All you need is Naan...

Chicken Tikka Masala, fragrant basmati rice with cardamon and of course Naan.

I decided to call Elliot, my son, for advice on baking naan, an Indian flatbread. Since he spent some time in India, I thought perhaps he would have some insight and was surprised when he told me he had just made it a few nights ago. He steered me to google....remember when we just had encyclopedias? Anyhow, he guided me to this lovely woman, Manjula, who has a series of YouTube videos...I love her!

I followed her recipe! It was fun to make and worked out perfectly.

Watch Manjula making Naan!

Naan is traditionally cooked in a clay oven or “tandoor.” This recipe uses a regular home oven with a pizza stone.
Makes 6 Naan.
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Pinch of baking soda
2 cups of All Purpose flour (Plain flour or maida)
2 tablespoons of oil
2 1/2 tablespoons plain yogourt (curd or dahi)

Also needed:
Butter or ghee ( I found this in a jar in the grocery store) to brush on the Naan after baking

1/4 cup All Purpose flour for rolling

Method:

Dissolve active dry yeast in lukewarm water and let it sit for 10 minutes or until the mixture becomes frothy.

Add sugar, salt and baking soda to the flour and mix well.
Add the oil and yogurt mix, this will become crumbly dough.
Add the water/yeast mixture and make into soft dough.

Knead until the dough is smooth. (you can add a couple of drops of oil to your hands)

Cover the dough and keep in a warm place for 3-4 hours. The dough should almost be double in volume.
Heat the oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone for at least thirty minutes so stone is hot. Using a pizza stone will help to give naan close to same kind of heat as clay tandoor.
Next turn the oven to high broil.

Knead the dough for about two to three minutes then divide the dough into six equal parts.

Take each piece of dough, one at a time, and roll into 8-inch oval shape. Dust lightly with dry flour to help with the rolling.

Before putting the Naan in oven, lightly wet your hands and take the rolled Naan, and flip them between your palms and place onto your baking/pizza stone into the oven.
You can place about 2-3 Naan on the baking/pizza stone at a time.

The Naan will take about 2 to 3 minutes to cook, depending upon your oven. After the Naan is baked(Naan should be golden brown color on top).
Take naan out of the oven and brush lightly with clear butter or ghee.
wait 2 to 3 minutes before baking the next batch of naan. It gives oven the chance to get heated again to max.

I served it with Chicken Tikka Masala and Fragrant Basmati rice. The recipes can be found in Dave's Dinners by Dave Lieberman .

It was deeeelicious!

Until we bake again...

Penny