from heat and drain water.



Now is a good time to  place the rice noodles in boiling water. Remove lid from fully-cooked chicken and simmer to allow peanut sauce to thicken while the rice noodles cook.



Step 9. After noodles are cooked and drained, stir the chicken and peanut sauce. It also wouldn't hurt to double- and triple-check to see that the chicken is fully cooked.

Step 10. Arrange plate with lettuce leaves on one side, fresh herbs and peppers on other, and the rice noodles, chicken, and steamed veggies in the center. Eat  as lettuce wraps. :)



Another option is you can shred the lettuce and place the rice noodles, steamed veggies, and chicken over the lettuce, drizzle the remaining peanut sauce over your salad, then sprinkle it with the remaining fresh herbs and peppers.

いただきます!


Monday, April 23, 2012

Shrimp Curry

Hello, folks! In the past, I have shared food porn and recipes, usually separately, but never before have I taken photos every step of the way to share with everyone else. At the urging of many drooling friends and family, I have decided to finally give a little taste of my own e-cooking lessons. (That sounded more clever in my head than it does on screen.) My goal as of late is to learn how to cook Indian and Pakistani foods, and maybe go back to my Thai obsession for a brief period. I spent several hours reading recipes and, inspired by a particular shrimp curry recipe on AllRecipes.com, developed this version. :)

[Note: After the dish was complete, I learned that it's better to err on the side of not enough oil than too much. Otherwise, this recipe was met with great approval. Indian approval, at that. ::cheers::]

Are you ready?

Rory's Shrimp Curry
Main Ingredients
1 Tbsp peanut oil
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 tsp salt
4 tomatoes, diced
1 14-oz can of coconut milk
1 lb fresh or fresh-frozen shrimp
plenty of cilantro
dried basil and cilantro
(Note: I would have liked to add fresh basil as well, but unfortunately did not have any.)

Spices
1 Tbsp dried crushed garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1-1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1-3 tsp cayenne powder (adds heat; choose your level carefully!)



Step 1. Bring water to a boil and put in shrimp.



Step 2. Heat peanut oil in a skillet and add diced onion; cook until translucent or mostly brown, depending upon your preference. I chose to caramelize only slightly.


Step 3. Blend spices and add to skillet; stir together and remove from heat.

If your shrimp was fresh, it should be fully cooked by now. Poke or stab with fork to test texture. Remove from heat, drain hot water (and be careful not to burn yourself like I did!), then place shrimp in bowl with cold water.


Step 4. Dice tomatoes and add to skillet. Sprinkle in salt. Stir tomatoes to coat with spices.


Step 5. Throw everything from skillet into a large pot. Add coconut milk.




Step 6. Simmer for about a half hour or so, stirring occasionally. The mixture will appear pale orange at first, but will become a more vivid and darker orange as the curry thickens.

After about 15 minutes might be the ideal time to start cooking basmati rice, depending on your rice-cooking techniques.

Try not to eat too many snacks as you impatiently wait for this delicious-smelling curry to reach perfect consistency! While I was waiting, I relaxed in the sun and "shucked" shrimp. :) (In other words, I peeled off their shells and icky little legs.)


Step 7. Peel shrimp.




Step 9. Stir in shrimp, fresh cilantro and dried cilantro. Cook for another couple of minutes.


Step 10. Cover rice in a bowl with the curry, and top with even more fresh cilantro.

And then... Eat! :D (My favorite part.)



Questions, Comments, Suggestions, Ideas? Please share! :) kthxbai