A few years back, a group of bakers started 'We Knead to Bake' - a monthly bread baking group. At that time, I was busy moving between countries and student life and work so I had to pass on the bread baking challenges. But I've been following the group's beautiful breads and finally, this month on, I've decided to join in as well.
As luck will have it, the first bread I got to make wasn't baked but steamed. The group chose to make tingmos, a Tibetian/North East Indian steamed bread that's used to mop up everything from hot sauces to noodle soups to curries. The dough came together beautifully and even when risen, was one of the nicest doughs I have worked with.
With a coriander, ginger-garlic and spring onion filling, the buns are good enough to eat on their own. But I chose to make a meal out of it, pairing the buns with a sweet and sour vegetable curry full of flavour from the Tibetian kopan masala. The full recipe follows, but once you've read it, you should also head over to Aparna's to see what versions everyone else came up with.
Ingredients
For
Kopan Masala
1
tsp coriander seeds
1
tsp cumin seeds
1
tsp black peppercorns
One
black cardamom
3
cloves
½
inch piece of cinnamon
For
Sweet and Sour Vegetables
1
bunch (5-6) spring onions
200
grams button mushrooms
200
grams babycorn
1
tbsp minced ginger
1
tsp minced garlic
1
tsp red chilli powder
3
tomatoes, peeled and pureed
1/3
cup tomato ketchup
1
tbsp cider vinegar or white vinegar
1
tbsp sesame oil
Salt
to taste
For
Tingmos
¾
cup plain flour
½
tsp baking powder
½
tsp active dry yeast
¼
tsp salt
¼
cup water
1½
tsp ginger garlic paste
1
tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
2
tbsp finely chopped spring onion greens
1
tbsp vegetable oil
To
make kopan masala: Heat a small pan and dry
roast all the ingredients for 4-5 minutes until fragrant. Grind to a coarse
powder.
For
sweet and sour vegetables: Slice the spring
onions thinly keeping the white (onion) and greens separate. Wash the mushrooms
and slice. Also cut the babycorns lengthwise into pieces about as long as the
mushroom slices.
Heat
oil in a pan. Add the ginger and then the minced garlic. After 1-2 minutes, add
the sliced (white part) spring onion. Sprinkle some salt and saute until the
onions start to brown. Then add babycorn and after a couple of minutes,
mushrooms. Stir fry on a medium heat until the vegetables are partly cooked.
Then add the spring onion greens, chilli powder and half the kopan masala. Stir
well, then add the fresh tomato puree, vinegar and the ketchup. Bring to a boil
and let cook until the raw tomato smells goes away, about 5 minutes. Taste, and
add more salt or kopan masala if need be.
For
Tingmos: Heat the water so its warmer than
lukewarm but not boiling. Add the yeast and let rest for 5 minutes. Now add the
flour, baking soda and salt and knead to a smooth dough. Coat with oil and set
aside in a covered bowl for 45 minutes to an hour, until the dough doubles in
size.
Roll
out the risen dough into a square, rolling it as thin as possible. Spread the
ginger-garlic paste all over the dough. Mix coriander with spring onion greens
and sprinkle all over the rolled out dough. Roll up the dough as you would a
swiss roll, and cut into 6-7 slices.
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