Naan ナーン

Although we almost never go to Indian restaurants on our own, my wife has been fascinated with the medley of spices and herbs in Indian cooking and we are making many different Indian-style curries which we have posted from time to time. I am a beneficiary of this and these curries are very convenient to have for weekday suppers (No more Japanese curry). We usually serve these curries with rice (often previously frozen rice). My wife occasionally wanted to have naan bread with the curry and bought packaged naan from the grocery store but it was terrible. So (inevitably) she asked if we could make it at home. I said "of course" and for the first time, we made our own naan.



We looked in my wife's Indian cookbooks and searched for naan  recipes on the web. The common ingredients in different recipes appear to be flour, yogurt, and three leavening agents (yeast, baking soda and baking powder). Next is to determine how the naan is best baked since we don’t have a Tandoori oven (yet?). After some exploration, we decided to use a hot cast iron skillet. We based our naan on the recipe we found on the web with some modification.

Ingredients:
(Dry)
All purpose flour 4 cups
Baking powder 1 and 1/2 tsp
Baking soda 1tsp
(Wet)
Milk 3/4 cup (we scaled*)
Greek yogurt 1 cup
(For proofing yeast**)
Warm (105F) water  1/4 cup
Sugar 1/2 tsp
Dry yeast  one package or 3/4 tsp
(During Baking)
Melted butter (Half stick)
Kosher salt

Based on the original recipe, we were not sure how much kneading was needed. We decided to knead it like any other bread until the surface was smooth and developed an elastic dough ball.

*Scalding milk may not be needed and was not in the original recipe Although "scalded milk" is often called for in bread recipes, in modern era of Pasteurized milk, only possible benefits may be denaturing/inactivating some proteins/enzymes in the milk which may interfere with yeast fermentation and gluten development.

**For proofing yeast, the original recipe calls for 1/4 warm water and 1tbs of sugar but the amount of sugar, to us, is way too much for proofing yeast. I mixed in the dry yeast and let it stand for 5-10 minutes until it bubbled up. This time, beside sugar in the yeast proofing, my wife also added 1 tbs of sugar into the dry ingredients, which probably did not affect the final results in any way.

I mixed the wet into dry ingredients and mixed with a wooden spatula and then hand kneaded, adding additional 1/4 cup of water since it was too dry until dough formed and the surface smooth but a bit sticky. (For about 5 minutes. I did not knead to the extent of making other bread.) I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and then with dish towels and let it raise for 1 hour.

I floured the kneading board, and deflated the dough and cut into 8 equal portions. I made a ball by stretching the surface and pinching the cut surface of the dough. I let them rest for 10 minutes and hand stretched the eight pieces into a triangular shape (see upper-left picture below). I somehow thought this was the traditional form but taking my wife's suggestion, I will make rounds next time since they would fit into the cast iron pan better).The initial ones were rather thick since the gluten was not relaxed enough but, towards the end, I could stretch it rather thin. When we tasted it, however, we decided the thicker ones with a more bready central portion are better. So, the thickness of the dough should be about 1/4 inch but no less (as was suggested in the original recipe).

I brushed one surface with melted butter and sprinkled Kosher salt (upper right). I placed the dough, the buttered side down, onto the preheated (for 10 minutes to the point where it started smoking) cast iron skillet placed on medium flame (lower left). I put on the lid and let it bake 1-2 minutes until the surface started developing bubbles. I brushed on melted butter and sprinkled Kosher salt and flipped it over using a spatula (lower right). I cooked it with the lid on for another minute or two.



The amount of the ingredients above made eight naan. The result: Just wonderful! The butter flavor permeated the bread with a nice crispy surface and soft center. The yogurt definitely added to the flavor and texture. As we tasted, we learned that the dough should not be too thin (like pizza). A certain thickness (1/4 inch) creates the perfect combination of crispy crusts and soft center. For the first attempt, this was a resounding success. As soon as the first naan came out, we finished it quickly between the two of us while we were cooking the remaining bread. This time, we did not eat our naan with curry but as a bread for any dish this is wonderful.

Only further modification we may make is to add salt (maybe 1 tsp) to the dry ingredients. We did not know how much melted butter was needed and melted 1 stick this time but 1/2 stick would be enough.

Japanese-style meat balls 日本風ミートボール

This was not a real dish but I made this from extra gyouza stuffing. As usual, when I trim pork tenderloins, the trimming needs to be used some other way. One of the most common is to make it  into hand chopped ground pork to use in various dishes. This time, I made gyouza stuffing but after making more than 2 dozen gyouza I still had stuffing left. My wife suggested to make it into meat balls.



Gyouza stuffing: This time I added chopped cabbage, blanched and chopped stalks of broccolini, finely chopped onion, grated garlic, and ginger (amounts are arbitrary as I make it). I seasoned it with salt, black pepper, soy sauce, and dark sesame oil.

Using a small ice cream scoop, I made about 6 small meat balls. I placed them on a small cookie sheet and placed it in the toaster oven  (convection mode at 350F) for 20 minutes.

I was afraid the meat balls might unravel since I didn't use any binder but they kept their shape well. Since we had a lot of gyouza to eat, I just put the meat balls in the refrigerator for later use.

The following weekday evening, I decide to serve the meat balls. My wife suggested I serve them Italian style with marinara sauce. Since they had already been seasoned in Japanese style, I decided adding an Italian element would be an ethnic taste confusion I'd rather not contemplate.  I decided to go with a teriyaki-style sauce.

I first put the meat balls in a frying pan on low flame and added a small amount of sake and put on the lid so that the meat ball would steam a bit. When the sake almost evaporated, I added mirin and soy sauce (about 1:1 ratio, 2 tbs) and started shaking the pan until the the liquid almost evaporated and the sauce coated the meat balls (see below).

I served three each with sansho or Szechuan pepper powder 粉山椒.  For impromptu meat balls, this was not bad at all--I'm glad I went with the teriyaki sauce. 

Pickles Japanese style 日本風ピクルス

To preserve vegetables, Japanese usually salt them (with or without fermentation) called "Tsukemono" 漬け物. Although Japanese use vinegar and rice vinegar is the best kind of vinegar I can think of, "true" pickling appears not to be traditionally done. More recently, however, quick pickles appear to have gained popularity. Since I had leftover Japanese cucumber and daikon, I decide to make a quick pickle. Also since my wife mentioned that she liked "pickled" boiled eggs,  I also threw in some boiled quail eggs (from a can). (Pickled eggs are a Pennsylvania Dutch delicacy that my wife ate frequently as a child. They are hen eggs pickled and usually dyed red with the addition of beet juice to the pickling medium),



For color, I also added thin slices of carrot.



Recipe is rather simple. For the pickling liquid I used a Japanese sweet vinegar.

Sweet vinegar 甘酢:
Rice vinegar 300ml
Sugar 50g - 70g
Salt 1/2 tsp - 2 tsp

I placed the above ingredients in a small sauce pan, stirred to make sure the sugar and salt dissolved and let it come to gentle simmer for a few minutes. I let it cool down and kept it in the refrigerator. It lasts a long time (forever???). Depending on your taste, sugar and salt may need to be adjusted. In general, in hot summer, less sugar more salt and cold winter more sugar and less salt.

I added a few spices--thinly sliced dried Japanese whole red pepper (one, after hydrating to keep it from shattering when sliced), whole black pepper corns (4-6) and bay leaves (2)  to make a pickling liquid. I did not add any water because liquid exudes from the vegetables and eventually dilutes the sweet vinegar anyway. I cut the Japanese cucumber into small bite sized chunks ("rangiri" 乱切; cut obliquely as you rotate the cucumber in about 1 inch length), daikon in half inch cubes, and carrot thinly sliced and, boiled quail eggs from a can.

After a few hours in the refrigerator, it was ready. It was nicely refreshing and crunchy. Perfect for hot summer. We ate this as a starter with sake. My wife particularly raved about the quail eggs. They were nice little bites with creamy yolks lightly vinegar in flavor.

P.S. Later I made this using American mini-cucumber. Although, the Japanese cucumber stayed crunchy even after several days in the vinegar, the American cucumber became a bit mushy. I may have to try this with an American pickling cucumber if I can find one.

Sparkling Sake スパークリング清酒

We have tried a few sparkling sakes in the past. We were not particularly fond of these sparkling sakes. Since we have not tried more recent versions of sparkling sake and saw one in the nearby liquor store, I decided to try it.

This is called "Zipang" from Gekkeikan 月桂冠 (imported from Japan). My understanding is that, "Zipang" is one of the oldest names referring to Japan which was supposedly mentioned by Marco Polo as a country of pearls and gold. This particular sake came in a 250ml bottle. The alcohol content is low at 7%. According to the website of "Gekkeikan sake" 月桂冠酒 (In Japanese), the carbonation is from the secondary fermentation in a tank in low temperature (with sugar, I assume like the beer/ale I used to make) rather than injected carbon dioxide.  The carbonation pressure is between beer and champagne using the innovative technique of filtering out spent yeast without losing the carbonation. It appears to be especially aimed at the American market and started exporting to US in 2005.

When poured, it is clear with a rather gentle effervescence. No particular aroma can be detected. The taste is very subtle, clean with very slight sweetness but not much else. I am sure, as their web site states, this will be very acceptable to the Western palate and, if you were not told this is sparkling sake, you certainly could not tell this is sake. It almost tastes like Sprite without the citrus flavor and less sweetness. It is food neutral as are other sparkling wines and is refreshing especially in warm weather but we were not sure this is anything we would like to try again. It should have some more taste/favor to distinguish this as a type of sake. I have to admit, though, this is much better than sparkling turbid sake we tried many years ago in a Japanese restaurant in Napa.

We had this sparkling sake with cold simmered vegetables (this time instead of daikon 大根, I used nagaimo 長芋) in addition to carrot and blanched broccolini (left).  I also served Japanese cucumber sunomono with semi-dried scallop 胡瓜と貝柱の酢の物, daikon namasu 大根ナマス garnished with salmon roe and few slices of octopus leg. This time, I used sweet vinegar I made few days ago as a dressing.



Like sake, this sparkling wine did not complete with the vinegar in these dishes. However, we would rather have regular sparkling wine and/or champagne.

Baked Curry flavored wings カレー味手羽のオーブン焼き

Although this is the most common way we cook chicken wings, I was surprised to find that I never posted this particular dish. This is my answer to Buffalo wings. It is baked instead of deep fried and seasoned with curry powder instead of hot sauce. My secrets are:  1) the use of a high temperature convection oven (most of the time we use our trusty toaster oven in convection mode at 450F), 2) the addition of flour to the seasoning and 3) the thorough coating of the wings with the seasoning.

Here is today's batch. This is not one of my best efforts but it is good enough with crispy skin and juicy meat.



We especially like wings as oppose to drumetts.



Ingredients:

Chicken wings: I used 6 wings, wing tips removed and wing and drumetts separated.
Dry rub*: This is a mixture of flour (AP) 1/2 cup, curry powder 1 tbs (this one is called "sweet" curry powder from Whole Foods, you can add more or use spicier curry powder), salt (1 tsp) and black pepper (1 tsp). I mixed the spices and placed the mixture in a Ziploc bag large enough to hold the wings. I then placed the wings and drumetts in the bag to coat them well (my version of "shake-and-bake").



* I usually just "eye ball" the ingredients for the spice mixture and place them directly in the Ziploc bag.

I placed these seasoned wings and drumetts on a baking sheet. (I cover the sheet with aluminum foil and either olive oil or Pam spray to prevent sticking). I placed it in a preheated 450F (highest setting) toaster oven in convection mode for 30 minutes turning after 15 minutes. The idea here is that the wings oven fry in their own fat. The flour helps make a nice crust on the surface. The only caution is that the smell of curry powder may permeate the house. My wife insists that I move the toaster oven under the hood vent for the stove while we cook this dish.

The result is very satisfactory. We eat it like Buffalo wings with a blue cheese dip made of blue cheese dressing and greek yogurt. This evening we had this with potato salad and coleslaw that I had made the previous weekend. We definitely like this better than the ones I made using sous vide. The results are very similar but this is much more simple to prepare.

Sous Vide Buffalo wings スービィ バッファローウイング

Buffalo wings must be the quintessential American bar food. I have posted my (a bit anemic) baked version in the past. We love chicken wings and cook them many different ways. When I saw a recipe for sous vide Buffalo wings, I felt I owed it to myself  to try it (at least once). The idea is instead of par-frying in low temperature and then re-frying it in high temperature, the wings are first first sous vide and then deep fried at a high temperature. They can also be made by first sous vide and then baked. I tried both methods as an experiment.

My sous vide and deep fried version is shown here.



The sous vide then broiled-in-toaster-oven version is shown here (I only did two wings and two drumets as a trial). These were not as good as the deep dried ones (not surprising).



First of all, I got an addition to my sous vide apparatus. I bought my Anova sous vide circulator through Amazon and they have an uncanny way (via cookie, I am sure) to show other items which may be of interest to you based on your previous purchases.  This plastic storage container (for restaurants) was one of them. (I ended up not buying from Amazon since I found a much better price even with additional shipping cost) elsewhere. As you can see you can also get a clear plastic lid with a sliding door and my Anova fits (on the longer end not the shorter end). Of course you can not close the door all the way but the gap can be easily covered by aluminum foil.



When the Anova is installed, the bottom of the machine is about 2 inches off the bottom of the container. When I first tested it, the water level was between the min and max marks of the Anova, it made noise and bubbles came out of the circulator. For the circulator to work properly, I had to fill the container to just a few inches from the upper rim or close to the max mark on the Anova. The container holds up to 4 and 3/4 gallons which is within the capacity of Anova (22 litters or 5.8 gallons). With the container almost full, my Anova had no difficulty circulating water and maintaining  temperature. The advantage of having this container is its larger capacity, the better water evaporation control (for long sous vide cooking), and easier insulation (cover it in a blanket or towel). You can also see your submerged vacuum sealed bags while cooking since the the container is clear. I will be using either my deep pot or this container depending on what and how much I am cooking.



Back to sous vide Buffalo wings;

Wings preparation: I used whole wings. I removed and discarded the wings tips and separated the wings and drumets, seasoned them with salt and pepper and vacuum sealed in two separate pouches (see upper images below).

Sous vide: I cooked at 160F for about 6 hours (The aforementioned recipe calls for 170F but I determined 160F is high enough. My guess of cooking time is a minimum of  2 hours and up to 6-7 hours.)  I could have removed the chicken sooner but I held it until we were ready to eat it in the evening. The lower left images show when both packages were submerged in the water which you can see well from the side wall of the clear plastic container. After 6 hours, I removed the chicken wings and blotted them dry on a paper towel. The bags contained a small amount of liquid which congealed as it cooled (indicating lots of collagen melted and came out into the liquid).



I decide to experiment and I deep fried most of them at 400F (hot!) peanuts oil for few minutes until skin was  golden and crispy (about 2 minutes turning once). Since the chicken was fully cooked, the only thing needed was to crisp up the skin (below). Despite my carefully blotting of excess moisture, it spitted and splattered quite a bit.



I broiled two each of wings and drumets in my toaster oven for few minutes until the skin browned for comparison.

My wife made a mixture of melted butter and hot sauce ( She used Sriracha) and tossed the fried and broiled wings in a bowl. My wife also made mixture of blue cheese dressing (from the bottle) and Greek yogurt as a cool dipping sauce.

Verdict: We are not sure it is worthwhile to sous vide and deep dry wings. Do not take us wrong, they were good. The meat was tender and came off the bone so easily and the skin was crispy. The broiled ones were not as good since the skin did not get uniformly crispy (which was expected). But even my baked Buffalo wings are pretty good and they take a fraction of the time and effort to get a similar result. I also realized that I have not posted our favorite baked wings with curry flavor. We will stick to our "baked" wings (to be posted soon).

Chicken and Greek yogurt egg rolls 鶏肉とヨーグルトソースの春巻き

When we barbecue chicken on weekends, we usually cook two chickens at a time in our Weber grill—not because we eat a chicken each but to assure we have leftovers to use in other dishes. The leftovers are always very good to have for the following week. The wings can be just heated up in a toaster oven for a quick snack, the breast meat is used to make salads, sandwiches and other dishes. The dark meat including some of the skin is used in chicken noodle or Minestrone-style  soup. The barbecued flavors make these dishes better than using raw chicken meat.  This time, I had a portion of breast meat left after one week and needed to finish it before it went bad. I saw an unusual recipe for a spring roll using yogurt and chicken breast (the original recipe calls for chicken tenderloin). I decide to try it in one weekday evening.

This was the second small dish we had that evening. I should have rolled them a bit tighter but it tasted very good. I served it with spicy mayonnaise.



The original recipe calls for green pea sprouts "tou-myou" 豆苗 but they are not available here (among the many sprouts we can get here, I have never seen green pea sprouts. The closest we can come may be pea shoots unless you grow green pea sprouts yourself).  I substituted this with water cress (just because I had an open bag).

Water cress: I just used a a big hand full but I could have used more. I cut into short segments and quickly sautéed it in olive oil until wilted ( a few minutes). I seasoned it with salt and pepper. I set it aside to cool in a metal bowl.

Chicken: The original recipe calls for chicken tenderloins but I used  chicken breast meat left over from the previous weekend’s barbecue. I hand shredded it along the grain of the meat (I probably had 1/4 of a whole breast).

Perilla: Perilla is going strong in our herb garden. I cut it into thin strips (4 medium leaves).

I mixed everything with mustard (1tsp), mayonnaise (2 tbs) and greek yogurt (2 tsp). I seasoned with salt and pepper.



Using a paste of flour as a glue, I assembled 6 small egg rolls (I should have rolled them more tightly).



Instead of deep frying, I shallow fried them in 1/4 inch of peanut oil turning once until the skin became brown and crispy.



This is a bit unusual spring roll but it tasted good. As long as it is encased in crispy egg roll skin anything can be made into egg rolls, it seems.