Homemade Naan

Basically, naan is an indian flat bread that goes well with anything that bread goes well with. Marinara sauce, a sandwich, a personal pizza, bread to soak up your gravies.... Naan is your man! (cheesy, I know)

I stumbled on this recipe on www.budgetbytes.com quite awhile ago but I kept putting off making it till now. I greatly regret not making this sooner. I made it to go along with some Butternut Squash Dal I had made. I'll post the recipe for that later. The naan came out even better than I dreamed it would. Soft with lots of pockets allowing it to hang onto that dal. Oh this was delicious. The best vote of confidence came from my 3-year-old extremely picky eater. She gobbled this up together with the dal. What's more, she went back for seconds! And thirds! This is unheard of unless it's pizza night.

So without further rambling from me, the magic get-your-3-year-old-to-ask-for-seconds recipe is as follows:

Naan

Prep time

1 hour

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

1 hour 25 mins

2 tsp dry active yeast
1 tsp sugar
½ cup water
2½-3 cups flour
½ tsp salt
¼ cup vegetable oil
⅓ cup plain greek yogurt*
1 large egg



In a small bowl, combine the yeast, sugar and water. Stir to dissolve then let sit for a few minutes or until it is frothy on top. At that point, stir in the oil, yogurt and egg until evenly combined.

In a medium sized bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour with the salt. Next, add the bowl of wet ingredients to the flour/salt mixture and stir until well combined. Continue adding flour a half cup at a time until you can no longer stir it with a spoon (about 1 to 1.5 cups later).

At that point, turn the ball of dough out onto a well floured counter top. Knead the ball of dough for about 3 minutes, adding flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. I ended up using about 3 cups of flour total. The dough should be smooth and very soft but not sticky.

Loosely cover the dough and let it rise until double in size (about 45 minutes). After it rises, gently flatten the dough and cut it into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a small ball by stretching the dough back under itself until the top is smooth and round.

Heat a large, heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat and spray lightly with non-stick spray. Working with one ball at a time, roll it out until it is about ¼ inch thick or approximately 6 inches in diameter.

Place the rolled out dough onto the hot skillet and cook until the under side is golden brown and large bubbles have formed on the surface. Flip the dough and cook the other side until golden brown as well. Serve plain or brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with herbs!

*I actually did not have greek yogurt on hand when I made this so I substituted with sour cream. I can guarantee you that there was no difference to the taste.


TIPS:
For the most bubbles, don’t roll out the ball of dough until just before it is ready to be placed in the skillet. I experimented with different skillet temperatures and found that a medium heat produces the most bubbles in the dough and does not burn the surface.

Enjoy!
Ash  :)

Look what I made!

 

I'm feeling quite proud of myself right now. :) 

Peanut Punch

Hey there! Did you miss me? I know I've been away for some time but I'm back now. I hope all of you have been keeping well this summer. Speaking of summer, I've been feeling for a nice cold glass of Peanut Punch lately. I finally got round to making it so I thought I'd share a couple of recipes with you.

You’ll be amazed at how simple it is to make this drink. It's not time consuming at all. Start to finish, the whole process takes anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes, depending on which recipe you use. You can always fool your friends into thinking it took quite a bit out of you to get it "just right". The result is a delicious drink which you're sure to want over and over again. Here are the recipes:

Both recipes yield 2 servings.

Peanut Punch (1)

8 - 10 cubes of ice
2 Tbsp peanut butter

1 cup cold milk (1%, 2%, whole milk etc. Your choice)

1 Tbsp condensed milk

Place the ingredients in a blender in the order in which they are listed.
Blend for about 1 minute until everything is well mixed. It should be creamy and frothy.

Serve immediately.

Note: You can experiment a bit by adding some of these ingredients alone or together:
- dash vanilla essence
- a dash of nutmeg
- cinnamon (you can also use cinnamon sticks as stir sticks)
- granola- ripe banana

This second recipe requires you to use actual peanuts instead of peanut butter. It also yields 2 servings:

Peanut Punch (2)

2 cups of shelled unsalted peanuts
3 cups of water
1 cup of whole milk
6oz of sweetened condensed milk
Angostura bitters
1 tsp vanilla extract

Lay peanuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast them for 5 min in a 350 degree oven or until you can smell them. Keep an eye on them as you don't want them to burn. Let them cool completely.
Combine toasted peanuts, cold water, and cold milk in a blender. Blend on high for about 1 minute, or until the peanuts are ground up finely. Using either cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer, strain the mixture into a pitcher 
Add the condensed milk, vanilla, and Angostura Bitters. Mix thoroughly.
Serve immediately in a cold glass

Enjoy! 

Ash :)

Single Serving Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookie

It's a bit late at night. My kids are asleep, my husband's at work, and I'm craving chocolate chip cookies. I LOVE chocolate chip cookies. I especially love them when they're warm and fresh out of the oven with bits of melted chocolate in every ooey gooey bite. If I were to follow only what my tongue dictated, I could eat the entire tray of cookies right out of the oven.

Now to just be able to have one cookie without the temptation of its 11 or so brothers on the tray would be perfect. In comes the single serving deep dish cookie! I was most happy when I came across this recipe. In my opinion, every lady should have this recipe for those nights (like tonight) where you want chocolate chip cookies, but you don't want to go through the whole guilt trip of eating an entire dozen off the tray... not that I'm speaking from experience here.

So, to satisfy my (sinfully late at night) craving for chocolate chip cookies, here is my saviour of a cookie recipe for one (deep dish) cookie.

Single Serving Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookie

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
Drop or two of vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup flour
2 Tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Have one ramekin ready. 

In a medium microwavable bowl, melt the butter. Whisk in both sugars and vanilla. Whisk in salt, baking soda, and flour, Whisk in the chocolate chips. Scrape the batter into the ramekin. 

Bake 12-15 minutes or until the top is firm and light brown. Let cool for a few minutes before serving with ice cream.

As you can see, I thoroughly enjoyed this! Bon Appetit!

Ash  :)

For the Kids - DIY Bubble Solution

My kids love blowing bubbles. They love it so much that we go through gallons of bubble solution each summer. With winter now slowly (painfully slowly) making its exit from the northern hemisphere, bubble solution has begun popping up on store shelves, and with it the refrain "Mommy, can we get bubbles." Over the winter, I came across a recipe for homemade bubble solution. In an effort to save money, along with my ears (temper tantrums over not having a bubble store in my kitchen are no fun), I figured why not have my own bubble 'store' indeed. 

To make your own bubble solution, I can guarantee you that you already have all you need in your cupboard. If you don't, it won't cost you a fortune to get it. The bubbles come out big and beautiful. I've found that they work better if the solution has cooled completely before you use it. I've saved many of the bubble wands from previous bottles, but you can always make a few out of pipe cleaners. Just bend pipe cleaners around cookie cutters or various shapes, and wrap the extra wire around the stick portion to hold in place.You can also make some bubble blowers by lining up some straws together and wrapping around with tape. An extra 15 minutes of craft time is always a good thing.

DIY Bubble Solution

2 1/2 cups hot water

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup liquid dish soap

Add 1/2 cup light corn syrup to the hot water and whisk well until it is dissolved. Slowly add the 1/2 cup liquid dish soap, and whisk well. Pour the bubble solution into a bottle or a container with a lid.  

Now, go outside and enjoy some good old fashioned bubble blowing with your kids. You're sure to have a blast! 

Ash :)

Hot Bakes for Cocoa Tea

Mom: Let's go make some Bakes!
Child: Yay! What are we baking?
Mom: We're not baking anything.
Child: You just said let's go bake.
Mom: Haha! No darling, we're making bakes, not baking something.

Yes, these babies are fried, even though they are called Bakes. We also call them Float, which is probably a better name as they puff up and float to the surface once they hit the hot oil. Bakes are a very popular item among the food vendors on the island. You will find them being made at practically every festival, family gatherings, at the beach, in the market, or sometimes even randomly along the side of the road.

The basic recipe for Bakes varies from island to island. St Marteen/St Martin make a slightly saltier Johnny Cake. Trinidad and Guyana use more fat in their bake dough. Barbados has a sweeter, denser bake. Not surprisingly, I prefer the St Lucian version. These have a great balance between the sweet, and salty, and are not dense. They can be eaten plain or with butter, cheese, jam, fried chicken, or the saltfish from my Green Fig and Saltfish recipe. It's really up to you how you want to eat them. They can be used in place of bread and pair really well with practically anything. In the days of the sugar plantations, bakes with either some porridge or a piece of roasted saltfish would provide a very filling breakfast for the workers. Coupled with some cocoa tea, they were ready to face the day.

Living in Toronto, I've come to appreciate warmth and comfort provided by a couple of hot bakes combined with a steaming glass of cocoa tea. There's nothing quite like it to warm you up on a cold winter's day. 

Fried Bakes

4 cups all purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
3 Tbsp butter (just a little less than a quarter cup)
Lukewarm water (about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups)
Oil for deep frying

Add flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon (if using) to a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Rub in butter to flour mixture.

Add enough water to make a soft dough. When the dough comes together, knead for about 6 to 8 minutes  or until dough begins to become smooth and elastic. Rub the dough with oil and let rest, covered for at least 30 minutes. 

Knead rested dough for 1 minute and then divide the dough into equal pieces and form into balls. I usually get between 16 - 18 balls.

Heat oil in a deep pan and let come up to 350 degrees F. The oil should be hot but definitely not smoking.

Take one ball of dough and place on the counter. Using the palm of your hand,  press down to flatten the dough. You should now have a rough circle. Take the flattened dough and using your thumbs and forefingers, flatten the dough a bit more until you have a slightly larger and slightly flatter circle. 

Add dough to oil - the dough should sink and within 3 seconds start floating to the top of the pan. If it doesn't then your oil is still too cold. Using a long-handled pot spoon, spoon oil over the top of the dough so that it continues to puff up, as soon as it puffs up, flip it over. You will notice that it starts to bubble and move around the pan. Let cook until the side is nicely browned.

Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove bake from pan draining off the excess oil. Add to a paper-toweled bowl. Repeat the process from until all the bakes are made.

Can be eaten as is, or with your favourite filling. Also pairs well with cocoa tea.

Note: Use real butter as much as possible. While margarine can work in a pinch, I've found that the bakes tend to lack that special something as opposed to those made with actual butter.



Stay warm!

Ash :)

St Lucia We Love!

St Lucia We Love (Official Video) by MONGSTAR

A wonderful music video by Mongstar released in time for independence celebrations in St. Lucia. I suggest watching it fullscreen.

Love You Better by Shayne Ross

This one was a valentine's day release from the talented Shayne Ross. His music is awesome!



Hope you enjoy the sweet sounds of St Lucia!

Ash :)

Happy Independence Day St Lucia!

The date was Thursday, February 22nd, 1979. As the clocks all over St. Lucia struck midnight, the red, white, and blue Union Jack was lowered for the last time, and the blue, yellow, black and white of St. Lucia's very own flag was raised for the very first time. Then the sweet strains of the National Anthem were heard throughout the land, celebrating the birth of our new nation.

Anyone from St Lucia will tell you this: we can travel all over the world, but there is no other place like sweet home St lucia. Our majestic Pitons, our world class Rodney Bay Marina, our historical Fort Rodney, the world's only drive-in volcano... St Lucia is a paradise. St Lucia is ingrained in us. We all must come back, be it through the trinkets found in our homes, the flags proudly displayed, the culture displayed at our gatherings, or the food.... the food... the heavenly food!

That leads me to today's post. St Lucia's national dish: Green Fig (banana) and Saltfish (salted cod). For a long time, bananas were the island's main export. This dish was one of many created in order to use the abundance of bananas on the island. So here we go:

Green Fig and Saltfish

1 hand of green bananas  
1 1/2 lb of saltfish, preferrably boneless
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 carrot, grated
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped
1 pinch salt
1/2 tbsp. oil
1/3 -1/2 cup water



Score each banana with a knife down the back seam. Place in a pot of water and add 1/2 tbsp of oil and a pinch of salt. Boil until the skin of the bananas change colour and the bananas are tender. This usually takes about 20 minutes.

Remove from heat. Leave the bananas in the water until ready to serve. This keeps them soft.

Boil your saltfish for about 20 minutes. Change the water, then boil again for 15 minutes more. Drain. Clean the saltfish and break it up into small pieces. If you are not using boneless saltfish, this is the time to remove the bones.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Sauté the onion and garlic on medium heat until translucent. Add the carrot, tomatoes, and peppers. Mix and cook for 3 minutes. Add the saltfish and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the water and let simmer for an additional 2 minutes.

Peel the skins off the bananas and arrange them on the serving dishes. Spoon the saltfish over the green bananas.

Serve with a cucumber salad or coleslaw.



Hope you enjoy this taste of St Lucia!

Ash :)