genfab

I have never been to White Castle. Makiko hasn’t either - she never even heard of the place before tonight. Personally - I’ve always wanted to try one but with the nearest White Castle a good 12,000 kms away there’s a good chance we won’t be visiting one anytime soon.

So - what are our options?

• Forget it. What’s the attraction anyways, it’s just some fast food joint?
• Make a trip to the States just to try one.
• Be entrepreneurs and bring the franchise to Australia.
• Make replicas at home of what we’d imagine White Castle burgers to be like.

Hmmm…

Forgetting it wouldn’t be much fun now, would it? There’s something really intriguing about their burgers…

Taking a trip to the States just for a burger? Sounds a bit extreme doesn’t it. Even more so is trying to set up shop here.

Making our own replicas? Yep - Scott & Makiko are off to White Castle…

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And now for a tribute to Mike and his infamous green things. What exactly is a green thing? Well, let’s make a few and find out. Mike says all I have to do is assemble the specified ingredients, and follow the directions on his site. Here’s the list:

half a cup of butter
150 grams of marshmallows (about one bag)
teaspoon of green food colouring
teaspoon of vanilla
3-4 cups of Cornflakes - depending on how green you like ‘em

And now for the directions. Again - Mike said follow the steps on his site. Me being a stickler for following the rules - that is exactly what I’m going to do. So, let’s begin…

Step 1 - assemble all said ingredients for a group photo:

Check. Damn - those are some fine looking ingredients. Apparently you need to have a mobile phone (preferably recharging) underneath your marshmallows. I suppose this is to do some pre-melting, or - better yet - to grow some marshmallow tumors for added gooeyness. I don’t question these things - Mike’s the master.

We did cheap out and not get real Cornflakes for these though - which I suppose alters the taste dramatically. We had these Vita Weeties from good ol’ Uncle Toby sitting in the cupboard just waiting to be eaten, so I thought I’d use them up in a tasty way.

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Chick pea curry recipe from one of our favourite Indian restaurants in Tokyo - Mandala in Jimbocho. There’s even a Mandala 2 restaurant near Shimbashi, near my old place. This recipe was taken from the Japanese book “Professional Curry for your Weekends”, which has various such recipes taken from curry restaurants around Japan.

Serves: 3-4 people

Ingredients:

Chick Peas - 350g (canned or dried)
Oil (vegetable) - 100 ml
Onions x 2
Tomatoes x 1 1/2
Salt - 3 tsp

Cumin - 4 tsp
Garlic - 1 clove
Turmeric - 3 tsp
Paprika - 1 tsp
Curry Powder - 2 tbsp
Coriander (fresh) - 3 tbsp

Directions:

1. Wash chick peas until the wash water runs clear.
2. Boil the chick peas in a pot of water, cooking them until they’re soft.
3. Put the oil in another pot and heat it on low heat. Add the cumin to the oil, and heat it gently while being careful not to burn it. Cumin is the most important spice in curry making - this step is essential to a good curry.
4. Once the cumin has been cooked a little bit, add the following ingredients one at a time to the pot: garlic (thinly sliced), onions (minced), tomatoes (minced), turmeric, paprika and curry powder. Add salt to taste (3 tsp or so).
5. After cooking the mess for a few minutes, add the softened chick peas. Heat until boiling.
6. Done! Let it sit for a while to let the flavors work themselves throughout. Serve in bowls with the fresh coriander on top.

Makiko’s famous naan bread recipe that she found somewhere on this Interweb dealy…

Makes: ~4 30 cm long naan breads

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 300g
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Dry Yeast - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Water (room temp.) - 100 cc
Plain Yogurt - 3 tbsp
Vegetable Oil - 1 tbsp
Egg (beaten) x 1

Directions:

1. Put everything in a mixing bowl (except the water), but put the yeast and sugar on one side of the bowl, the salt on the other. The salt will prevent the yeast from working - so this is important. Pour the water on the side with the yeast / sugar.
2. Mix well by hand into a dough.
3. Knead the dough, stretching and folding it until smooth - like your earlobes (seriously - the recipe says that)!
4. Let the dough rise in a bowl (covered with saran wrap) until it has doubled in size (maybe 30 mins - 1 hour, depending on the time of year).
5. Punch the dough to get the air bubbles out.
6. Cut the dough into four pieces, and shape them into four round smooth balls.
7. Let the balls rise for another 10-15 mins covered lightly with a cloth to prevent drying.
8. Shape / stretch the dough into the classic naan bread (egg like) shape, with a rolling pin. Ideally the thickness will be between 3-5 mm.
9. Heat a frying pan on high heat with very small amount of cooking oil. Reduce to medium heat and chuck your naan bread shaped dough on it.
10. Let cook for a bit, checking the bottom every so often - once lightly browned, flip and cook the top. Repeat for the 3 remaining balls. Optionally add a bit of butter or ghea to the top of your naan bread.