More lockdown food

So ready for a few more recipe ideas? How about some quick flat breads (gluten free of course) and a couple of ideas of what to eat them with? They are great just on their own fresh from the pan but can become a dinner in a number of ways. For the flat breads you need gram flour, garlic, some fresh herbs of choice, salt & pepper and some butter.

Put some gram flour (ground chickpeas) in a bowl, about a cup full will make a couple of medium sized flat breads, and add some crushed garlic to suit your garlic ohmmetre and then a handful of chopped fresh herbs, again to your taste. I often use parsley or coriander but have a play. Season the mix and then slowly add some cold water until it forms a sticky dough. Don’t panic if you put too much water in just add a bit more flour. To cook the flat bread you need a heavy flat bottomed pan preferably. I have a tawa (an Indian version for making chapatis) but any flat pan will do. The dough is sticky so you can’t roll it out. Instead flour your hands and grab a ball to gently begin to flatten in your floury hands. Drop it onto the hot pan and quickly press out from the centre to the edge all the way around to make it bigger and flatter then just leave, no fiddling for three or four minutes! The dough as it cooks will become stiff and then easy to turn over. Flip over when it becomes stiff and it should have some evidence of browning on the bottom. Let it cook for a couple more minutes on the other side until it begins to brown. Remove from the heat and if you are not watching the calories smother with butter while its hot and fold in half to seal in the heat and moisture. A little tip, if you are making quite a few of these at once use a clean tea towel to wrap the warm cooked ones in to keep them soft and warm until they are all done. This flat bread doesn’t keep well as it will just go hard so try to make what you need and eat straight away. The dough will keep in the fridge uncooked so better to keep it that way for a couple of days then cook fresh each time you want to eat some.

Now for some accompaniment suggestions! These flat breads are fab as a snack on their own or with some tasty chutney or pickle or just some natural yogurt mixed with a little tahini and lemon juice. But if you are after something more substantial a warming soup would be good I have a romenesco and almond recipe here. I often eat them with a simple salad of chopped tomato, cucumber, red onion and parsley seasoned and drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil the addition of black olives is also good. As you can see from the picture above I would add a soft poached egg to that combination for some extra loveliness. If you want to make the flat breads themselves a little more substantial you can grate a courgette into the mix to bulk it out and it gives you some more vegetable points in your meal.

Above they are served with a spicy vegetable curry and a soft poached egg. Finally I also like them made with a bit less garlic and parsley then served with fresh asparagus and a poached egg. We are entering asparagus season right now in Europe so this is very suitable for this moment in time. Obviously there are a whole host of other things you could serve with these just use your imagination and enjoy!