Na na na na na na na na, naan bread!

It's finally getting cooler here in south east Queensland and that makes me think of one thing - curry!  My letter to cook with this week was 'N' and I could have been boring and cooked nachos, with all the usual accompaniments, but nooooooo!  Instead, I started the day before and cooked up a Northern Indian Curry and home made Naan Bread.  Whilst some of my friends (Elaine!) think 'Northern' Indian Curry is a cop out as an 'N' dish, I can assure you that I don't really care, because it was so delicious and for me, it was more about trying something new and making my own naan.  The naan was easy to make, easy to cook (on the pizza stone or I've heard some people use their wok), and it was most definitely easy to eat.  Of course, being 'N' there had to be nuts to nibble on, as well as Nutella, in the form of a baked cheesecake. 

Northern Indian Curry (adapted from Jamie Oliver)

Vegetable oil
1 large brown onion, roughly chopped
2 - 3cm piece of ginger, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
2 green chillies, seeds removed, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 - 1 teaspoon chilli powder (or half cayenne pepper and half chilli powder - to your liking)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 cloves
2 cardamom pods
750g Lamb neck, cut into 4 - 5 cm chunks
2 x 400g tinned diced tomatoes
1 cinnamon quill
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
coriander, to serve

1. Heat some vegetable oil in a large casserole dish over a medium heat (on the stove). Add onion and ginger and fry for 10 minutes until golden.
2. Add garlic and green chillies, and fry for a further 2 minutes.
3. Stir in turmeric, chilli powder, cumin, coriander, cloves and cardamom. Cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Add lamb and toss to coat in all the spices. Fry until meat is sealed and starting to colour (about 10 minutes).
5. Stir in tomatoes, cinnamon and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer.
6. Cover with lid, reduce heat to low and cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until meat is starting to fall apart. Stir periodically. You can also transfer the covered casserole dish to a 180C preheated oven at this point, and cook for the same length of time.
7. Remove lid and stir. If it's too watery, turn stove heat to medium, remove lid and allow to reduce for 5 - 10 minutes.
8. Sprinkle with garam masala and coriander leaves. Serve with rice pilaf. mint yoghurt and naan.

Notes

1. Buy about 1.25kg of lamb neck from the supermarket or butcher. As when you cut it off the bone there is quite a bit of waste.
2. You can start this curry the day before and stop at the end of Step 5, then cover and refrigerate overnight. The next day, remove casserole dish from refrigerator, stir and allow to sit on the bench for 10 - 15 minutes, before putting it on a cold element on the stove. Turn the element to low and slowly bring the pot up to temperature (so it doesn't crack!). Then let it cook away till the meat is falling off the bone, as above.

Naan Bread (makes 4)
250g pizza/bread flour
7g sachet (2 teaspoons) dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
100g natural or Greek yoghurt
90ml (3/4 cup) luke warm water
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
20g butter, melted
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1. Mix flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add water, oil and yoghurt and mix well.
2. Knead for 4 - 5  minutes, until dough is smooth. It will be a bit stickier than pizza/bread dough.
3. Place dough ball in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for about an hour, until it's doubled in size.
4. Preheat oven and pizza stone to 250C. (Do this now so your pizza stone is piping hot when naan dough goes on.)
5. Divide dough into 4 portions and flatten out (by hand) into desired shape.  Sprinkle both sides with flour.
6. Place dough pieces onto preheated pizza stone and cook 4 - 5 minutes each side, until puffed and light golden. If you don't have a pizza stone you can use a preheated (15 mins) oven tray.
7. Combine melted butter and sesame seeds. Brush this over one side of naan once removed from oven.

Nutella Cheesecake
125g plain chocolate biscuits (I used Arnott's Choc Ripple)
60g unsalted butter, melted
250g philadelphia cream cheese
50g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
1 tablespoon plain flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150mL thickened cream
100g Nutella
50g hazelnuts, roasted, skins removed and lightly crushed

1. Grease base and sides of four small loose-bottomed (individual) tart tins.  Line the base with baking paper.
2. Crush chocolate biscuits to a fine crumb and add to melted butter.  Mix well to combine.
3. Press into the base of the prepared tins. Refrigerate for at 30 minutes or until firm.
4. Preheat oven to 140C.
5. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and flour for 3 - 4 minutes until smooth.  
6. Add eggs, vanilla and cream and beat 1 - 2 minutes until combined.
7. Add Nutella and beat 2 - 3 minutes until combined. 
8. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the chocolate base and smooth the tops.  Place individual tins onto a baking tray and bake for 50 - 60 minutes, until almost set in the middle.
9. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecakes in the oven, with door ajar for 1 - 2 hours or until completely cooled. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set.
10. To serve: top with roasted hazelnuts, flaked chocolate and cream.

To make one large cheesecake, double the ingredients above and use a 23 - 24cm springform or loose-based tart tin.

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