Naan bread, bach cooking mince for spring rolls and dumplings and frozen fruit for winter

 In Pak'n Save I came across a frozen packet of 8 Roti Channai. These are great for putting in the toaster for having with curry. Easy to prep and very flaky too.  I've noticed the freezer seems to be out of them for a while as others have found them tasty too. Its something I'll have to put on my watch list and hoard when they come in.

 At Curry Heaven in Newtown I love the fresh garlic naan bread with the curry. So I've been thinking about making naan for a while.  When I finally looked up the recipe the only main ingredient I didn't have was the yogurt, so I thought I would need to give it a try.

 Naan bread

There seem to be quite a few naan bread recipes  on YouTube, some having baking powder or soda. I would prefer just the yeast and be patient with the rise. In the end I used the recipe from the Guardian, here.
I want to make a batch and freeze them and bring them out when I'm going to have a curry.
I'll report back on this one. This is one video I watched on Naan. I don't have gas (apart from BBQ) so will have to cook both sides.

 I made 8 balls from the Guardian recipe and have frozen them. I hope to plan to take a couple out the night before with a curry and test them. I would have done it sooner but over the weekend I went mad and was prepping for a number of meals, so I'll have to wait until I'm ready for another freezer curry meal.

 Recipe from the Guardian

Makes 6-8
1.5 tsp fast-action yeast
1 tsp sugar
150ml warm water
300g strong white bread flour, plus extra to dust
1 tsp salt
5 tbsp natural yoghurt
2 tbsp melted ghee or butter, plus extra to brush
A little vegetable oil, to grease
1 tsp nigella (black onion), sesame or poppy seeds (optional)

Put the yeast, sugar and two tablespoons of warm water in a bowl and stir well. Leave until it begins to froth.
Put the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Stir the yoghurt into the yeast mixture, then make a well in the middle of the flour and pour it in, plus the melted ghee. Mix, then gradually stir in the water to make a soft, sticky mixture that is just firm enough to call a dough, but not at all dry. Tip out on a lightly floured surface and knead for about five minutes until smooth and a little less sticky, then put in a large, lightly oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover and leave in a draught-free place (the airing cupboard, or an unlit oven) until doubled in size: roughly 90–120 minutes.
Tip the dough back out on to the lightly floured surface and knock the air out, then divide into eight balls (or six if you have a particularly large frying pan). Meanwhile, heat a non-stick frying pan over a very high heat for five minutes and put the oven on low. Prepare the melted ghee and any seeds to garnish.
Flatten one of the balls and prod or roll it into a flat circle, slightly thicker around the edge. Pick it up by the top to stretch it slightly into a teardrop shape, then put it in the hot pan. When it starts to bubble, turn it over and cook until the other side is browned in patches. Turn it back over and cook until there are no doughy bits remaining.
Brush with melted ghee and sprinkle with seeds, if using, and put in the oven to keep warm while you make the other breads.

Batch mince for Spring rolls and dumplings

I bought some pork mince, and also have some beef mince so decided to cook them both up with some garlic and onion, separately. Then I drained them over a sieve (to get excess oil out) and froze them in smaller batches, about 200/250 grams, so that I can make small portions of spring rolls or dumplings.
I bought some dumpling pastry at the Asian supermarket in Kilbirnie so I have to test some of that out, as well as buying some larger spring roll pastry as the other ones were too small. There was some rice paper ones but  I think I'll leave that for later.
I need to prep the vegetables for fillings and make a big batch of dumplings and spring rolls again to freeze.

They sold mung bean seeds there, far cheaper than at the natural health place, about 1/3 of the price, so when I've finished with those that's where I'll be buying the next batch.

 Seasonal fruit. Kiwifruit. Freezing for winter

Its coming into some of the fruit season in autumn, and I want to prepare for winter.
I thought about tomatoes and freezing them, but they are so cheap in cans that its not really worth the effort or space. Fresh tomatoes blitzed for Brochetta with garlic and onion is great but for a lot of cooking tinned tomatoes are fine.
The fruit may be worth freezing. Since I've been playing with the puff pastry I can make some simple danish with custard and fruit. I was looking at frozen fruit to use for this.
 It's the more practical way to go as I'm not a fruit eater and some goes off, which upsets me, but now with the freezer I can prepare small batches to use when I need it for pastries , desserts or for smoothies.
I had bought some over ripe mangos and peaches that I blitzed and put into ice cube trays and froze. I had them with tonic water in the afternoon on hot days. It was very nice. Autumn fruit will be coming down in price so I want to prepare for that.
I did have some fejoas that I was going to freeze, but I ate them all. I love the perfume of Feijoas, it is such an aromatic smell to the skin.