Sunday, April 26th - BBQ Naan, Sourcream marinated Shrimp and Onion Compote

Sunny day, slept in. All I've done is have coffee, egg white omlette sandwich and a biscotti....
BBQ Naan

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar (or honey. I like honey)
4 tablespoons milk
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/4 cups whole wheat bread flour

Garnish as you like
minced garlic
fresh parsley
melted butter

In a large bowl, or handy dandy stand mixer with the dough hook, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. As always, the dough will pull cleanly away from sides of the mixer bowl as you go. Do the whole 6-8 minutes though to build up good gluten. If you're doing it by hand, as most of the wets are incorporated, do the rest on a clean working surface. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl. Same mixing bowl is fine. Grab the dough ball, pour some oil in a couple of T and swirl it around. Cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. There really isn't a warm enough place in ours for bread rising so what we do is turn the oven on to the lowest setting while kneading then turn it off when it comes to temp. You can't have it too hot or the yeast will die. So leave the door ajar if it is too hot. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.

Punch down dough, and knead in garnishes if you want. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

Madhur Jaffrey's Raita is the basis but I've altered it with what I have in the fridge.

I love Madhur Jaffrey's food. She is one of the first non western food chef's I grew up watching. Albeit, they were old, scratch BBC reruns but they were great. I still remember that she was the first to teach me about frying the spices before grinding or cooking. You see that in the way I do my Thai Curry.

Cucumber Raita

1/2 cucumber diced or grated
1/2 tub of plain yogurt or sour cream (we had sour cream left from the pea soup the other day)
few leaves of fresh mint chopped
few springs of fresh coriander chopped
cardammom pod seeded
black pepper
salt

Serve COLD as a side to any curry or meat dish. We're having prawn skewers later.

Sweet Onion Compote

This is a very simple french side (you know alot of folks do what koreans do as a regular part of their diet and don't know it. Koreans have a word for all these sides and they have a permanent place on the table. You don't have a table with out them. They're called BAHNCHAHN.)

1 large sweet onion, sliced, Vidalia or the like
1/8 - 1/4 cup butter, RELAX it's a few tablespoons
olive oil it tempers the cooking and keeps the butter from scorching
salt
1/2 t sugar (optional but helps the browning)

over low to medium heat, fry the onions until soft and turn brown. that's it. it will take a while, at least 30 minutes. Don't rush it. You're not after crispy fried onion rings. You're looking for almost a marmalade. Your patience will be rewarded. DELISH... I've seen others do this with raisins or fruit. That's to augment the sweetness. Not necessary. .... still cooking while drinking a lovely SPICY Caesar.

Coming up (Naan rising)

Grilled sour cream marinated Shrimp
(Food & Wine Magazine May 2008)

1 c sour cream
6 garlic cloves
1 t cumin seeds
1 t garam masala
1 t white pepper fresh
1 t black pepper fresh cracked
1 t cumin ground
1 t ground ginger
1/2 t tumeric
16 large shrimp deveined
Salt
3 T unsalted butter
1/2 t chat masala (if you have it. it's a garnish. It's a specialty spice mix. Don't fuss if you don't have it)
Lime wedges

1. In a large shallow dish whisk the sour cream with garlic, cumin seeds, garam masala, pepper corns, ground cumin, ginger and turmeric. Add the shrimp and coat thoroughly. Cover and refridgerage for 3 hours.
2. Remove the shrimp from the marinade and thread the skewers. Season with salt. Oil the grates, heat to high. cook 2 minutes per side until mostly cooked through. Brush with butter and further grill until glazed. Sprinkle with the chat masala (indian spice mix) and serve with lime wedges.

We've done this before and served with a pilaf. It is VERY tender and tasty. Tonight will be the first time with the naan. Funny, I just had this wine at lunch last week. I wasn't sure about it. Our dinner guests from the other night brought it. BC inhabitants are fiercely loyal to their wine and B&H are no exception. They like referrals to, drink and bring BC wine. I think that's great. You know what you prefer and what you believe in. Cool. It was nicer than when I ordered it by the glass. Very nice deep berry nose. Medium to short on length. I enjoyed drinking it more this time than last. Course you never know what you get when you order a glass really. :-I