Friday, January 24, 2014

Naan




Today's recipe is very popular and common one but we never think of making it at home. If we go to Indian restaurants, along with some veg or non-veg dish, we must order this one too. Nowadays you get them in American retail chains like Costco. I am taking  about Naan. I have found several recipes for Naan but never dared to try out at home. Finally I got the courage and went ahead with the experiment. The end result was really satisfying. Didn't imagine that it could be just like restaurant's one.




Naan is a thick flat and soft bread, more like pillow. It is served hot and when brushed with ghee or butter, it tastes too delicious. It can be used to scoop other foods or served stuffed with a filling. Naan has many variations and it may be made in different flavors too. You may use whatever spice or flavors you like and can stuff with your favorite fillings. It may be with your choice of verbs, vegetables or meat. There are number of ways to enjoy this bread. It goes well with different non-veg dishes like Mutton Rogan Josh or Chicken Tikka Masala. At the same time, vegetarians can have it with Matar Paneer or Baigan Bharta. Nowadays western cousins are making fusion dishes based on Naan like Naan Pizza, Naan wrap or Naan burger and they are slowly growing popular. 










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The Black and white photography I have sent it to a Black and White Wednesday event. Deepali Jain of Lemon in Ginger is hosting this week BWW. The original creator Susan, here is the Susan's event page, and  Cinzia, is the current admin of this event. Here is her page 




A typical naan recipe involves mixing white flour with salt, a yeast culture and yogurt to make a smooth yet elastic dough. Then it is kneaded for a few minutes and let it rest for few hours for rising the dough. Once risen, it is divided into balls and then they are flattened and cooked. Traditionally Naan is cooked in the Tandoor (means clay oven with high temperature) but unfortunately I don't own that type of oven. So the other option is the conventional oven. I find the stove-top or skillet method is more easier and more closer to the Authentic Naan in terms of taste. The recipe is quite easy and won't take much of your time, so go ahead if you want to make your own Naan :-)





Recipe of Homemade Naan : Serves 3 to 4 ( for 8 Naans )

Ingredients :

All purpose flour / Plain Flour : 4 cups
Baking Powder : 1 and 1/2 teaspoon
Baking Soda : 1 teaspoon
Sugar : 1 tablespoon
Salt : 1 teaspoon
Hot water / warm water ( but not boiling hot water, use hot tap water )
Active Dry yeast : 1 teaspoon
Warm Milk : 3/4 cup
Yogurt : 1 cup
Butter ( melted ) : for brushing ( you can use white oil too )
Nigella seeds or cumin seeds : 1 tablespoon ( for topping )
Fresh Cilantro or your choice of herbs ( for topping )

Method :

1. In a medium sized bowl or in a deep mug or in a measuring cup, dissolve the yeast in the warm water ( 115 F or about 45 C, use a food thermometer, but if you don't have one just feel it, quite warm to touch, more than body heat, that is 98- 99 F) . Add the sugar, and stir it until they are dissolved. Let it rest for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is foamy and almost double in size.

2. Take a large mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda to it.

3. Once the yeast is foamy, add the warm milk and yogurt to it.

4. Now pour wet mixture to the dry ingredients mixture and mix it with a wooden spatula. Once they are well mixed use your hands and knead to finish mixing together. It should be sticky but form a soft ball.

5. Cover the bowl with a wet towel and let it sit in a warm place for at least 1 hr or until it doubles in volume.

6. Once the dough rises up in double, punch down it lightly and divide it  into equal sized 8 portions. First make round balls, use loose flour if needed. Now take a rolling pin and roll each piece of into an oval shape. It should be 5 to 7 inches long and enough thick. Repeat the method with the rest of the dough. 

7. Take a cast iron skillet or iron tawa warm it up. Brush both the sides of the Naan with melted butter and sprinkle nigella seeds and place it on the hot skillet. Cover it with a lid and bake for 1 minute. Flip and cook on the other side until large toasted black spots appear on the other side. Brush with more butter, sprinkle chopped cilantro. Repeat the same process for the rest. Serve hot. If you have leftover freeze it or keep in a Ziplock bag for next 1 or 2 days at room temperature. 





9 comments:

  1. When home made naan can be so easy and yumm, why buy right?..Love em'. Great pictures.

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  2. I love Naan... These look super delicious... Love the flour click...

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  3. Beautiful clicks Rumela and a lovely post - Indrani Adak

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  4. Gorgeous photography - love the color and light! Naans are my favorite - I am surely going to try your recipe - looks perfect!

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  5. Homemade naan sounds amazing. I am one of those who buy naan from a store (in my case, garlic naan from trader joes...). It's convenient but I do want to eat fresh, homemade naan. Your naan looks fantastic!

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  6. I'd been looking for a good Naan recipe & finally seem to have found one. Will definitely try this out :)

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  7. I love naan bread, and next time I make a curry I will definitely try and make these from scratch!

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  8. I'm making it now and I'll let you know how it turns out.

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  9. Made the doh ...waiting for it to rise cant wait!! lol wil let you know how they turned out was very simple to follow thanks

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