Episode 3: Channa Masala and Naan
Oct 10 Written By High Gluttony
So this weeks mad Gretchenist Experiment may have gone a bit off the rails and produced a less than desirable results, so a Cooks Illustrated and Serious Eats recipe mash-up may not be advised.
Here’s what Gretchen’s recipe included:
Using the Chickpea Liquid instead of water. (Cooks Illustrated)
Only cooking half of the onions with baking soda, so that some of the onions could lend some texture. (Serious Eats)
Adding half the garam masala mid recipe with the other spices, then adding the other half near the end of the cooking (Serious Eats)
Using canned diced tomatoes, vs pureed tomatoes (Cooks Illustrated) or mashed whole tomatoes (Serious Eats)
And to cook our Naan, Becca didn’t have any of the options suggested in the Serious Eats recipe, so we got a bit creative. We used a cast iron pan flipped upside down in the oven and followed the pizza stone baking instructions. Down side is that you have to cook one flatbread at a time. We discuss alternate options in the intro that you can use if you are kitchen equipment challenged.
We talk a bit more about caramelization and introduce the Maillard reaction, which will come up much more in the future. Gretchen promises to do more research on this subject.
We also discuss how to preserve some of your naan if you don’t need it all. And if making naan isn’t for you, we have ideas about that, too.
Enjoy Repisode 3!
Serious Eats Article about Caramelizing Onions
Cooks Illustrated Chana Masala
Onion Chopping Demo on YouTube
Other Information Sourced from:
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore Of The Kitchen, By Harold McGee