You Cracker Me Up!

I've spent the week at Sally's recovering, slowly, from a bout of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo that I developed when we were in North Carolina. This was my third attack in nine years. So dizzy on Day 1 that I literally could do nothing but lay in a darkened room and crawl to the bathroom once or twice. Eyes sensitive to light, ears sensitive to sound. Now, almost two weeks later, I'm back about 90%. Still have to be careful of moving my head or eyes too fast and making the world spin. But I'll be in great shape for the FoodFightWrite Conference/Cookoff next week.

So while I was recuperating, I did some simple cooking, just to keep my hand in and help me focus.

Indian Dinner Night -- Murgh Makani and Arhar Dal

Simple enough to make if you visit your local Indian market and pick up the right spices. In this case, Butter Chicken (Murgh Makani) spice blend and Arhar Dal (Spicy Lentils) spice blend.

I dusted the chicken breasts with a bit of the butter chicken spice, then sauteed them my usual way, and removed them from the skillet about 3/4 done. A tablespoon or so of the spice blend along with some milk, yogurt and the pan fond combined in the skillet to make the pan gravy, then I returned the cut up chicken to the skillet and tossed everything to combine and keep warm for serving.

To make the lentils I used my rice cooker (although a pot of water works well too). I added about 3 teaspoons of Arhar Dal spice to the cooking lentils, then added one or two more teaspoons when they were done, to up the flavor ante. For even more flavor, add half an onion (red or white), diced, to the lentils while they're cooking.

Why spend good money at an Indian take-away place, when you can make perfectly tasty Indian food at home?

You Cracker Me Up

Home-made crackers are not only fun and easy to make, the beauty is that you can flavor them anyway you like, not just the flavors that MegaBakeCo want you to have. Plus you can get rid of all the excess salt and preservatives of store-bought. There are zillions of cracker recipes out there on the Net. Here are three that I've tried that we like. Sally particularly likes the Wheat Squares for their buttery flavor. I love the intense southwestern flavor of the Masa Crackers -- better even than griddle frying corn tortillas.

Cracker Thickness Gauges

Some folks use special rubber bands (from a cooking shop) on the ends of their rolling pins to gauge thickness. I've found it easier to use a couple of thin battens of wood along which the rolling pin rides. I have a pair of .07" thick battens and a pair of 1/8" battens; remnants of my archery bow-building and musical instrument making projects, that work just great!

If you happen to own a tortilla press, it is a perfect tool for making very thin crackers. If you have a pasta roller, you graduate to Cracker Mastery; use it well and often.

For Seedy Crackers combine any or all of the following:

• 1 Tbsp Sesame seeds
• 2 tsp Poppy seeds
• 2 tsp Fennel or Caraway seeds
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt

Sprinkle on cracker surface and roll or lightly pat seeds into dough surface before cutting into shapes and baking.

Wheatberry Crackers -- Wheat Squares

I was gifted with a package of organic einkorn wheatberries awhile back (thanks Sara), and decided to try something different with them. Einkorn is the ancient ancestral wheat of all the modern varieties, but remains unmodified. Any wheat that you eat other than Einkorn, is technically a GMO -- genetically modified by crossbreeding, inbreeding and selective breeding. Einkorn means 'one seed', unlike modern wheats which have multiple seeds per head.

Using a coffee grinder, I powdered the whole wheatberries into flour -- 1/4 cup of berries at a time, spun for 60 seconds each, I processed 1-1/2 cups of berries into 2-1/4 cups of medium texture flour.

1 1/4 cups ground Wheatberries or Whole Wheat flour
1 1/2 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Paprika
4 Tbsp Butter, unsalted, cut into small bits

Combine the flour, sugar, salt, paprika and butter in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, work the butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Add 1/4 cup cold water and stir to combine. Knead once or twice on a floured surface.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Either lightly grease baking sheets or line them with parchment paper (my preference).

Roll the dough out, half at a time, to a large, very thin rectangle-ish shape on a well-floured counter. Using a knife, pastry wheel or pizza cutter, cut the dough into about 1-1/2 inch squares. Dock the crackers with a toothpick or fork.

Transfer crackers to baking sheets, spacing them only a little as they don’t spread. Sprinkle with additional salt if you’d like to approximate the salty exteriors of the store-bought crackers. Bake until crisp and bronzed, about 15 minutes; but keep a close watch as thinner crackers bake faster and thicker ones take longer.

Makes about three dozen 1-1/2" squares.

Lavash

The simplest cracker I know... This Middle Eastern cracker-bread is basically flour, water, oil and salt. Comes from the Caucasus, Caspian Sea basin and western Asia. You can use this basic unleavened recipe with any type or combination of non-wheat flour -- oat, brown rice, chickpea, fava bean, buckwheat, white rice, etc.  Seasonings you could add include cumin, oregano, rosemary, bay, thyme, paprika, etc.

1 cup Besan flour (also called garbanzo, chickpea, cici bean, or gram flour)

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

3-4 Tbsp Water

1/2 tsp Salt

1-2 tsp Seasonings, if desired

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 400º F.

Combine the flour, salt, and optional seasonings in a bowl. Add the oil and mix until crumbly. Add 3 Tbsp of water and work with your hands until it forms a ball. Add remaining 1 Tbsp water only if needed. Continue to gently knead the dough with your hands right in the bowl, until smooth.

Turn dough out onto a piece of parchment that fits onto a large baking tray. Flatten and shape the dough into a rough square with your hands. Top with a piece of plastic wrap or another piece of parchment paper, and roll the dough into a large rectangle 1/8-inch thin or thinner. Using a sharp knife or pastry cutter, score the dough into shapes if desired.

Carefully move the whole lot -- parchment with the cut dough on top -- to your baking tray.

Bake 10-20 minutes (depending on flour/combination), or until crisp and lightly golden -- watch carefully! Remove from the oven and allow crackers to cool on the pan a few minutes. Move them to a wire rack, gently breaking where you previously scored. Cool completely before packaging. Crackers will keep in an airtight container for 1 to 2 weeks. Makes about a 9"x18" cracker.

Masa Harina Crackers

Not quite tortilla chips, these crackers are thicker and a bit chewy -- great texture and great Latin flavor.  Masa Harina is special corn flour, not the same as cornmeal or grits or anything else. Some megamarts carry it; or visit you local Spanish/Latin tienda or mercado. Look for "masa harina para tamales" which is a finer texture flour than the other grades.

1-1/2 cups Masa Harina flour
1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp ground Cumin
1/2 tsp Cayenne (or more, to taste)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
Water (about 1-1/2 cups)

Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the olive oil and 1 cup of water. Mix well. Add just enough more water (if any) to make a workable dough. It might seem very crumbly, but if you knead it for a minute or two, it will come together.

Using my tortilla press, I kneaded the dough into 'golf balls' and flattened them between parchment paper. The "lavash" technique -- covering with cling film or parchement paper works really well with this dough too. I sprinkled them with coarse salt and fresh cracked black pepper. 

Preheat the oven to 425F. Bake the crackers 15 minutes or until crisp and lightly browned. You can also 'fry' these on a dry griddle or skillet.

Sally was gifted with a fresh avocado from someone's tree, so I made some guacamole for a snack tray.