Ok, I’ve had a few requests for recipes, well, ok, one, but I’m sure everyone else wants to know but are too shy to ask. And also do I really just have a Wok and one pot to cook with? Yes to that question, and the following is how I manage.
Dinner for tonight is going to be Garlic and Chilli Pita Bread, with a Kumara (Sweet Potato) and chilli curry, with rice.
Garlic and Chilli Pita Bread + 2 plain Bread Loaves.
This started on Friday night when I made up a sponge batter of 2 cups of flour, 1 packet of dried yeast, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 good teaspoon of salt and 1½ cups of water. Stirred till smooth and left on the bench till Saturday night. It did get very active, it’s been over 30*C all week here, and high humidity.
Saturday night I put 6 cups of flour, a good tablespoon of salt, about ½ cup of Olive oil into the Wok, and stirred it about till blended. Then tipped the yeast batter into the Wok and added 1 cup more of water, then mixed it all together. I needed another ½ cup of water to get it right, no dry bits, and a slightly sticky consistency. Put the lid on the Wok and worked on the irrigation plan for the Nursery till 11pm out in the porch.
Sunday morning I added another cup of flour to the Wok, mixed it in, then went to Kukum Fish Market. When I got back the dough was rising well, tipped it out onto a floured bench top, then started kneading, adding a handful of flour as needed to keep it soft and smooth without being sticky.
Split the dough into 3, made 2 loaves and put them into the tin and covered till they rose.
The other 1/3 piece I added chopped chilli and chopped garlic to, then put into the fridge for an hour while I baked the bread. Out of the fridge and split into small balls, a bit bigger than a golf ball, I don’t have scales so it’s all by guess, let them sit for a while then rolled them out to small circles about 10mm thick and 6” across. Cleaned the Wok and got ready for part 2.
Put the Wok onto low heat, I know Joe at www.joepastry.com recommends high heat, I haven’t got a wood fired oven, cast iron skillet, or baking stone for the oven, and the Wok is thin metal, so I use a lower heat.
Dropped each pita bread into the Wok, turned them over when they puffed up, and were still a bit soft, I’m using them for pocket bread so they need to be a bit softer than a crisp hot bake would give. I found if you drop them into the wok with the dryer side down, they puff up better, the side that has been sitting on the bench top or whatever will be softer and damper, and has more elasticity, so it will rise more.
I ended up with 24 Pita Breads, I’ll freeze most, and have a few with dinner.
Kumara and Chilli Curry
I cheat with this, I can’t get the ingredients to make my own curry, so I use the Solomon Islands generic Punjas Hot Curry Powder. If anyone wants a good reference book and a lot of recipes, Charmaine Solomons Asian Cookbook is the only one you’ll ever need.
Ingredients.
Kumara (Sweet potato)
Pineapple
Chillies
Onion
Garlic
Split yellow peas
Split Green peas
Red kidney beans
Chickpeas (Garbanzo beans)
Curry powder if using, or your own mix.
Ok, we’ve only got a Wok and a pot, so preparation and a bit of thought now. The Pita bread is made, the Wok is cleaned up again.
½ cup yellow peas, same of green peas, red kidney beans and chickpeas into the pot to soak, I did this early this morning before I went to the Market. Covered with water and sat on the bench.
Bought a pineapple, more chillies, and some kumara at the market, so we’ll start with the pineapple, follow the photos and you can’t go wrong. Top and tail, trim the outside off, cut the eyes out, then slice and cube, into a bowl, cover and put in fridge.
Kumara, you can peel if you like, I just rub with a scourer and then chop into cubes, cover with water, it will stain black otherwise.
Onion, chillies, garlic, peel onions, chop into slices/small bits, however, chillies need care, do not use bare hands if you get a reaction, do not touch your face, eyes, nose, until you have repeatedly washed your hands after handling and chopping. Crush the garlic, no need to chop, it is going to have a long cooking time and you don’t want all the flavour to evaporate away.
Drain the dried beans, peas and refill the pot and put onto boil, once boiling turn to simmer and leave to cook, about 45 minutes if the beans have had a good long soak, slightly longer without soaking. Drain when cooked and set aside.
Allow 1 – 1 ½ hours to cook the curry, long and slow is always best for this, quick and fast has it’s place but not with this.
Put the jug/kettle on to boil.
Tip the onions, garlic, chillies into the Wok, with about a tablespoon of butter/olive oil based margarine/vegetable oil, and cook gently till the onions are soft, add as much curry powder as you like, I use about 2 tablespoons. Once the onions are soft and the curry powder is starting to darken, add boiling water slowly and stir to mix, then add about 2 – 3 cups of boiling water and bring the mix to a boil.
Add the drained beans/peas/chickpeas, kumara, top up with more boiling water, to cover, bring to the boil and turn down to simmer.
Wash the pot out, and put 1 cup of rice, and 1½ cups of water and 1 teaspoon of salt in. Bring to a rolling boil, then turn off the heat, and cover the pot, set aside on the stove top till needed. It will cook very well, without any further heat, do not feel tempted to lift the lid and check every 5 minutes, it will be perfectly fine.
Stir the curry every now and then to make sure it doesn’t stick, slow heat and long cooking is all it needs now, about an hour, or a bit longer is good.
About 30 minutes before serving add as much pineapple as you like, keep the rest to make fruit salad with.
There, that was nice and simple, it’s probably taken me longer to write it up, and take photos as I went than it has to cook everything.
It’s been a mixed week, as they all seem to be lately. We’re slowly getting closer to moving to Ranandi, I was overly optimistic about Telekom and SIEA, it may be next week for Telekom, and as for SIEA it is up to the various Gods that live around here I think.
Tiffany managed to get most of the Japanese application done, I’ve been reworking the irrigation and other stuff to suit the German Embassy Funding. It’s been a few years since I did major irrigation plans, so it has been another steep learning curve. Plus not having anywhere here that stocks irrigation supplies I’ve had to rely on internet sites for information, and prices. All the stuff I am used to is still available, NaanDan rotating sprinklers, and the dripper trickle systems, so it has been a matter of starting with them and working backwards to sort out pump and pipe sizes to get the correct working pressures and delivery rates. As I noted up above, I was still working on it at 11pm last night and finally thinking I can do this!
I’m a lot behind in other stuff I have promised a couple of people, one in particular will be thinking I’m never going to finish what I’ve started for them. Does feeling guilty about it get me any brownie points?
It is going to be a panic in a week or so when we start the Post Office job, as well as do a major clean up through the gardens before Christmas, I still have prices to get for Commonwealth Ave, classes every morning this week, prices and sources for the irrigation, mark out the nursery on the ground, and all I wanted to do was come here and go fishing.
I’m trying to concentrate on getting one thing done at a time, but working out of the office in town makes that almost impossible, both of us keep getting given other stuff that is “more important” to do, then we have to explain why the other “important” stuff hasn’t been completed yet. It’s no wonder I’m drinking more and more coffee at work lately, samesame with Tiffany.
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