SWEET POTATO FLAT BREAD

This recipe is so ridiculously straight forward I almost don't feel justified in writing a recipe, but because of  it's simplicity I have to share it with you.

I have made these lovely soft flat breads with sweet potato but my cousin who sent it to me used regular potato and added some finely chopped spring onions. You could also add herbs like coriander or parsley, or a teaspoon of nigella or fennel seeds.

Steam or microwave a large sweet potato until it's soft and squishy inside. Don't boil it as this will add too much moisture.

Once it has cooked all the way through, scrape out the flesh of the potato and discard the skin.

Weigh the mushy pulp in a mixing bowl and add an equal amount of self raising flour and season.

Combine the two to form a dough. If it is a little dry, add some oil to bring it together.

Now divide your dough into equal portions and form into a small ball, mine weighed around 50g each.

Roll each ball out on a floured surface to about 5mm thick then transfer to a hot dry frying pan and cook on both sides till browned. You will find that bubbles may appear on top and this will help you know when it's ready to turn them over.



Keep them warm in a dish covered with a clean tea towel till ready to eat.

We had ours with a delicious lamb and aubergine curry but they were also good the next day just warmed and with a little bit of butter.

NATIONAL CURRY WEEK

It should come as no surprise that we have a National Curry Week, curry being up there with roast dinner, fish and chips and the full English as one of the nations favourite dishes.  In my house we don't need the excuse of a special week to sit down to a Jalfrezi or Balti and all the extras that go with it.

It can seem a little daunting sometimes to make your own curries with so many different spices to use.   Using fresh herbs and spices is so important and if you're not using them regularly they can become stale and loose their richness and depth of flavour. To help with this, Sainsbury's have come up with a selection of handy individual Curry Kits with spices ready for you to make your favourite curry dish.  They come with enough spices to make a meal for 4 and list all the ingredients you need along with the method.  They also have suggestions of other dishes you could use the spices for.

I tried the kits for Tikka Masala, Jalfrezi and Bombay Potatoes along with a jar of Mango Chutney and or course no curry is complete without some popadoms.

There are no hard and fast rules when using the kits, I have swapped some ingredients and used some of the packs for completely different recipes from those suggested.

JALFREZI FISH SKEWERS

1 Sainsbury's Jalfrezi Curry Kit, 1 x 320g Sainsbury's Fish Pie Mix, 1 tbsp Oil

Mix the 2 sachets of spices together along with the oil.  Stir in the fish and coat it well.  Push the fish onto skewers and place on a baking sheet.  Cook at 200C for 10-15 minutes.  Drizzle over a little fresh lemon juice and serve.

CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA

1 Sainsbury's Tikka Masala Kit

8 Boned Chicken Thighs 

1 tsp Salt

2 Garlic Cloves

1 inch piece Ginger grated

1 Large Onion diced
2 tbsp Oil

400g Tin Chopped Tomatoes

1 tsp Lemon Juice

1 x 250ml carton Coconut Cream

Toasted Flaked Almonds to garnish

Mix the contents of the marinade sachet with 1/2 tsp salt and half the garlic and ginger.  Add a tbsp of oil and mix in the chicken cut into bite size pieces.  Leave to marinade for 30 minutes then place on a baking sheet and grill for 3 minutes on each side.  Whilst you do this, cook the onions and remaining garlic and ginger with 1 tbsp of oil.

Once the onions become soft add the second sachet and cook for a minute then add the tomatoes, lemon juice and coconut milk.  Simmer for 10 minutes then add the chicken and cook for a further 10 minutes.  Garnish with toasted flaked almonds.

STICKY MANGO CHICKEN

This is a great recipe hot or cold, the mango chutney caramelises on the chicken giving it a golden sticky coating that's hard to resist.

4 Chicken Drumsticks
4 Chicken Thighs
1 x 340g Jar Sainsbury's Mango Chutney
1 tbsp Oil
4 tbsp Lime Juice
1/2 tsp Nigella Seeds

Use a sharp knife to slash deep cuts into the chicken.  Mix the remaining ingredients and use it to coat the chicken.  Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment and cook in the oven at 200C for 25-30 minutes till it is cooked through and the juices run clear when pierced.

BOMBAY FLAT BREADS

The brilliant Joanne Wheatley came up with the genius recipe for flat breads that I cannot do without.  It's so simple and quick to make and you can adapt it with different flavours very easily.

300g Self Raising Flour, 1 Sainsbury's Bombay Potatoes Kit, 300g Natural Yoghurt, Oil for cooking

Combine the flour and both sachets of spices.  Add the yoghurt and mix till it forms a soft dough.  Divide the dough into 8 and form into balls.  On a floured surface roll out the dough balls to about 5mm, brush or spray with oil then cook on a hot griddle for roughly 2 minutes on each side.

CORIANDER CHUTNEY

It really does not get any easier than this, you just throw everything into a food processor and blend till smooth, told you!

25g Desiccated Coconut
150g Natural Yoghurt
100g Fresh Coriander
2 Green Chillies
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar

QUICK CALZONE

There are some cook books you own that have the most wonderful looking recipes but when it comes to cooking them they may need a little tweaking and should never be cooked for guests unless previously tried and tested.

There are some cook books that you can rely upon to always get it right and give perfect results.  Jo Wheatley's 'A Passion For Baking' is one of those.  It has already become one of my bibles for never fail recipes and I love it.  Jo has managed to produce recipes that can be easily adapted for your own convenience and personal tastes too.

This recipe is a complete rip off of Jo's flat bread recipe.  I use it all the time because it's so easy and quick to make and I usually have the ingredients to hand.  We have it with curry, as a pizza base and now for calzone too.

Calzone is basically a folded pizza which makes it a great portable food.  Treat it like a pizza and add your own favourite fillings, pepperoni, mushrooms, spinach, pineapple......


Dough
300g Self Raising Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Oregano
300g Natural  Yoghurt

Sauce
1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes
1 Onion Chopped
1 Clove Garlic Crushed
1 tbsp Tomato Puree
1 tbsp Ketchup
Small Bunch Basil  Torn
Ham & Mozzarella

Cook the onion and garlic with a little oil, when soft add the tomatoes, tomato puree and ketchup.  Leave to simmer for 10 minutes then add the basil and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Make the dough by combining all the dry ingredients in a bowl then use a knife to stir in the
yoghurt till it comes together.  Flour the surface and divide the dough into 8 balls. It will be a little sticky so dust your hands and rolling pin with flour to make it more manageable.

Roll out each ball one by one and add a spoon of the sauce to one half.  Top with ham and mozzarella then fold the other half of dough over to cover.  Seal the edges like a cornish pasty, pierce a small hole in the top and bake for 25 minutes at 200C

THANKS JO XX

LAMB FLATBREADS

Well it's been a bit of a lamb fest recently - Spring, Easter, what can I say.  On Easter Sunday we had slow roast lamb which I covered in one of those 'Life's Too Short' pastes from the supermarket.  You know the one's in the fancy spices and sauces section that's already done for you.  M&S and Tesco have a particularly good range.  Anyway, I covered our boned leg in a Moroccan Tagine paste and slammed it in the oven for 6 hours on 150C.

It was quite delish and needless to say far too much for 2 adults, 1 child and 2 children who think they're veggies cos they only want sausages.  So the leftovers went into my home made kebabs.  I have to admit I am rather partial to old elephants leg especially since our local kebab shop started delivering - How bad is that, getting your kebabs delivered.

Anyway, that is what became of the surplus lamb along with some home made flat breads.  I've flavoured mine with a mix of whatever spices I had to hand, cumin seeds, chili flakes, garlic flakes, and coriander seeds ground roughly in a pestle & mortar.  You could also use one of those grinders you get with a mix ready made for you.  Nigella seeds are great too, nothing to do with Ms Lawson though, it's the flavour you get in naan breads and I always put them in my flatbreads and samosa's.


Flat Breads

500g Strong Bread Flour
15g Yeast
15g Spice Mix
5g Nigella/Black Onion Seeds
10g Salt
50g Oil
320g Warm water



Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl then add the oil and water.  Combine well till it all comes together to form a dough.

Tip it onto a floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes till it becomes smooth and elastic.  Return the dough to the bowl and cover with cling film (or - genius top tip,  a disposable shower cap) and leave to stand for 1hr till doubled in size.

when the dough is ready divide it into roughly 16, 50g balls.  Roll each one out to the size of a side plate, it will be quite thin, then cook each side on a hot griddle pan, hot plate or frying pan.  Cook the first side for about 3 minutes till it starts to bubble then flip it over to finish.

I served mine warm with the lamb, some salad and a little tzatziki - not an elephants leg in sight!