Wednesday 24 December 2014

Christmas shortbread

Christmas shortbread

A couple of years ago I wrote a post, here on A Cup of Tea Solves Everything, for my Christmas Rocky Road. In that post I reflected upon the year that was about to end and how it had been an 
annus horribilis: one that had unfortunately been full of far more downs than ups and all in all, was rather tumultuous for all the wrong reasons.
Christmas shortbread

Two years on from that post and some of the things of which I spoke haven’t changed: for the most part, regrettably, I am still a cotton-headed ninnymuggins; whilst my nephew who was born that year is still, happily, scrumdiddlyumptious. In many other ways though, life has changed, and I’m pleased to say, vastly for the better.
If 2012 was an annus horribilis, one might say that 2014 has been, at the very least an annus bonkersis, but really more of an annus marvellousis: I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to parts of the world I never imagined going; I had an unforgettable time volunteering at an orphanage abroad; I have worked hard on my Spanish and am proud to say, have been rewarded for it; I’ve been surrounded by people I love; oh and my shoe collection has grown exponentially. Not sure I could ask for much more!
Christmas shortbread

Not being Mystic Meg - a sad truth I have slowly come to accept - I don’t know what 2015 has in store, but I do have high hopes for it. Certainly if it’s anything like 2014, I shall continue to be a happy cotton-headed ninnymuggins.
Christmas shortbread

However, let me not be too hasty and wish away what’s left of 2014! After all, the most wonderful time of the year is upon us, and as always, I can barely contain myself (have I mentioned I love Christmas?!)! The fairy lights have been put up, Elf has been watched (sadly not as many times as I would like) and I’ve been listening to Christmas songs for far longer than is socially acceptable. I also baked these Christmas shortbreads, which a fellow baker, upon trying, stated were the ‘best shortbread ever’. If you need further convincing, I snuck some chocolate in them too. Well, come now, we all know that everything tastes better with chocolate…
Christmas shortbread

Merry Christmas! X
Adapted from Jo’s Blue Aga: A very Christmassy shortbread
  • 250g plain flour
  • 125g corn flour
  • 250g unsalted butter, softened
  • 125g caster sugar
  • 200g mincemeat
  • 100g plain chocolate (40-50% cocoa), chopped into chunks
  • 25g flaked almonds
  • 25g dried cranberries
  • 1-2 tbsps golden granulated sugar for sprinkling

You will also need a baking sheet. I used a 28cm x 17cm sheet, greased and lined with baking parchment.
Preheat the oven to 160ÂșC.
Place the flour, corn flour, butter, and caster sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture comes together to form a soft dough.
Press about half of the dough firmly and evenly into the baking sheet to a thickness of about 5mm.
Spread the mincemeat over the dough and then sprinkle the chocolate chunks evenly over the top.
On a piece of baking parchment that is a little bit larger than your baking sheet, shape the remaining dough to fit over the mincemeat, then gently slide the shaped dough on top of the mincemeat-covered layer of dough.
Press the edges of the two layers of dough together gently with your fingertips, and then sprinkle over the flaked almonds and dried cranberries, pressing them lightly into the top of the shortbread so that they stick.
Bake on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the shortbread is a pale golden colour.
Once out of the oven, sprinkle evenly with the golden caster sugar and allow to cool slightly before cutting into shape. Leave to cool completely before removing from the tin and serving.

Thursday 27 November 2014

Salted caramel and chocolate orange torte

Salted caramel and chocolate orange torte

According to Kate Moss, ‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’. No doubt this is true when one is a supermodel, paid several millions of pounds a year for being the same size as the sticks of celery one presumably lives on, but given that, sadly for me, my bank balance doesn’t treble each time I skip a meal, I’m afraid I don’t wholeheartedly agree with Ms Moss’ theory. Besides which, you’d be hard pushed to convince me that being a size zero is worth foregoing a KitKat Chunky Orange and a mug of tea.

Salted caramel and chocolate orange torte

Whilst I’m not a fan of starving myself, I do like to try to counterbalance all the gluten I consume in its various sweet and savoury forms; and so recently, in addition to swimming regularly, I’ve enlisted a personal trainer to push me a little further than I might like to push myself (which admittedly, is not very far at all).

Salted caramel and chocolate orange torte

This means that every Friday at 6.45am, you will now find me in my local park, feebly attempting press ups, burpees, squat jumps and all manner of other torturous exercises whilst gasping for breath and trying not to collapse face first into the squelchy mud. The subsequent three days are spent in agony as my broken body tries to recover from being pushed to do things it was clearly never built to do. An athlete’s body it isn’t.

Salted caramel and chocolate orange torte

Despite all this, I love it: I love the exhilaration of being pushed to the limit; I love the endorphin rush when the hour is up and I can feel proud I got through it; I even love the bizarrely satisfying pain of muscle fatigue and aching for days after. Perhaps I love it because I know that exercising means I can indulge in a nice slice of cake. Cake just like this salted caramel and chocolate orange torte!

Salted caramel and chocolate orange torte

I'm posting this torte now because I feel it's timely in the run-up to Christmas: it's an easy way to impress people if you're entertaining over the festive season and those I made it for seemed to find it pretty yumma. I reckon this is one that might even persuade old Kate that some things do taste better than skinny feels.

Adapted from BBC Good Food's Salted Caramel Chocolate Torte
  • 400g Digestive biscuits
  • 120g unsalted butter, melted
  • 300g caramel, refrigerated, plus 1tsp Maldon salt if the caramel is not already salted (I used Tesco's Finest Salted Caramel - a 260g jar was enough for this dessert. Note that Carnation Caramel is far too runny and will leak out. Trust me, I learnt this the hard way!)
  • 300g plain chocolate (40% cocoa)
  • 600ml double cream
  • Zest of two oranges
Line the base of a deep, round 8" (20cm) loose-bottomed cake tin with a circle of baking parchment. Line the sides with one long strip that comes just above the sides of the tin and staple or paper clip where the strip overlaps to hold it in place.

Crush the biscuits in a plastic bag or bowl with the end of a rolling pin, or blitz them in a food processor. Stir into the melted butter and mix well to combine.

Press the crushed biscuit and butter mix into the bottom of the tin. With your fingers or the base of a glass, press some of the biscuit mix from the centre out to the circumference of the tin to create a sort of well with a rim that is about 1cm high all around and 2cm in depth. This is to contain the caramel if it's runny and stop it from leaking out of the torte. Chill for 10 mins.

If using caramel that's not already salted, stir the Maldon salt into it and stir. If using caramel that's already salted, there's no need for extra salt.

Spoon the caramel onto the biscuit base, into the central well that you've created, then chill again, for at least half an hour.

Break the chocolate up into a heatproof bowl.

Heat the cream in a saucepan on the stove until it starts to simmer, then take it off the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Allow to sit for 30 seconds before beating the two together with a spatula until you have a smooth, glossy ganache, then stir in the orange zest.

Allow the ganache to cool and thicken for about an hour, then gently pour it into the cake tin, over the biscuit and caramel. Chill in the fridge overnight, or if you are serving it on the same day as making it, set it in the freezer for two to three hours.

When ready to serve, remove the torte from the tin, then carefully peel off the strip of paper and transfer to a serving plate.

Tuesday 21 October 2014

Chocolate Hobnobs

Homemade chocolate hobnobs

Were I ruler of the galaxy, there would exist in the fiefdom of Princess Rana an edict declaring that human beings hibernate through winter. Given the option to sleep away several very cold, bleak months, I can't imagine that anyone in their right mind would refuse, but obviously, as a benign, magnanimous princess, I would allow people to continue about their daily business if they so chose (bonkers if you ask me, just bonkers). To be clear though, were one looking for one's illustrious leader anytime between October through to April, she would be found swaddled tightly in her duvet, snug as a bug in a rug and sound asleep.

Sandwiched homemade chocolate hobnobs

The exception would be December, for obvious reasons: Christmas, naturally; and preceding that, the royal birthday (mine, in case you’re wondering). It would be a travesty to sleep through these so I suppose the royal edict would need to include a clause stating that everyone be woken at the beginning of December to ensure they don’t miss out on the delights of eating too much, decorating Christmas trees with sparkly, twinkly fairy lights, and most importantly regaling Princess Rana with birthday presents (or it’s off with their heads!)

Chocolate-coated hobnob

Until I become The Princess who Hibernated, I suppose I shall begrudgingly have to struggle on. But if I cannot sleep my way through winter, it goes without saying really that I am forced to eat my way through it instead. What other coping strategy is there, I ask you?

Chocolate-coated hobnob

So now that the cold weather appears to officially have arrived, here’s a recipe for some comforting biscuits to cheer anyone up on a grey, drizzly day.

Homemade chocolate chip hobnob

McVitie's Hobnobs rank amongst my favourite biscuits, especially because there are so many varieties: plain; choc chip; chocolate coated; sandwiched; and let’s not forget chocolate orange...! You can make your own homemade version of whichever variety you like with this recipe. I made a few, but my favourite was, without doubt, the sandwiched version: two melt-in-the-mouth buttery biscuits welded together with a rich, glossy chocolate ganache.

Perhaps winter has its perks after all.

Homemade chocolate hobnobs

Ingredients 
Makes around 20 individual biscuits or 10-15 sandwiched biscuits (depending on how large you make them!)
  • 187g butter
  •  tbsp golden syrup
  • 187g self-raising flour
  • 187g soft light brown sugar or light brown muscovado sugar (I actually mixed the two as I didn’t have enough of either on its own)
  • 187g porridge oats
  • ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 40g sweetened desiccated coconut
  • 50g plain chocolate (40% cocoa), finely chopped (optional)
For coating (optional)
  • 175g plain or milk chocolate or 
  • to sandwich the biscuits with a ganache, 150g plain chocolate (40% cocoa) and 150ml double cream
Preheat the oven to 180C (160c fan) and grease two baking sheets.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and golden syrup together on a low heat.

Tip the flour (I sifted mine once but this isn’t essential), sugar, oats, bicarbonate of soda and coconut into a large bowl and mix to combine, either with a spatula or a large metal spoon.

Add the melted butter and golden syrup to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until it is all combined.

Allow the mixture to cool for five to 10 minutes then, if adding chopped chocolate, stir it into the mix.

Using your hands, take little scoops of the raw biscuit dough and roll into balls. I made mine about the size of golf balls, which resulted in quite large biscuits. You may want to make them slightly smaller, especially if you’re going to be sandwiching the biscuits together.

Place the rolled biscuits onto your greased baking trays as you make them, spacing them about 2-3cm apart as they will spread, and flatten each one slightly with your hand.

Bake for 15 minutes, then allow to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to go completely cold.

If coating the biscuits, melt the plain or milk chocolate in the microwave or in a bain marie, then use a spoon or palette knife to spread the chocolate over the top of each biscuit.

If sandwiching the biscuits with ganache, break the chocolate up into a heatproof bowl. Place the cream in a small saucepan and heat until it just starts to simmer, then pour it over the chocolate. Allow to sit for 30 seconds before stirring the two together into a glossy ganache.  Let theganache cool and thicken for half an hour.

Spread a generous amount of ganache onto the bottom of one biscuit, then take another biscuit and sandwich the two together.  Repeat with remaining biscuits.

Thursday 4 September 2014

Brown butter shortbread lemon bars

Brown butter shortbread lemon bars

Ask me what’s my poison and, as a teetotaller, my response will be a cup of tea. That this is both unsurprising and unexciting, I know already, but still, it’s a grown ups’ drink at least, right? Ask my best friend the same question and the answer you’re likely to get is lemon squash.

No, my best friend– henceforth to be known as Lemony Squashit - is not eight years’ old, but a fully grown adult... One who also supplements daily pint glasses of lemon squash with snacks of Chewit sandwiches (a tower of alternating flavoured Chewits squished down into one big, sticky globule, ready to take out as many teeth as possible in one fell hit). Huh.

Brown butter shortbread lemon bars

Okay, so perhaps I’m being a little unfair here. Each to their own, right? Besides, as much as I sanctimoniously pride myself on eating healthy food and fresh fruit and veg every day, there is no denying I too have a penchant for foodstuffs I gorged on as a child (Starburst, toffee bonbons, kola kubes…) and that, moreover, I love my ‘dirty foods’: give me a fish finger sandwiches complete with plasticky processed cheese and a generous dollop of mayo and you have yourself one very happy girl; better still if it’s followed up with a pot of ready-made, processed rice pudding, heated briefly in the microwave please, so as to zap it fully of the few nutrients it may have contained prior to being nuked.

Brown butter shortbread lemon bars

So really, who am I to judge if Lemony Squashit’s drink of choice is one that I thought only children under the age of about 12 drink? Indeed, rather than knocking it, perhaps the next time I settle down to a fish finger sandwich, I’ll accompany my meal with a big glass of lemon squash. So long as I have a pink candy-striped straw to drink it with.

In homage to Lemony Squashit and also as a final farewell to summer, here are some brown butter shortbread lemon bars, taken from the famous San Franciscan bakery, Tartine.


Brown butter shortbread lemon bars

The name of these bars is a little confusing in that the butter is not browned prior to being used to make the biscuit base; rather it browns and develops a nutty, caramel depth when the biscuits are twice-baked in the oven. In any case, the rich buttery flavour of the shortbread is a perfect match for the lemon curd custard that is baked on top of it. I added desiccated coconut to mine to complement the lemon and add a little more texture to the bars.

Makes 20-25 bars

For the brown butter shortbread:
55g icing sugar
215g plain flour
170g unsalted butter, softened/room temperature
55g desiccated coconut (sweetened or unsweetened), plus extra for sprinkling

For the lemon curd custard:
70g plain flour
455g caster sugar
280ml lemon juice (you’ll need 6-8 lemons for this and a lot of patience whilst juicing them!)
Zest of one lemon
6 large eggs plus yolk of one large egg
Icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C for a fan oven) and grease and line a 9 x 13” baking pan with baking paper.

To make the crust, sift the icing sugar and flour together into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and desiccated coconut and beat on low speed just until a smooth dough forms.

Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and press it evenly into the bottom and about 1/2 an inch up the sides of the pan. It should be about 1/4 inch thick. This might be a bit painstaking but can’t be helped along by using the bottom of a glass to press the crust down firmly.

Take a strip of parchment paper that is large enough to cover the entire surface of the biscuit crust and with a pair of scissors, snip little slits into the paper at random places (this will help to release any steam when the crust is baking. Place the paper over the crust and then cover it all with baking beans.

Bake the crust until it starts to turn a golden brown colour, which should take 25 to 35 minutes.  If the crust doesn’t brown a lot, don’t worry too much, it will bake further once the filling has been added.

Whilst the crust is baking, make the filling by sifting the flour into a large bowl (ideally one that also acts as a pouring jug). Add the sugar and whisk to mix, then add the lemon juice and zest and whisk to dissolve the sugar.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the whole eggs and egg yolk, then add them to the lemon juice mixture and whisk until well mixed.

When the crust is ready, remove it from the oven and remove the baking beans and top sheet of parchment.  Pull out your oven shelf slightly and place the crust back onto it, then pour the filling directly onto the crust (it’s much easier to pour the custard into the pan when the pan is already in the oven). Sprinkle your extra desiccated coconut over the custard.

Reduce the oven temperature to 150C (140C fan) and bake it until the centre of the custard is just set, which should be another 30 to 40 minutes.

Allow to cool completely on a wire rack, then chill well before cutting.

Cut the baked bars into squares or rectangles then dust the tops with icing sugar. They will keep in an airtight container or well covered in the baking dish in the refrigerator for up to four days.

Sunday 3 August 2014

Flatbreads part II: Parathas

Parathas

It's pretty fair to say that I'm rather partial to my sleep. So much so that I get excited about going to bed-fordshire in the evenings. Sadly, my sleep doesn't seem to be quite as partial to me as I am to it and I'll often find myself wide awake in the middle of the night.

Sometimes Ill plod downstairs and invariably rummage around in the fridge (never quite managing to find leftovers as exciting as those Nigella finds in hers during her midnight feasts); other times Ill contemplate calling my best friend for company, because undoubtedly anyone would deem it a privilege to be woken up at 4am simply because I require entertaining; but more often than not, I will lay in bed listening for signs of life from the outside world through my bedroom window.

Parathas with a bowl of daal

Strange as I know this will seem, one of my favourite things to listen out for - if I happen to be awake at the right time - is that of the milk float rumbling gently down the street, bottles clanking against one another, ready for delivery. For some reason I find comfort in it. Maybe its the fact that someone else nearby other than me is awake; maybe its that I know this noise signals dawn is approaching, one of my favourite times of the day.

There are other, arguably less strange, things that I draw comfort from in life: settling down in the cinema to watch a film that will preferably allow me to focus more on working my way through the oversized tub of popcorn Im cradling than on the plotline; planting innumerable kisses on my adorable nephews perfectly pendulous cheeks; and of course cooking and eating my favourite foods, amongst which, parathas rank pretty darn high.

Flaky, freshly-made parathas

Parathas are flaky, buttery, melt-in-the-mouth flatbreads, almost like a South-East Asian equivalent to croissants you might say. Admittedly, not something Id be encouraging you to eat too often given clarified butter (ghee) is a key ingredient, but as far as comfort food goes, theyre pretty hard to beat. They are the perfect complement to a curry or eaten as a wrap filled with tender chunks of juicy lamb, but if Im honest, my favourite way to eat them is on their own - unadulterated, fresh and warm straight off the stove.

Attention please, extremely technical technical note: Like croissants, there is a laminating (rolling and folding the dough) process to making parathas, but unlike croissants, thankfully its a gazillion times easier and quicker so the gratification is much more instant (although strictly speaking, this depends on your definition of ‘instant’...). I've added photos below of the laminating process to try to help you along.

Stack of freshly-made parathas ready to be eaten

Ingredients (makes about 20) - can be halved or doubled as required
  • 1kg medium chapatti flour (available at the supermarket. Alternatively you can use wholemeal chapatti flour or if you cant get chapatti flour, use half normal wholemeal flour and half plain white flour)
  • 1½ tsp table salt
  • 650ml lukewarm water (half freshly boiled and half from the tap)
  • Vegetable ghee/clarified butter (you will need about 250-300g and it should be at room temperature, making it soft but solid, not liquid)
  • Shallow bowl of extra flour for dusting
You will also need a rolling pin and a tava - a cast-iron griddle pan usually concave in shape, used for making flatbreads. If you dont have a tava, you can use a heavy-bottomed frying pan.

To make the dough (this process is identical to making roti dough)
If using a free-standing mixer, attach the dough hook to the mixer.  Weigh the flour out into the bowl of your mixer, then sprinkle over the salt.

Pour about a third of the water into the flour and salt and start to combine the ingredients on a low speed.

As the water and dry ingredients begin to come together, slowly add another third of the water and turn the speed up to low-medium. Continue to combine.

Scrape down any dry or sticky dough clinging to the sides of the bowl occasionally.

Finally, add the remaining water, turning the speed of the mixer to high. Combine the ingredients on this high speed for a good 4-5 minutes, until all the water and flour are combined.

Your dough will be ready when it is tacky and bouncy to touch (see before and after photo below). Furthermore, there should be no dry flour left on the sides of the bowl. If you find the dough is hard when you prod it, add a touch more water and continue to beat until you have the desired consistency and texture. You cannot overbeat this dough, so if youre unsure, keep mixing for a few minutes longer.

Transfer to an airtight container. Before placing the lid on the container, wet your hands well and then pat down the top of the dough so that it is all wet. This helps to prevent the top from going hard and crusty.

Cover with lid and leave the dough to sit at room temperature for an hour (you can leave it for longer than this if you like, or if you want to make your roti the following day, once the dough has sat at room temperature for an hour, place it covered in the fridge overnight. Remove an hour before needed to soften it up again)

If making the dough by hand (be warned, you will need some muscle power as this takes quite a lot of elbow grease!), place the flour into a very large, wide rectangular bowl (if you have one in your kitchen sink, this is the type you want to use).

Sprinkle the salt over the flour.

Add the water bit by bit, mixing with your hands to combine.  Once all the water has been added, knead the dough for a good 10-15 minutes until it is pliable and tacky/sticky. Once ready, follow the instructions as above for storing the dough.

Laminating (rolling, layering and shaping) the parathas
Dust your hands very lightly with flour and then use them to scoop out pieces of dough that are roughly 70-75g each (the size of about two golf balls together).

As you scoop out each piece of dough, dip it very lightly in flour, shaking off any excess and place it on your work surface.

Once you have about half a dozen of these balls of dough, place the lid back onto the container of remaining dough so that it doesnt dry out whilst you are cooking the parathas.

Balls of paratha dough

Take one of the lumps of dough and cover the rest with a damp tea towel, again to prevent the dough from going hard or crusty.

Working quickly, roll out the piece of dough into a very rough rectangle thats about 10x5cm.

Paratha dough spread with ghee

Place 1.5-2tsp of ghee onto the rolled out piece of dough and spread it all over the surface of the dough with the back of your spoon or with a butter knife.

Next, taking with the long end of the rectangle that is furthest away from you, with your hands start rolling the piece of dough up towards you, rolling it as tightly as possible, until you end up with a sausage-shaped piece of dough. Once it is fully rolled up, press down the rolled end gently to seal it.

Rolling paratha dough

Now place both your hands on the sausage and gently - so that it doesnt stick to your work surface - start to roll it to extend it to about 35cm in length. Try to ensure it is even in thickness throughout.

Pick up your sausage-shaped dough, with one end in one hand and the other end in the other hand. Starting from whichever end you prefer, start to curl the sausage up into a ball as tightly as you can (see photo sequence below). Once you have rolled the sausage around itself once, start to roll the rest of it on top of itself. When its all rolled up, tuck the top end into the middle of the curled-up ball and place to one side.

Creating layers in the paratha dough/laminating

Repeat the laminating process with the remaining lumps of dough that you had set aside on your work surface.

To cook the parathas
Place the tava on the stove on a high heat so that it is ready and hot for when youve finished rolling out your first paratha and line a flat tray with a sheet of tin foil.

Take your first curled up ball of laminated dough and with the palm of your hand, press gently down on it to flatten it slightly, then dip both sides of it into flour, shaking off any excess.

Place the slightly flattened round onto your work surface and flatten it further with your hand so that its a circle roughly 8cm in diameter, as in the photo below.

Rolling out the paratha

Take your rolling pin and roll out the flattened ball. You dont need to roll with a heavy hand, just press down lightly with the pin, lifting and turning the dough as you go along to stop it from sticking, to keep it as round in shape as possible and to ensure it is rolled out evenly.

Rolling out the paratha

Once you have a round that is about 17-18cm in diameter (approximately 7) and about 1.5mm thick, its ready to cook.

Your tava or frying pan should be nice and hot by now. Turn the heat down slightly to medium-high and place your rolled out paratha onto the tava (see top picture in photo below).

After about 10 seconds, lift it and turn it over.  The side now facing upwards wont be fully cooked (see second picture in photo below), but dont worry, you will be turning the paratha over again later.

Now continue to cook the paratha, twirling it around on the spot with your hands every few seconds to allow the underneath to cook and turn an even golden colour and to prevent it from sticking to the pan.

Cooking the paratha on the tava

After about 30-40 seconds, lift the paratha from one side to check that the underneath is beautifully golden.  If not, continue to cook for a few more seconds. Once its evenly golden (as per the bottom picture in the photo above), flip it over again to cook the other side.

Continue to twirl the paratha round on the spot to cook the underneath. Once both sides are beautifully golden, place the cooked paratha on your tray lined with foil and repeat with the rest of the rolled up, laminated balls.

Once they are all cooked, start the process again until all the dough in your container has been used up.  As you get more proficient, you will find you will be able to roll out one paratha whilst another is cooking on the tava.

Eat the parathas fresh and warm or freeze until needed, reheating them from frozen either under the grill or on a dry frying pan or in the toaster (on a low-medium setting).

Tuesday 15 July 2014

Flatbreads part I: Roti (or chapatti)

Bread basket of cooked roti/chapatti

Lists. I love me a good list. Shopping lists, ‘to-do’ lists, places I want to eat lists, presents you may buy me because you know you want to lists, friends I need to catch up with lists (you think I’m joking…) In short, you name an aspect of my life and I probably have a list for it.

I’m fully cognisant of the fact that when you consider the above, erm, list of lists, the expression ‘anal retentiveness’ springs to mind, but all’s I can say is that lists help me to organise the otherwise somewhat chaotic panoply of thoughts in this pea-sized brain of mine.


Roti ready to be cooked

My latest list is food-related. I know, you’re not likely to be falling off your chair in surprise that food is involved, but should you care to know, more specifically, it’s a list of Pakistani recipes and dishes that I want to learn to make from the best cook I know (yup mummatha, that's you again. Take a bow).

Many girls of South-East Asian origin will probably tell you that they could make all of the foods on my list - in particular roti (or chapatti as it’s also known) - blindfolded from the age of about 11 or 12. I’m afraid the best I can offer is that at that age I could eat a lot of roti. Seriously, I mean a lot. I mean, I was like a machine. You’d never have wanted to challenge my 12 year-old self to an eating contest, not unless abject failure for you and embarrassing the both of us was your end goal.


Cooking a roti on a tava

So here I am, fully-fledged adult (at least in physical age if not in mental age), mastering the art of making some of the amazing foods I grew up on. Roti (a type of flatbread) is a sensible place to start: it’s a staple with almost any curry, it's really easy to make (I promise. Plus I've done you lots of nice photos to help you at each step) and once you have the basic dough, you can experiment and dress it up further (look out for future posts on this). Best of all, if you find you happen to have run short of curry on your plate, you can take your roti, slather it with butter, sprinkle sugar on top, roll it up and enjoy a delicious cheeni roti.


A puffed-up roti ready to be eaten

Ingredients (Makes about 20) - can be halved or doubled as required
  • 1kg medium chapatti flour (available at the supermarket. Alternatively you can use wholemeal chapatti flour or if you can’t get chapatti flour, use half normal wholemeal flour and half plain white flour)
  • 1½ tsp table salt
  • 650ml lukewarm water (half freshly boiled and half from the tap)
  • Extra flour for dusting
You will also need a rolling pin and a tava - a cast-iron griddle pan usually concave in shape, used for making flatbreads. If you don’t have a tava, you can use a heavy-bottomed frying pan.

To make the dough
If using a free-standing mixer, attach the dough hook to the mixer.  Weigh the flour out into the bowl of your mixer, then sprinkle over the salt.

Pour about a third of the water into the flour and salt and start to combine the ingredients on a low speed.

As the water and dry ingredients begin to come together, slowly add another third of the water and turn the speed up to low-medium. Continue to combine.

Scrape down any dry or sticky dough clinging to the sides of the bowl occasionally.

Finally, add the remaining water, turning the speed of the mixer to high. Combine the ingredients on this high speed for a good 4-5 minutes, until all the water and flour are combined.

Your dough will be ready when it is tacky and bouncy to touch (see before and after photo below). Furthermore, there should be no dry flour left on the sides of the bowl. If you find the dough is hard when you prod it, add a touch more water and continue to beat until you have the desired consistency and texture. You cannot overbeat this dough, so if you’re unsure, keep mixing for a few minutes longer.


Roti dough

Transfer to an airtight container. Before placing the lid on the container, wet your hands well and then pat down the top of the dough so that it is all wet. This helps to prevent the top from going hard and crusty.

Roti dough

Cover with lid and leave the dough to sit at room temperature for an hour (you can leave it for longer than this if you like, or if you want to make your roti the following day, once the dough has sat at room temperature for an hour, place it covered in the fridge overnight. Remove an hour before needed to soften it up again).

If making the dough by hand (be warned, you will need some muscle power as this takes quite a lot of elbow grease!), place the flour into a very large, wide rectangular bowl (if you have one in your kitchen sink, this is the type you want to use).

Sprinkle the salt over the flour.

Add the water bit by bit, mixing with your hands to combine.  Once all the water has been added, knead the dough for a good 10-15 minutes until it is pliable and tacky. Once ready, follow the instructions as above for storing the dough.

To cook the roti

Dust your hands very lightly with flour and then use them to scoop out balls of dough that are roughly 70-75g each (the size of about two golf balls together).

As you scoop out each ball of dough, dip it very lightly in flour, shaking off any excess and roll it firmly in a smooth ball, making sure there are no lines or creases anywhere in the dough, including the bottom of the ball (if there are, it may be that your dough is not soft enough, in which case you might want to add a tiny bit more water and knead it some more, though this isn't imperative. You don't need to leave your dough to rest again if you knead it a second time).

Once you have about half a dozen of these round balls, place the lid back onto the container of dough so that it doesn’t dry out whilst you are cooking the roti.

Ready to roll balls of roti dough

Place the tava on the stove on a high heat so that it's nice and hot for when you’ve finished rolling your first roti.

Take one of the dough balls and cover the rest with a damp tea towel, again to prevent the dough from going hard or crusty.

Working quickly, flatten the dough ball lightly with your hands, then dip both sides lightly in flour, shaking off any excess.

Roll the flattened ball out with the rolling pin.  You don’t need to roll with a heavy hand, just press down lightly with the pin, lifting and turning the dough as you go along to stop it from sticking, to keep it as round as possible and to ensure it is rolled out evenly.  Lightly dust with extra flour if needed to prevent it from sticking to your work surface.

Once you have a round that is about 17-18cm in diameter (approximately 7”) and about 1.5mm thick, it’s ready to cook.

Rolled roti ready to be cooked

To test that your tava or frying pan is hot enough, sprinkle a little flour on it.  When the flour starts burning, wipe it away with a kitchen towel and then you can start cooking your roti. 

Place the rolled out roti onto the tava.  After about 8-10 seconds, lift it and turn it over.  The side now facing upwards won’t be cooked, but don’t worry, you will be turning the roti over again later.

Roti cooking on the stove

Now continue to cook the roti, twirling it around on the spot with your hands every few seconds to allow the bottom to cook and turn an even brown/golden colour and to prevent it from sticking to the pan.

After about 25-30 seconds the top of the roti will start to turn a speckled white colour (see photo above) and the underneath should be evenly browned.  At this point, flip the roti over again.

Roti cooking on the stove

Using a cloth napkin bunched up in your hand, lightly press down on parts of the roti to cook the underneath. As you do this, the pressure from lightly pressing down should encourage the parts not being pressed to puff up. As these parts puff up, press on them to encourage the rest of the roti to also puff up.  Once it has fully puffed up - this should take about 20 seconds from the time you flipped it over -  it’s cooked. If it doesn't puff up, don't panic, just keep rotating it on the spot until the underneath is evenly browned (again, about 20 seconds).

Encouraging the roti to puff up

Remove from the tava and place in a bread basket.

Repeat with the remaining dough balls.  Once they are all cooked, start the process again until all the dough in your container has been used up.  As you get more proficient, you will find you will be able to roll out one roti whilst another is cooking on the tava.

Eat the roti whilst fresh and warm with curry or with butter and sugar (or how about some chocolate spread…?!)  Alternatively you can freeze the batch of roti until needed, reheating them from frozen either under the grill or on a dry frying pan or in the toaster (on a low-medium setting).