I feel like tikka tonight!

Those of you familiar with the extremely annoying 1990's advert for "Chicken Tonight" will recognize the pun on today's title.  If you were lucky enough to have escaped seeing this "epic" piece of American mass-consumerism apocalyptic advertising then you may wish to look away now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GdiNk3-IPE 

My parents went on holiday on Monday, so they emptied the fridge.  The end result of this was I find myself with a cucumber, some unwashed rocket, 3 chicken breasts and some ham.  The ham, it turns out, has been opened for over 3 days, and despite the packaging's attempt to alert the oblivious owner that eating it after this period is unsafe, my mother insisted they continue to eat ham after it has been opened for more than a week.  How they have not suffered a serious weekly episode of campylobacter I have no idea. 

Back on track.  So Monday afternoon I marinaded the chicken in the usual assortment of goodies.  The recipe for this can be found here

http://swlsk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/by-fair-means-or-fowl.html

I kept the chicken in the fridge marinading for 24 hours, and true to the famous statement "it did exactly what it said on the tin" the flavours were definitely enhanced.  I could actually tell the difference from marinading for 5 hours (previous attempt) and last night with 24 hours.  The flavours were more intense, and certainly you could detect the lemon and garlic flavours more readily.

Marinaded, pre-cooked, chicken tikka

I heated my oven (fan-assisted) to 200 Celcius and cooked the chicken for 20 minutes.  In reality this turned out to be ever so slightly too long.  The situation can be rescued by finely slicing and dicing the chicken.  I would recommend only 15 minutes @200C and checking to make sure is not overcooked (or indeed undercooked).

Slice n Dice

I served the chicken in large pitta breads, with the washed and dried rocket, some mayo and in my case a modicum of different chutneys mixed into condiment oblivion.

Sunday Afternoon Succour

Fishfinger Lavash Bread

Whoever it was that invented the fishfinger sandwich, in my opinion, deserves to be canonized.  It really is a majestic thing of beauty, and something that can lure even the darkest hangover away from its suffering host.

The fridge was really rather devoid of anything tasty.  It's funny how things lose their appeal after you had a few too many pints the night before.

These flatbreads can be whipped up in less than 30 minutes (you can further shave off the time if you are too impatient to wait for the 15-20 minute proving process).  You can find this simple recipe here
http://swlsk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/flatbread-fetish.html

The secret to making these is too ensure that your frying pan is exceptionally hot.  This will encourage the bubble formation during the 30 seconds or so required for each side.

To get some nice black spots (which enhance the flavour) I press the flatbread down with a spatula.  This ensures an even cooking and prepares the surface of the bread.

They will sit happily on the side of the kitchen whilst you whip 5 or 6 of these up (I used around 175g of plain white flour).  If you want to ensure they stay warm you can insulate them with some aluminium foil, but in my opinion this is not necessary.

On this occasion I decided to annoint them with some mayonnaise, add a few tufts of green lettuce, a crushed fishfinger (and in my 3 rolls I added some hot mango chutney).

4 meals with one bird.

Times are hard, they say, "there's a recession on", a global, economic downturn.  Here, in England, in our little esoteric land, we have decided it is time to put 20% VAT on hot pasties, but none on cold pasties (as a hot pasty is designated a meal and therefore subject to restaurant takeaway VAT).  A tin of tuna (yes, I know, I should check if it's line-caught) is well over a pound now, and the other day, in London I saw an artisan bakery punting loafs of organic sourdough for 6 quid.

You might recall I bought a whole chicken on Tuesday?  It has now made 3 meals (1 x chicken tikka in pitta bread and 2 x chicken makhani).  I still have well over a litre of decent chicken stock too, and this no doubt, will end up as a soup or risotto.  That's not bad for a 6 quid bird!

Last night was definitely a rehash, but it was delicious!  We had a banquet of butter chicken, egg-fried turmeric rice and I made some fresh naan bread:

Chicken Makhani

A lot of people find they have problems when making egg-fried rice - finding it sticks, or dissipates in the pan, ending up as some amorphous mush.  As long as you have cooked the rice correctly in the first place, and here's the secret - allowed it to cool to fridge temperature - it is facile and elementary.  Here's how I make the rice:

Turmeric egg-fried rice

•   As usual, I eyeball how much rice I need.  I washed it twice to remove as much residual starch as possible.
•  I fill the saucepan with enough water to cover the rice with approximately 1cm excess water.
•  I put 1 teaspoon of powdered turmeric in.
•  Put the heat on medium-high.
•  After 8 or 9 minutes check it.  If you think to yourself "it's not quite ready", turn off the heat.
•  Drain the rice into a sieve and set it over a pan.  Put the saucepan cover on top of the sieve to make a subtle seal.
•  Let it steam like this for 3 minutes.  
•  Remove the saucepan lid and fork to fluff up!

Now, egg-fried rice doesn't sound massively compatible with Indian food, but really it is.  I have to confess the idea stems from my partner - she always would order egg-fried rice from a takeaway menu.  At first I thought the idea reproachable, but honestly it works.

•  When the rice has cooled down, refrigerate it until it is cold.
•  Line a wok, or a karahi pan with some neutral oil - not much, just a teaspoon.
•  Heat the wok on a high heat.
•  Mix an egg and beat it together in a cup.
•  Throw the rice into the wok when it is nice and hot.
•  Stir fry for 30 seconds.
•  Add the egg and stir vigourously.
•  When the rice is heated and the egg is cooked (2-3 minutes) it is ready.

I served this platter with a home made naan bread.

Chicken Makhani, Turmeric egg-fried rice and naan

I wonder if it is possible to make a decent naan bread, at home, without the luxury of a tandoor?  I can make a palatable bread, but in all honesty it does not resemble, or taste like a naan.  My gut feeling is that you cannot - it needs the roaring rasp of a proper tandoor to get it to bubble and crisp on the outside, but retain a hot, steamy and doughy interior.

Home-made naan bread

A quick precis of what I did is this:   I made a dough with flour, yeast, oil, salt and warm milk.  It rose, and doubled in size.  I knocked it back.  I preheated the oven and grill to maximum and put a thick baking tray in to heat it up.  I shaped my naan and then slapped it onto the hot tray.  3 minutes at 240C, then 30 seconds under the grill.

As I say, they tasted nice, but nowhere near an approximation of a naan bread.  

If any of you have a better recipe and method I'd be very intrigued to hear it.

Flatbread Fetish

So, it's February 2012.  I always fancied myself as a bit of a writer, a bit of a geezer, a bit "weeyyyyy" a bit "woooooooah".  But I never actually had the cojones to do it.  

I've got a little bit of time on my hands at the moment.  I'm a man of leisure without a job - well, not a real job, one where you wake up in the morning, jump on a train and smell someone else's armpit until you arrive in London Waterloo.

I thought I'd combine two things.  One that I _know_ I like doing - cooking.  And one that I think I like doing but haven't really tried yet - writing.

The aim of this blog is rather selfish really.  I want to start cataloging the recipes and cooking trends that I am currently enjoying.  It's funny.  I get the "oh you like cooking?  Whats your favourite recipe?" scenario often.  It's quite similar to trying to decide what flavour of crisps you prefer.  I don't have a favourite recipe (or a favourite flavour of crisps come to that).  Sometimes I want to melt into the oozing warmth of a freshly cooked shepherds pie.  Sometimes I want to cauterize my tongue with some bhulot jokia infused mayhem.

I'm currently experiencing a serious flatbread craze.  I'm a huge fan of the Moro ethos (www.moro.co.uk).  I love the sentiments towards simplicity, freshness and simply "what works".  I've used their flatbread recipe to make anything from pizza bases to pitta pockets to wraps.  Its seriously easy, requires almost no proving and within 30 minutes yields 6-8 super tasty flatbreads.  Here's how you do it:

• Use a decent flour, organic at least, fill a bowl with 200g or so.

• Mix 3/4 tsp of quick yeast with some warm water (about 80ml or so) 

• Tip the yeast water into the bowl.  Use your index finger only (a bit like a dough hook attachment) mix in the water.  

• Add some finely crushed sea salt to taste.  Add a good slug of decent extra virgin olive oil.

• Mix until you get a nice consistency of dough - then knead it until it begins to relax and become soft and pillowy (usually 5-10mins).

• You can prove this dough for 30-60 mins if you like but its not essential.

• Cut into 7 or 8 balls.  Flatten each ball out on a floured surface.

• Heat a heavy frying pan until it gets really hot.  Slap the disc of dough on.  You'll see bubbles form on the dough - flip it.  20-30 seconds on the other side and its done.

Repeat for the other balls.

Whilst we're on the subject of baking lets talk about something that pushed me to the brink of baking insanity.  Yeast - it's got a use-by date!  I never knew this and for a while used OOD yeast and wondered why the hell I wasn't getting any rise!!  I keep my yeast in the fridge now and keep a carefully attentive eye on the use-by date.