I heart liver

I walked in last evening and the house was smelling lovely. Something was cooking and I had just finshed a long day of consulting. I looked hopeful and smiled at Uttam. He shook his head, ensuring I did not get my hopes high and said "for the girls". He frequently bakes this liver bread for the girls and it smells so great that I wish I could eat it. Well, I may not be allowed to eat it. But I sure can share his recipe here. This is a old blog post by him where he put up his recipe. Let me know if your dogs love it as much as mine do. This post is in Uttam's words, not mine :

Here is a recipe that I just tried and has turned out to be a huge hit – especially with Nishi. Which is saying a LOT. It takes less than a half hour.

I bought some chicken liver to add to Nishi and Tigger’s usual meal (which I will get to later). Then I remembered that Sindhoor keeps complaining about the lack of good quality treats that come in “training sizes”. So, after a quick look at various resources online, I decided to make what I can only describe as my version of liver bread for now.

Caveat emptor – I suck at baking as i prefer cooking by feel rather than by measurement and this has  been my one and only attempt at it.  But, I think I will definitely try it again, given how much the mutts love it. So, unlike to other baking recipes, this will have approximations  .

 

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 kg of chicken liver(with its juices if you have it, else some chicken stock)
2. 1 to 1 and 1/2 cup of whole grain flour(i used atta, but ground oatmeal will be better)
3. 3/4 to 1 cup of maida
4. 4 eggs
5. 1/4 to 1/2 cup of oil
6. Herbs – dried or fresh(I used basil, thyme, oregano – I suggest you experiment)

Cooking method:

• Pre-heat oven to 180-190 degrees Celsius
• Put the liver (with liquid), eggs and oil into a blender/food processor and blend till there is an emulsified liquid. This should take 4-5 minutes.
• Mix 1 cup of whole grain and half a cup of maida with the herbs till it forms a uniform mixture.
• In a large bowl, mix the wet and dry ingredients till the mixture has the consistency of a slightly runny cake dough. Use whole grain flour to get to that point.
• Coat a baking tray(ideally an inch deep) generously with fat, pour the mixture into it and bake for 15-20 minutes(the time will depend on the moisture content of your dough and the depth of your tray). You need to watch it raise and cook fully. Let it rest till it completely cools.
• The resulting consistency will be that of a heavy bread. And very easy to cut into 1 cm x 1 cm cubes.