Naan and Red Lentil Dahl

So Sarah and I (Sarah is my wife) wanted to get together with Jesse and his new lady for a fine dinner with friends before he scampers off to The City and becomes impossible to tack down. The four of us all treck up to Boulder Creek to visit Jesse's friends Matt and Kat (cute) and had a fantastic indian inspired mixed veggie curry dish with yellow aromatic dahl and naan flat breads (sorry, no pictures. I brought food, but no camera. You'll just have to use your imagination).

Jesse grabbed some fresh produce from his CSA grab bag: I think I remember him bringing up some yellow summer squash of various varieties, baby bok choy, an onion or two, small red tart apples, and Hungarian Hot Wax peppers (they look like big red Jalapeno peppers). Matt and Kat bought apples, onions, and garlic. They also had this awesome beer called Delerium Tremmens. Not only did Matt and Kat provide a place and good drink, they also provided most all cooking materials and all unplanned for necessities; they're awesome people. Sarah and I brought with us red lintels, naan dough that I had rising in a bowl, two bottles of wine (2004 Alexander Cellars Zinfandel and 2007 Venetian Moon Pinot Grigio--this last from Trader Joes), mini ramekins, and our cook book: "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison--which I believe is one of the best gifts we've ever been given. I also brought up my spice box, because you never know.

So I'm just going to lay this all out, most likely in order of appearance.

Naan flatbread:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup warm water

1 packet active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)

1/2 tbs. sugar

2/3 cup hot water

3/4 cup plain yogurt

1/4 cup clarified butter or ghee, soft or melted (I just use normal butter because I'm lazy; I think making clarified butter is a pain)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup wheat bran (if you don't want to use bran just add a little more wheat flour)

3 cups all purpose flour (unbleached please)

Prime the yeast in the warm water with 1/2 tbs. sugar for at least 10 minutes. No need to mix. The yeast should get really really bubbly after these 10 minutes are up. If this doesn't happen the yeast is either a little too old, or is dead. This first instance is more likely but isn't too much to worry about, the second is less likely but is a real issue. In the mean time mix the yogurt, hot water, butter, and salt. Add to this the whole wheat flour and bran and mix to a moist batter; add the yeast to this mix and work in. Add enough all purpose flour to make a heavy dough or to the point at which the dough can be handled without getting your hands too gummed up (no dough hands, dough hands are bad). Don't just put all three cups of flour into the mix. We're not making pancakes here so doing this may make the dough too dry, leading one to overwork it which will ultimately lead to a very chewy flat cracker like bread. Lay the dough out on a floured surface and knead in enough extra flour so that the dough is smooth and slightly tacky (just so it stops sticking to your fingers after the flour has been worked in). Drop this into an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a moist towel, and place in a warm place to rise for about an hour, 1 1/2 hours if possible. When ready, heat a non-stick skillet on the stovetop. Punch down the dough and pull off pieces a bit smaller than your fist; roll these out on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness (too thin and the naan will not rise during cooking) and plop them into your heated skillet. Cook on each side for about 2 minutes or until well browned (not evenly browned, this is impossible).

Makes eight 6" naans.

Red Lentil Dahl:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups red lentils (rinsed)

3 cups water

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

1 spicy pepper (we used one of the Hungarian Hot Wax peppers, we could have used 2)

1/4 tsp. turmeric

1 14 ounce can coconut milk (lite please)

2 tbs. clarified butter or ghee

3 bay leaves

1 tsp. mustard seeds

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes, or however much you can stand.

Saute the onion, garlic, turmeric and pepper in 1 tbs. of the butter for about 2 minutes. Add the lentils and water, bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer very slowly for about 20-30 minuets, until the lentils are soft. Once soft add the coconut milk and put back on low heat. In the mean time fry the bay leaves, mustard seeds, and red pepper flakes in the remaining butter until the mustard seeds turn a greyish yellow. Add these to the hot lentils and serve.

Makes a good portion, the six of us each had about 1/2 cup and there were leftovers.

I'll pause for now. I'll talk about the curried stir fry and dessert later.