Feral Cooks

Good food shouldn't be tame

Chicken Curry Spring Rolls

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These were an experiment that turned out really good, but not necessarily as expected. This is basically just a batch of red chicken curry cooked down so the sauce is really thick, then added with some cellophane noodles to a traditional rice-paper spring roll wrapper and fried.

The “fried” part is what didn’t turn out as expected. The steam from the cooked noodles actually expanded one of the wrappers like a squeezed balloon and it burst open. The wrappers also soaked up a lot of oil. Regardless, they were really good, but I think they’d be equally good without frying. Next time I would use a traditional spring roll pastry wrap, which is better suited for frying.

Whether you try to fry them or not, because these are filled with chicken curry, they’re really good.

Spring roll burst open during frying.
Here’s an example of pre-made curry paste from our local Asian market.
Here’s the type of spring roll wrapper for frying.

What you’ll need
(makes a full recipe of curry, so you’ll have a lot left over, unless you’re making a ton of spring rolls)

  • 1 14oz. can of coconut milk or coconut cream—don’t shake it before opening
  • 1-2T pre-made curry paste (red, green, yellow or massaman work)
  • 0.75 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat and cut into 0.75-inch pieces
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 onion, coarsely chopped
  • 4-5 oz, fresh mushrooms, chopped (optional)
  • 1-2T fish sauce
  • 2 oz (or 2 bunches) cellophane noodles, cooked and cut up. These are also called vermicelli bean thread, and they are often packaged in small plastic bags with pink webbing over them.
  • Spring roll wrappers— made of rice paper, if you want a disaster when frying, or the pastry wrap version, if you want them intact after cooking

What to do

Make sure your mis en place is set.

Start heating a high-sided frypan or wok over medium-high heat. While it’s heating, carefully open the coconut milk with a can opener and remove the top. When the wok is hot, add a tablespoon of neutral oil and swirl it around the frypan or wok. Scoop out a few tablespoons of the coconut paste at the top of the can and fry it for a few minutes until the oil starts to separate from the coconut paste. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons (2 = spicier) of curry paste and mix it in with the coconut paste cooking in the wok. After a couple of minutes, add the chicken, garlic, onion and mushrooms (if using). Stir-fry a few minutes until everything is coated with the coconut paste and curry. Add the remaining coconut milk from the can and partially fill the can with water, swirling it around and adding it to the wok.

Turn the heat down until the coconut milk just simmers, and let it cook, stirring every 15 minutes until the coconut milk has cooked down and thickened. It can take up to an hour to cook down, depending on the simmer rate.

When the curry is nearly finished, cook the cellophane noodles according to their directions, draining them and roughly cutting them up into smaller pieces. Let them sit until sticky and cool enough to handle.

At this point, the curry should be cooked, and the curry very thick.

Now to make the spring rolls. If you’re using rice paper—whether frying or not—submerge a wrapper sheet in warm water for about 15 or so seconds, until it is pliable. Remove it from the water and lay it flat on a work surface. Working quickly, add some of the noodles in a horizontal line about 1/3 of the way in from the edge nearest you. Then spoon some of the curry over the noodles.  Flip over the right and left edges of the wrap a up to couple of inches, then from the edge nearest you, begin wrapping up the noodles/curry until it is a tight cylinder.

You can eat it, as is, or fry it in 350-degree F oil for a couple of minutes.

If using the spring roll pastry wraps, take a wrap and follow the same procedure as with a rice paper wrap, adding the noodles and curry before tightly rolling it up. I do believe those wraps need to be fried, so follow whatever directions for that on the wrap package.

Date Bars

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Holy crap, are these good! And crazy sweet.

Not much more to say about them. Note that you can just double the recipe for a larger, more standards size 9 X 13-inch pan. These are super-easy to make vegan by using fake vegan butter.

Given the name, if you brought these on a date, you’d definitely be set. Unless he or she is diabetic or a jackass/bitch.

This recipe is based on a recipe from Seasons and Suppers.

What you’ll need:

  • 0.5 cup dried Majool dates, chopped and tightly packed for measuring
  • 0.25 cup white granulated sugar—I used light-brown sugar to good effect
  • 0.5 cup water
  • 0.5t lemon juice
  • 0.75 cup + 2T large-flake, old-fashioned oats
  • 0.75 cup all-purpose flour
  • 0.5 cup light-brown sugar, packed
  • 6T salted (or unsalted) butter, cold, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
  • 0.5t baking soda
  • 1T hot water

What to do:

Heat your oven to 350 degreed F while you’re preparing the bars.

The single recipe is for an 8 X 8-inch pan. Double it for a 9 X 13 pan.

Grease the sides of whichever size pan you’re using and line the bottom and 2 opposing sides with parchment paper. Allow the paper to extend beyond the pan by a couple of inches so you can use as handles to remove the bars.

For the filling, put the dates, sugar and water into a medium saucepan over medium heat and mix well. Cook the date mixture until it comes to a full boil before removing it from the heat. Stir in the lemon juice and let the mixture cool before using. Ensure that it is cooled to at least 80 degrees before using.

For the crust, mix the oats, flour and sugar in a large bowl. Add the cold butter and use your fingers (gloved with nitrile gloves really helps) to blend the mixture until the butter is broken down into pea-size pieces.

In a separate small bowl, mix the baking soda and hot water until the baking soda is completely dissolved. Evenly sprinkle this over the oats mixture and thoroughly stir it in.

Add half of the oats mixture to the bottom of the bar pan and spread it into an even layer. Using your hands or whatever utensil works best for you, firmly press the oats mixture into the pan. Try to keep it as even as possible.

Now, spoon or pour the cooled date mixture over the crust and even it out across the crust. Evenly sprinkle the remaining oats mixture over the date mixture you just laid down.

Bake in preheated oven for about 19 minutes, until just golden brown. The baking time should be the same, regardless of which size pan you used. When done, remove from the oven and set the pan on a wire rack so it can also cool from the bottom.

When everything has cooled down, lift out the bars with the parchment-paper handles and slice them into whatever size you prefer.

These can be stored in an airtight container once they’re 100% cooled, or even in the refrigerator or freezer, if you want them to keep for longer.

Grilled Naan-Style Flatbread

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This is a quick and easy flatbread recipe from Kenji Lopez-Alt. Please note that you need a grill or a grill pan to make this.

There’s not a ton to say about this recipe, other than it does result in very delicious naan-like flatbreads. We actually ate them with this Goan-Style Chicken Galinha Cafreal—a type of curry, and they perfectly complemented it.

As a sidenote, you can pretty much guarantee that every Kenji Lopez-Alt recipe will turn out as expected—so long as you follow his directions. He’s meticulous about food science.

What you’ll need (half-recipe for 6 flatbreads)

  • 300g bread flour
  • 1t instant yeast
  • 6g kosher salt
  • 12g granulated sugar
  • 180g full-fat yogurt or whole milk
  • 3-4T melted unsalted butter

What to do

In a stand-mixer bowl, combine the flour, yeast, salt and sugar with a whisk or the mixer’s whisk attachment. Attach the mixer’s dough hook and add the yogurt and knead at low speed until the dough comes together into a ball. Add a little more yogurt or milk, if needed. Continue kneading for about 5 more minutes, until the dough is elastic. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours. It should almost double in size.

When the dough has risen, turn it out onto a floured surface, and using a bench scraper or knife, divide the dough into 6 equal-sized pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and put them on a floured sheet pan and cover them—leave some room between the pieces. Allow them to rise again for about 2 hours.

To cook, begin to heat a grill pan over high-medium heat for 10 minutes. While the pan is heating, stretch each piece of dough into a naan shape, about 10 inches long. Cooking one at a time, unless you have a huge grill pan, lay the stretched dough onto the pan and let it cook without moving until the top starts to bubble and the bottom is charred—about 1 to 1.5 minutes. Using a pair of tongs or a spatula, flip the bread and cook it for another 1 to 1.5 minutes.

Put the bread on a serving plate and immediately brush with melted butter, then cover it with a towel. You can stack the flatbreads and keep the stack covered while you cook.

You can also cook this on a barbecue grill. Just use high heat and make sure the grates are clean. Keep in mind that the cooking time may be shorter, depending on the heat of your grill.