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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Don't be scared

Cheesecake is one of the number one dishes in Poland and for very good reason - it's delicious.  If you go searching for a Polish Cheesecake recipe, as I have done countless times over the years, you will find it's main ingredient is always listed farmer's cheese or Tvarog (or a variation of that spelling).  You cannot buy this cheese in Australia, and apparently the closest substitute is Quark, and some people have even suggested cottage cheese or a combination of cottage and philly cheese.  Given that I didn't actually know the texture Tvarog, but I did know the texture of this cheesecake (there's a Polish bakery near my family's home in Brisbane!) it's been one of those things that I've never quite gone to the lengths of making.  Enter a local Multicultural Day, that given our Polish heritage, my sister said she'd make Polish Cheesecake for and the challenge was set.

Between us we compared and read through countless recipes.  Some had a pastry base and others didn't.  We wanted the pastry base so ended up combining two separate recipes.  The main thing that was clear to us though was, if this cheesecake was going to happen we had to make our own cheese.

Eventually we settled on the tvarog/farmer's cheese recipe below, as it was the simplest and you didn't have to start the day before.  The time consuming part is slowly warming the milk, because you really have to do it slowly.  Given that the milk will curdle when you add the buttermilk and vinegar, my best suggestion is put your bottle of milk out on the bench a few hours before you're going to start this process, so it's not so cold.  We made the cheese first so we knew the yield, and have then adapted the amount in the cheesecake filling recipe to suit (it was about 2/3 of the original filling recipe).  So depending on how much cheese you make, then scale the filling amounts up or down.  With the cheese, most recipes will say to 'grind' it in your food processor so it is a little smoother.  We pulsed it for about 20 - 30 seconds and it broke it up a little.

In terms of a tin, we made it in a baking tray 20cm x 30cm, and about 4-5cm high, because it was for a shared lunch.  You could make it in a round loose-bottom tin as well.  The cook time was accurate and after an hour we turned the oven off and left it to cool in the oven over night.  The top didn't crack, which we were pleased about.  And the taste... well pretty good.  I would have added some sultanas, as that's how I prefer this cheesecake, but my sister doesn't like sultanas so it was just plain.  We also discussed that a bit of lemon/orange zest or orange peel in the mix would have been a nice touch too.  I've seen other versions with nutmeg sprinkled on the top or strips of dough laid across the top and then glazed with an egg wash, and the original filling recipe had a raspberry glaze.  Don't be scared to make your own cheese, it'll take you about 90 minutes, but is so worth it to get the taste and texture of this cheesecake correct. 

This recipe and cheesecake has been a very long time coming and now that we've made it I think it will become a favourite for many family occasions.  

Sernik (Polish Cheesecake)

Dough:
225g plain flour
125g butter, softened
125g icing sugar
2 egg yolks

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times until it comes together.
2. Roll it into a disc and wrap in glad wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Remove from fridge and place dough between two sheets of baking paper and roll out to desired shape and thickness (less than 0.5cm thick).
4. Pick up dough in the baking paper and place straight into tin (approx 20cm x 30cm, and 5 - 6 cm high). Remove top sheet.  Prick dough with a fork.
5. Bake at 180C for about 20 - 25 minutes until light golden.

Filling:
6 eggs, separated
200g caster sugar
650g Tvarog (farmer's cheese - see recipe below) 
140g butter, softened
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp plain flour

1. Beat egg yolks and sugar until light and creamy.
2. Add cheese and butter and continue mixing until well combined and creamy.
3. Add baking powder and flour and mix until combined.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk/beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.
5. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the cheese mixture.  Continue gently folding in remaining egg whites until combined.  Don't overwork the mixture.
6. Pour the mixture over the base (see above) and smooth out the top.
7. Bake at 180C for about 60 minutes.  The top should be a little golden.
8. Turn off oven.  Allow cheesecake to completely cool in oven with door slightly open.

Variations: add 1/4 - 1/2 cup sultanas; add some orange peel or zest.

Tvarog (Famer's cheese)
3L full cream milk
1L buttermilk
2 tbsp white vinegar

Tvarog, as the whey was draining.

1. Allow the milk to come to room temperature, then pour into a large saucepan and place on stove on very low heat.
2. Slowly warm the milk to a light simmer, do not let it boil.  It's a good idea to stir it often, especially once it starts to get close to a simmer - you don't want it to burn or stick to the bottom, or to boil over.  Warming the milk can take 30 - 60 minutes depending on the ambient temperature.
3. Once the milk is simmering, remove from heat.  Add in buttermilk and stir.  And in vinegar and stir.
4. The mixture will immediately separate into curds and whey.  Give it a bit of a stir then set aside for 10 - 15 minutes for the curds to finish forming up.
5. Line a colander with several layers of cheesecloth and pour in the cheese (catching the curd).  Allow to drain to desired consistency.
6. Keeps in the fridge for 5 or so days. 

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What more could you want?

You know the saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words', well perhaps in this case it's 'a picture is worth a thousand calories'!  Well maybe not quite that many, but quite a few nonetheless.  The recipe below caught my attention through not only it's picture, also by the fact it combines several of my favourite things - cheesecake, chocolate and brownies.  It sat in my inbox for a couple of days whilst I debated what size the 'bite' should be.  The original recipe (found here) calls for the use of a mini-muffin tin and goes on to detail the amount of mixture to put in each, starting with a tablespoon of brownie mix.  It could be a lost in translation issue from using a recipe from the US, but those two details didn't match for me. I changed my mind several times and in the end used normal size muffin tins and pretty much doubled the cooking time.  The end result - an amazing chewy brownie with the extra special mouthful of cheesecake.  What more could you want?

Brownie Cheesecake Bites
Makes approx 24

Brownie mix
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons espresso coffee (or 1 tbsp instant if you must, mixed with 2 - 3 teaspoons boiled water)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups caster sugar
250g unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups plain flour

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat.
2. Combine eggs, cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso and vanilla extract in a large bowl. It will be a very thick paste.
3. Add sugar and melted butter, and whisk gently to combine.
4. Stir in flour and mix till thoroughly combined, using a wooden spoon or spatula.

Cheesecake mix
250g cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons caster sugar
1 large egg yolk

1. Mix all ingredients until well combined.
2. Spoon into a piping bag.  If you don't have a piping bag, just snip the corner off a snaplock or other plastic bag instead.

Assembly

1. Line muffin tin with patty pans (or lightly grease with butter).
2. Spoon a generous tablespoon of brownie mix into each patty pan.
3. Pipe a generous teaspoon of cheesecake mixture on top.
4. Add another teaspoonful of brownie mix on the top.
5. Swirl the two together if you like.  Smooth the top. (They won't rise very much, so it's ok to fill them quite full.)
6. Bake at 180C, for 25 - 30 minutes.  Check halfway through and rotate in the oven if necessary.  
7. Test with a skewer or toothpick when they start to look firm enough.  The skewer should come out mostly clean and maybe with a few crumbs on it (as long as it's not liquid!).  Remember it's a brownie so you want it to be fudgy and not completely dry.
8. Allow to cool on wire racks.  
9. Make yourself a coffee and try not to eat them all at once!

Variations

1. Blitz some mixed berries and add to cheesecake mix.
2. Stir a few chocolate chips through the brownie mix.
3. For an adult version, swap half the espresso for Kahlua or Tia Maria