Caponata

This dish is 99% of the reason why I bought the Polpo cookbook:

So oily, such a hassle frying eggplants, but so soooo good

I cooked it on the stove instead of oven per recipe instructions and think it turned out fine. The vegetable pieces retained less shape due to more frequent stirring, but this isn't a particularly pretty dish anyways. I also went on a limb and substituted suancai (which I initially misread as zhacai, which is slightly more reasonable of a substitute imo) for capers, can't say that I taste a difference. Also didn't buy enough tomatoes so I substituted a potion with passata and tomato paste, to no detriment either. Although my version is tangier than what I remember, perhaps because my tomatoes aren't ripe enough. It's actually just so good *u* definitely making it for my fam when I'm back.

One thing I lazied out on doing is removing the ribs of the celery. Don't be me, its a major textural flaw in the final dish. When everything else, and especially the eggplant, is silky...the tough fibres of the celery ribs is a glaring contrast.
...

Made some naan to go alongside this. This is my second time using Matter of the Belly's recipe.

The first time, I found the naan to be too tender, which I rightly suspected was due to the lack of kneading in the recipe. This time around I repeatedly smooshed the dough in a circular motion against the mixing bowl after it comes together with a spatula (my lazy way of kneading without touching sticky doughs) for about 3 minutes, and also did 1 round of stretch and fold (also with a spatula to avoid getting my hands sticky) during the proofing. This did develop the gluten more, but next time I would knead it even more and do another round of stretch and fold (going to try #1 at 30 min, and #2 at 60 min during the 2 hour proof instead of just 1 at 60 min).

I also streamlined the rolling process by rolling it between sheets of parchment paper, again minimal mess :D Also getting the hang of how thick to roll the dough, which is just trial and error and needs to be recalibrated to each stove / pan combination "orz. The last modification is to add a tablespoon of water after putting the dough in, and after flipping the dough and steaming it the whole time instead of just wetting both surfaces of the dough. This resulted in much more puff.