Naan, Naan, Naan

Tim and I love Indian food.. and I especially loved it when I was pregnant. One of my favorite things to eat at Indian restaurants are the Naan. In the bread cook book we have, there is a Naan recipe. We wanted to try it out next. We followed the recipe/techniques in the book and also the one on this website. We made 5 pieces (and probably could have made the dough into more pieces .. next time), and with each piece, we used different combinations of cumin, caraway seeds, garlic, and butter as additional flavors. We learned as we went along...and made the dough thinner to get a crisper naan. We followed 2 different recipes, one called for a flash fry in oil and the other called for brushing water on one side and cooking on the skillet then flipping the naan straight unto the gas flame to finish. We liked the latter technique better and it created burn marks that look more authentic.

We made these later in the evening last night and they became our snack while watching The Help. Great movie, by the way. We didn't really have anything else that would accompany the naan, but it was ok, it was a great snack regardless.

Naan Recipe

Adapted from Rasa Malaysia website

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oil
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup milk (warmed)
Butter for brushing naans
Chopped coriander/ garlic, caraway seeds or cumin for sprinkling



Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt together in a bowl. Make a well in the center and add the yogurt and oil. Add half the milk and mix everything together to form a ball. Then, keep adding the milk if you think it needs it. (We used up the 1/2 cup of milk.) Your dough needs to be soft such that if you poke it with your finger, it leaves an indentation. Knead for 7 minutes until the dough is almost bubbling. (We weren't sure what that meant exactly)  Keep covered in a warm place for 2 hours. (We turned on our toaster oven to warm it up, then placed the dough in a covered bowl in it - the toaster oven was off when we had the dough inside) Although the dough will rise, it will not double and may be slightly sticky to touch.

Heat a heavy bottom skillet. Divide the dough into six balls. (We made 5, but definitely try to make 6 or more) Roll each ball into the shape of a teardrop with the aid of extra flour. At this point, you can sprinkle whatever garnish you like such as cumin or caraway seeds or leave it plain. This was our first time trying caraway seeds. Tip - buy it from a fresh foods market type place where you can get a little scoopful, you don't need that much (unless you plan on using them a lot) Also, caraway seeds have a very strong flavor. Not bad, but definitely strong, so sprinkle a little at first to learn your preference. Brush the other side of the naan with water and place the water side down onto the skillet. Cover with a lid immediately. You will see the top of the naan bubbling. After a minute or so, turn the pan upside down so that the naan is exposed to the direct flames of the fire (the naan will stick to your pan because of the water -for our case, it didn't stick, so we used tongs to move the naan around) until that side is cooked. This usually only takes a few seconds. Our smoke detector definitely turned on while cooking these. (With our baby sleeping upstairs, we were a team of cooking and fanning the smoke detector.) Brush butter on the naan and serve immediately. These naan turned out really good. Next time, we'll actually make it for a meal.