This gently oil poached bread ( fried) is perfect for clogging up those arteries which aren’t already buggered . Best served with a chick peas curry which will mean another blog post.
These are very similar to the west Indian doubles but eaten fresh and hot and not wrapped to be like a sandwich.
We can make these with multiple kind of flour mixes, but for today’s one I used wholemeal spelt, plain flour and whole wheat flour .
Flour- 250g
Spelt flour- 100 g
Whole meal flour- 100 g
Baking powder- 5 g /1 tsp
Warm water- 240-260 g depends– we want a semi soft dough
Yeast-4 g
Salt- 8 g
Sugar- 8 g
Oil-15 g
Mix flours yeast baking powder sugar and add in the water to make the dough. Add in salt/oil and leave to rest.
When resting keep dough covered to prevent it from skinning
After 15-20 mins you will see the dough start to rise .
Scale into about 50 g balls and rest for -5-10 mins again.
roll out about 1/2 cm thick .Leave for 2-3 mins
Gently poach(not really)/fry in hot oil. These should be puffed up and browned after frying.
Eat one or many depending on how badly you want to clog up those arteries.
Typically served with a chickpeas curry,but you could do other stuff with it..
To get your knives sharpened and in tip top condition here are some handy tips .
Keep away from the dishwasher and handwash only ..the corrosive chemical and high temp ruins the metal to a point where they just cannot be rescued anymore.
Buy a decent brand of a knife ,does not have to be a ken onion shun or a hand made thing but a victorinox is a good starting point or a similar by FDick .
Learn how to sharpen the blades . Remember also that the knife is meant to cut vegetables and tomatoes and so on not shave your arm – that’s just vanity/ sharpening snobbiness.+ You need sharpening stones which are 6000 grit or similar..and they are not cheap. There is a blog post here which tells you how to do this.
You also need a good stone not one of the pull through gadgets which they sell everywhere .They really ruin your blade not as much as the dishwasher but still not good practice. Get a 400/1000 stone . That’s enough for a normal person. I’ve got a dozen or more between 120- 12000 grits and several diamond ones too
The angle between the stone and the blade is important and some companies sell decent angle guides,which could be a worthwhile investment after the bomb you will send on the stone/s . I use only water or a little soap water to do the stones .the other blog post has videos on this.
Or if you are in Sydney you can contact me on gordoyash@gmail.com to make a time for this .
May you live in interesting times with your knife journey. Be safe and don’t drop the knife on your foot, that can hurt. If it’s falling let ita , better than cut yourself and slowly bleed to death.
literally means pepper / milagai and powder/ podi but we can add more layers of flavor to it than just that .
Typically made in southern India to put on dosa/ or to mix with ghee or aesame oil to serve with idli it’s very versatile and I’ve even used it to crust on salmon and bake it or serve as a dukkah and olive oil and focaccia.
There are more recipes than you can shake your tail feathers at..and in the end it’s also upto your creativity and to see what you have.
Roasted chana dal / this comes pre roasted I’m most indian shops and also persian or arabic shops- 20 g / 2 large T
Peppercorns dry- 5 g roughly
Shredded coconut not traditional but I like it
Salt
curry leaves 1-2 sprigs ..I grow mine fresh at home and the flavor is to die for
Dry red chilli/ I like to use Chipotle for the smoky flavor.-2-3 can increase depending on how hot you want it..
Cashewnuts- 20 g/ 2 T
Cumin seeds -5 g/1 t
Toast the above in the microwave- yes you can ..or in a fry pan if thats what you prefer. Cool down and blend/ grind to a coarse powder.
Sometimes i also add sesame seeds to mix above..Like i said sometime before all food needs your own touch to make it special and to your liking.
This was knife found buried in the garden for God knows how long After
We found this knife buried in the garden. When I say We it was actually my friend “Alana Williams”. She was digging a hole in the huge backyard to replant the ginger we had brought back from Dural.
I said we must try and resuscitate/ rescue this as I’ve done before so many times. The first step was to take off the old plastic bakelite kind of handle and I was able to use a chisel for that.
The next part of the puzzle was to find in my stash of wood ( mostly all recycled) a suitable piece to make a new handle.
once the wood was chosen then I cut it to the right size and marked a cross on the back to drill for the rat tail tang.
Cleaned blade and rat tail tang
Then I had to get a special extra long drill bit to be able to accommodate for the tang . Drill as straight as possible and check if it fits . Fill hole with epoxy and fit it up.
next was to shape the handle with my Shinto rasp and then sanding waxing and using burnishing oil
stories of foods from the world over, laced with a hint of sarcasm and some black humour, its not for everyone, but then never was meant to be..
