Lamb Kofta Recipe for Babies and Toddlers with homemade naan (flatbread)

I'm always wary about posting things which are 'okay' rather than great but I figure there is a good dish in here somewhere, it just needs a little work.  My gut feel is some breadcrumbs in the mix would help because this was a little firm and shrank a bit.  Still, perhaps I should open this up to you lovely people?  Any ideas?  Anyway, I couldn't resist putting them in partly because they looked so sweet before baking.

That said, pumpkin ate some along with some homemade flatbread (naan) and salad (see below).  The hummus was a resounding failure though, so I won't inflict that recipe on you.  It's a tough critic who makes a face, pulls out his tongue and sticks it out so the food falls out.  Can't imagine AA Gill pulling that stunt!

Lamb Koftas - makes 8-10
Ingredients

1/2 an onion, grated
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
oil or spray oil
1 tsp ground coriander
Small handful of fresh coriander leaves and stalks, finely chopped
250g lamb mince
Small pinch of chilli powder (optional)

Method

Saute the grated onion and the garlic until starting to brown, put in a bowl and allow to cool.

Mix with the lamb, corianders and chilli then shape into short sausage shapes and put onto baking paper on a baking tray.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to cook.

Preheat an oven to 200 degrees C (400F) and bake for 25 minutes.

Probably best not frozen (unless you freeze raw and defrost fully before cooking.)  My attempt at freezing and reheated ended up with something pretty dry.


Onto the bread!

The great thing about making your own bread is that you can include what you want to and exclude what you want to.  That said, don't miss out salt entirely, it is necessary to have some, I once missed it out completely and had the nastiest tasting bread ever.

It is a myth that bread is difficult to make or even time consuming.  Realistically there's an initial workload then probably 20 mins in total of additional work, the rest it does without you.  All you need is a nice warm place to prove but even if it's not all that warm and just takes longer, it doesn't really matter. Bread is generally pretty forgiving and although if you do it perfectly, you might get a perfect loaf, unlike if you were baking a cake, you can make the odd mistake and get away with it.

Naan breads (can also be used as flatbreads) - makes 3-4

Ingredients

1 tsp dried 'easy blend' yeast

1 tsp sugar

200g bread flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp yoghurt

2 tbsp milk plus a little extra if needed

1 tbsp melted unsalted butter

Method

Mix the flour, sugar and yeast together.  Add the butter, milk, yoghurt and salt and mix together.  If it seems a bit to dry, add some more milk, you need a sticky dough.

Bring it all together and kneed for 10 minutes then leave to rest.  I put an opened out plastic sandwich bag over it oiled with oil or melted butter.

Leave to prove for at least one hour.  Herein lies some variations.  You can knock it back, reshape and leave again and do this 2-3 times, it's up to you but will help with flavour.  When you're ready to cook, heat the oven to 230oC and put in a baking tray or a baking stone, take a ball, stretch it out ready to cook on some non stick baking paper and leave for 30 mins or so to puff up again slightly.  The traditional shape for a naan bread is teardrop shaped, thinner in the middle and fatter at the edges (don't make it too thin though).  Bear in mind these would be cooked on the side of a tandoor which is a fiercely hot oven so you want the tray hot.

When ready to put in, put the baking sheet with the naan(s) on the hot baking tray and return to the oven; bake for approx 6-10 minutes.  It should still be bendy.  8 minutes was perfect in my oven.  Serve with curries, e.g. chicken curry, prawn curry or keema aloo or with middle eastern dishes like the kofta I made the other day.Now I can't pretend they are the fluffiest, bubbled naan gorgeousness you can pick up for pence from a Birmingham curry house but they were pretty good.  Did you know you can buy 'family naans' in Birmingham?  They're like a duvet!  Mix in some kalonji seeds into the recipe (Nigella or black onion seeds) and we might just be onto a winner.