This week’s recipe is a collaboration with Buy Whole Foods Online, a Kent-based, family-run, international health food supplier. They provided us with some ingredients to create a healthy meal; organic tapioca flour, organic hemp seeds, cashews, and raw organic honey. Deciding what to make was like being on an episode of Ready, Steady, Cook!
We decided on grilled tofu & vegetable skewers served with a cashew satay sauce and hemp seed, tapioca flour flatbread.
We started by making cashew nut butter; simply cashews, coconut oil and pinch of salt puréed in a food processor for 20 minutes.
We then used this to make a wonderful satay sauce – a very straightforward process that combines the cashew butter with coconut milk, soya sauce, chilli flakes, honey and lime juice.
Next up we made the flatbreads. The gluten-free tapioca flour is derived from the cassava root. It’s almost 100% carbohydrate – with little or no protein, fat, fibre or minerals. For best results, it should be blended with other flour (such as coconut or almond). We studded our flatbread with toasted hemp seeds which – unlike the tapioca flour – are brimful of nutrients including protein, manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, iron and essential fatty acids.
It’s another simple recipe that, due to being yeast-free, needed no lengthy proving time.
It’s a batter rather than a dough and is cooked on a griddle or frying pan.
And, last but not least, the kebabs. Simply marinate sautéed tofu and vegetables of choice in a garlic and ginger paste – and then skewer.
To serve, grill the kebabs and reheat the breads and sauce – done! Garnish with fresh coriander or salad leaves. It’s a healthy, nutritious and delicious meal!
Click here to save our recipe to Pinterest
- 175g/6oz tapioca flour
- 50g/1¾oz coconut flour
- 1tsp salt
- 2tbsp coconut oil
- 255ml/10fl oz lukewarm water
- 1tbsp hemp seeds, toasted
- 250g cashews (not roasted or salted/sweetened)
- 1tbsp coconut oil
- ½tsp salt
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 tin coconut milk
- 1tsp chilli flakes (or to taste)
- 150g/5oz cashew nut butter
- 2tbsps soy sauce (a gluten-free version is available)
- juice of a lime
- generous pinch of salt
- 2tbsps raw organic honey (use date sugar or jaggery if you want a vegan version)
- Preheat your skillet on a medium flame
- Sift the flours and salt together into a large bowl; make a well in the centre
- Add the oil and water to the centre of the flour and gradually whisk together to form a batter
- Mix in the toasted hemp seeds
- When the skillet has heated, ladle a quarter of the batter in and spread the contents into a round or oval
- When the top of the flatbread is beginning to dry, flip and cook the other side until it begins to brown
- Repeat until all the batter is used up
- Put the cashews into a food processor and purée for about 10 minutes. You'll need to stop processing every few minutes and scrape the contents down from the sides to purée completely
- Add the coconut oil and salt and process for another 10 minutes - again scraping the contents down from the sides if necessary
- Over a low heat, fry the finely chopped onion in a little oil until softened but not browned
- Add the coconut milk, soy sauce, cashew nut butter, chilli flakes and salt
- Continue to cook over a low heat, stirring regularly, for approximately ½ hour
- Stir in the lime juice at the end of cooking process
- To toast, sauté the hemp seeds for just a couple of minutes in a hot wok or saucepan. Be careful, they tend to jump out of the pan like popcorn!
- Brush the griddle with a little vegetable oil to prevent the flatbread from sticking.
Cakes & Bakes: Flatbread
I’ve made a few different types of flatbread in the past, but this one is by far the quickest and easiest to date – probably the best tasting too!
Being a flatbread, there’s no added yeast – so no long proofing times; there’s also no heavy kneading.
You can make the dough in advance and then fry off when required. You could even roll out each flatbread, layer between parchment paper, wrap in cling film and freeze for up to 6 months.
It’s so flexible when it comes to serving suggestions, we don’t know where to start. You can have it with a selection of dips or fill with salads, roast vegetables, kebabs etc. They’d be great served alongside Indian, Mediterranean or Middle Eastern cuisine – they’re so versatile
For today’s first outing I tried it with a delicious smoked humous and Justin plumped for a spicy Moroccan chicken affair. We both really fancy it with babaganoush – so it just might be on the menu again tomorrow!
Click here to save this flatbread recipe to Pinterest!
- 300g/10½oz strong bread flour flour (level cups, unsifted, not packed), plus extra for dusting
- ½ tsp salt
- 50g/1¾oz ghee
- 180ml/6 fl oz milk
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil or ghee (for frying)
- Put the butter and ghee into a measuring jug and heat in the microwave until the ghee is just melted. Stir to combine
- In a large mixing bowl, bring together the flour, salt and ghee/milk mixture into a smooth dough. Add a little more flour if sticky
- Lightly sprinkle a work surface with flour, turn out the dough and knead for a minute or two
- Wrap in clingfilm and rest at room temperature for about half an hour
- Sprinkle the work surface again with a little flour, remove the dough from the clingfilm and divide the dough into 4 equal pieces
- Form each piece into a ball and roll out into about ⅛" / ⅓cm thick rounds
- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil/ghee in a heavy-bottomed skillet pan over a medium-high heat
- Carefully lay one of the flattened dough rounds in the pan and fry for about a minute. Flip over and cook the other side, pressing down with a spatula where it puffs up
- Stack the cooked flatbreads on top of each other - the moisture helps soften the surface, making them even more pliable
- Serve straight away or they can be reheated by re-frying on low heat, 30 seconds each side