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Epic Cake - with Coke can for scale

For the last few days I’ve been craving something, something good, something fried, something crispy, something… fresh.

I was craving prawn toasts…Amy style.

I have no idea why I don’t make these more often – other than the fact that they are wicked – because they are easy. And they have that quality that I love and demand in my favourite recipes – their ease is inversely proportional to their impressiveness.

Seriously – when was the last time you met someone who Made Their Own Prawn Toasts?

They are also so good I, ahem… well… I might have managed to eat them all before I took a picture of them >blush< I did snap one on my phone though…

When I started craving these I bought a packet of (cooked) prawns that was 180g, so as that what I used to scale with – but it’s a flexible recipe, do with it what you will.

NB I’ve made these rather strong, cut down on the ginger, garlic and cut out the chilli flakes to have a milder end result.

Ingredients

4 Spring Onions
180g Prawns (aprox)
1 Egg, lightly beaten
Salt
Pepper
1tbs Soy Sauce (I used dark)
1tbs Sesame Oil
1/4 tsp Chilli Flakes – optional
1cm peeled fresh ginger
2 Cloves garlic
6 (ish) slices stale bread OR lightly toasted bread
Sesame Seeds
Oil

Method

1. In a blender / chopper put
   • spring onions cut into about 1inch lengths,
   • peeled garlic cloves,
   • Soy Sauce
   • Sesame oil
   • Chilli Flakes
   • Ginger
   • Salt
   • Pepper
2. Add the prawns – I chopped them in half,
3. Add the beaten egg – you should have a nice full chopper now – (that’s all the ingredients except for the bread)
4. Whizz! You want a paste that has small lumps in rather than a blitzing it to pink, baby sick consistency
5. Resist eating a teaspoon of the fragrant, yummy goo, it gets better.
6. In a small frying pan, start to heat the vegetable oil – you’re grown up enough to know to be careful
7. Spread out the bread on a board, put about 2 teaspoons per slice and spread out with the back of the spoon, pressing well down into the bread – so it sticks and doesn’t float off when you’re frying
8. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds, again, press down well with the backs of your fingers
9. Cut into triangles and fry – Seed Side Down, again, be careful
10. Don’t leave them too longer in there whilst taking a photo, I took that hit for you – take them out and put them onto kitchen roll to drain.
11. Repeat in batches, I prefer mine warm so you could keep the plate in a warm oven between batches so they don’t cool down but the frying process is really quick so it should be a problem
12. Enjoy

I have an old university friend who would always talk with much longing for a curry house “back home” where there were “Naans the size of duvets”. These are not naans the size of duvets but they could be.

This naan recipe is one I have been making for years, it started as a Good Food recipe, combined with several I found on various websites then re-invented when I fell in love with cumin seeds. It’s really easy – even easier if you have a large mixer but I did make them for years with a hand-held electric whisk with the dough ‘hook’ attachments.

Cooking with yeast can be considered a dark art, but it’s not – just make sure there are bubbles before you add the yeast to the flour mixture and you’ll have risen dough before you can say pass the lime pickle.

You want this:

Not this:

If you have that, you’ll have very very flat naans. This is not good and will displease your inner curry lover. We don’t want that.

(Note the pile of garlic cloves in the shot above… yes, the curry I made to go with these naans had 8 cloves in… and it was as good as you can imagine!)

Whilst the yeast is brewing you can dry roast your cumin seeds if you want to use them, this is easy, sounds impressive (“Oh yes, well of course I roast all my own spiced, what-what”) and makes your kitchen smell appropriate for the curry you will no doubt be cooking later to go with the naans.

Just fling a couple of tablespoons of seeds into a frying pan (I used my non-stick one) over a medium to high heat and move them around a bit, takes about 1-2 minutes. Don’t let them burn. When done turn the heat off and leave them be till you need them.

The dough – ahh the dough. Make sure you sift the flour, it helps. It’ll be a delightfully sticky mess – just keep beating away until you can take it out of the mixer bowl and kneed it by hand.

This may look like a sticky mess to you, but it'll be fine...

Rising – this doesn’t take as long as you think, make sure you use a large enough bowl….

The rolling out is simple enough, the dough will be rather elastic so you do need to do them one or two at a time rather than rolling them all out.

My original recipe cooked them in the oven – bake for 3 minutes then grill for 30 seconds, this would only really work if you had a double oven, but I have had success with baking them all in one go, then grilling them all just before you want them.

My new method produces a much better – in my opinion – naan bread. Dry fry them!

Remember the pan you cooked the cumin seeds in? Well get it hot – no oil needed – and slap in a rolled out naan (roundish rather than tear shaped this time) and let it cook, once it starts to brown, turn it over and repeat.

Taste much better!

I encourage you to make the recipe below, it’s really not complicated but packs an impressive punch.

Of course once you’ve cracked the basic, try adding a pinch of your favourite spice to the flour mix, or a squeeze of corianda paste. Then enjoy with a big fat curry.

p.s. any rumours that one is lovely toasted with last night’s curry re-heated and poured on top with a steaming cup of tea for breakfast the next day are greatly exaggerated… who would have curry for breakfast?!

NB if I have shared this recipe with you before note that I have now increased the flour from 450 to 500

INGREDIENTS
150ml hand-hot Milk
2 tsp caster sugar
2 tsp dried active Yeast
550g plain flour
0.5 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus a little extra
150ml natural yogurt, lightly beaten
1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 ish table spoons of cumin seeds

METHOD

1. Put the milk in a jug and microwave it very gently for a few seconds, make it just a bit warmer than your hands

2. Add 1 tsp of the sugar, and the yeast and stir.

3. Set aside for 15-20 minutes or until the yeast has dissolved and the mixture is frothy – if after 10 minutes you don’t have bubbles and froth and that oh-so-appitizing yeast smell, start again – trust me

4. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl. Add cumin seeds if using.

5. Add the remaining 1 tsp sugar, the yeast mixture, 2 tbsp vegetable oil and the yogurt and egg.

6. Mix and form a ball of dough.

7. Empty the ball of dough on to a clean surface and knead it for 10 minutes or more, until it is smooth and satiny. Form into a ball.

8. Pour about 0.25 tsp oil into a large bowl and roll the ball of dough in it. Cover the bowl with a piece of cling film and set aside in a warm, draught-free place for an hour or until the dough has doubled in bulk.

If you want to bake them:

9. Pre-heat your oven to the highest temperature. Put the heaviest baking tray you own to heat in the oven. Pre-heat your grill.

10. Punch down the dough and knead it again. Divide into 8 equal balls. Keep the others covered whilst you work with them one at a time

11. Roll this ball into a tear-shaped naan, about 25cm in length and about 13cm at its widest. Remove the hot baking tray from the oven and slap the naan on to it. Put it immediately into the oven for 3 minutes. It should puff up. Now place the baking tray and naan under the grill, about 7.5-10cm away from the heat, for about 30 seconds or until the top of the naan browns slightly. Wrap the naan in a clean tea towel. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

If you want to dry fry them (prefered option)

9. Put a non stick frying pan on to heat up

10. Punch down the dough and knead it again. Divide into 8 equal balls. Keep the others covered whilst you work with them one at a time

11. Roll out a ball into a rough circle – to fit into your frying pan – about 0.5 cm thick

12. Slap it into the hot frying pan and heat till brown spots appear, turn the naan over and repeat on the other side. Move to a warm plate and cover with a teatowel and repeat with the rest of the dough.

13. Enjoy

Stock is something which every freezer should contain a constant supply of, whether it be shop bought (preferably the low salt/sodium variety) or home made from whatever you have lying around. Stock is so versatile I can’t imagine my life without it and being able to make your own is definitely something every self respecting cook should know how to do.

Stock is basically flavoured water, any flavour will do. I often use chicken stock because it’s the meat I eat a lot of and therefore have bones to make stock with the most often… though you can make stock from remnants of a beef, pork or lamb joint, the leftover bones of a fish supper, or just plain vegetable stock works perfectly well in any cook book.

Stocks are made very simply indeed, throw the leftover bones or shells into a pot with a couple of quartered potatoes, onions, carrots and herbs (rosemary sticks and bay leaves are recommendations from yours truly), cover with water, bring to the oil, then reduce to a simmer, leave this for about 4-6 hours on the hob and then strain the liquid into a mixing bowl. Throw away the vegetables etc.

After allowing the stock to settle for about half an hour a skin of fat will appear on the top, skim this off and throw it away before bottling up the leftover stock and placing it in the freezer for whenever you require it.

Stock can be thawed out nice and quickly by placing the bottle into a warm (not hot) bath of water. Be careful about putting the glass bottles into too hot a water bath as they may shatter from the sudden change in temperature. Once the stock has thawed enough to be able to fit out the neck of the bottle, the remaining frozen stock will easily melt in the pan as you cook whatever delicious food you intend to get your teeth into that evening.

Anyways, there’s your tip for the day, hope it helps to bring more delicious flavour to your meals whilst saving you money in the meantime.

Burgers seem to have become a bit of a dark art in modern times, yet they are so damn simple to make it confuses the hell out of me that anyone would go buy those processed disks of gristle from the supermarket.

All you need to make a basic burger is mince, breadcrumbs and eggs – but that is most definitely not the end of the story, so lets have a little journey into these amazingly succulent main courses…

Now, simple burgers are pretty damn easy to make, just take minced beef, throw it in a bowl with a couple of slices of hand ripped breadcrumbs and two eggs before getting your hands stuck in and dirty, seasoning to taste as you go with pepper and salt. Throw the resulting mixture onto a chopping board and shape before knocking them under the grill or into a lightly oiled skillet or even a griddle if you are really feeling the BBQ mood! Cook to your liking, and throw them into a bun before indulging with some chips and salad!

Now, I know I haven’t put any quantities in here, because I really cant say that a pack of mince will make you 3 burgers or anything like that, it truly depends on how big you want these things to be… but as a recommendation, I’d say a standard pack of mince will make 3-4 burgers dependent upon what else you are adding to the mix, and you should start with two eggs and two slices of bread, adding another of each for an additional pack of mince.

When I say breadcrumbs, sizing is entirely up to you, the smaller they are the more they hold the burgers together, but if they are a little larger, the patties will be juicier as they can retain more moisture… I’d recommend just ripping the bread up to what you would classify as breadcrumbs and go from there, it’s all about experimenting with these things…

The thing which annoys me is that there is so much more that can be done with these things! I pretty much always add a diced onion to the mixture, maybe some chilli flakes, cheese chunks go well in the mixture and make a lovely melty mess inside the patties as they cook…

Herbs are also pretty much a must with these things, rosemary, thyme (lemon thyme is a definite one to try at least once, not to every ones taste but I LOVE it), oregano, maybe even a bit of mint if you are feeling a little adventurous.

Anyway, I’m ranting… here’s a few ideas of what I usually throw together when I’m cooking up for friends on a summers day, all these mixtures are just thrown in before getting your hands stuck in to the mixing bowl.

Rosemary, lemon zest, onion and cheese.

Oregano, onion and chopped anchovy (yes, it works surprisingly well).

Bell peppers, onions, chilli peppers and lemon zest.

Rosemary, garlic and onion.

I think you get the idea…

Anyway, I’m rambling on, what are you doing still reading? Hit the kitchen and get your hands messy!