Super Bowl food? I think so!
Last week I waxed longingly of my Indian food obsession. Here’s the accompanying naan that will complete your life in every way.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
For the dough: combine 1/ 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast, 3/4 cup warm water (not hot!), and 2 teaspoons honey. Stir to dissolve. Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine 1 3/4 cup flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and a couple grinds of pepper.
Pour foamy yeast mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until incorporated. It will look like this: Add a little flour and knead the dough a few times in the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until about double in size, about 1 1/2 hours. It will look like this:
Transfer to a floured surface and knead until smooth, about 2 minutes, forming into a ball, like so:
Cut the ball in half because you get to make two naans!
Roll out on floured surface, making a circle of some sort. It doesn’t have to be perfect. If it was, I wouldn’t be the one showing you the recipe 🙂
The dough is done and ready to cook! But let’s give it some mouth-watering death-defying flavor…In a saucepan: add 1/2 a tablespoon butter, lots of salt and pepper, chopped onion, and a glob of chopped garlic. Let it cook until fragrant smells rise…mmmmm. Salivary glands are working.
I over-rolled the dough, then awkwardly put it in the pan, smoothed it out and it was all good. It’s hard to mess up. Let dough cook for just a few minutes, checking the underside until it looks like this:
Flip! Cook the other side until they both look like this.
Admire it until your children jump up and down impatiently to just eat it already.
Slide the naan onto a cutting board. You can cut or pull apart.
Take a sniff, pat yourself on the back, and know your work for the day is done.
Indian naan is what my sister-in-law calls a “pusher,” you know that tasty piece of something you push the food around with that really completes a dish? This naan completes this Chicken Tikka Masala perfectly. Now you’ve got a dinner the whole family loves – my children gobbled so fast I had to fight for my share!
I don’t have anything against purchasing naan, especially from an authentic market or restaurant. Trader Joe’s does a nice one, but homemade is a hands-down winner. We don’t have to make everything by hand (thank goodness), but spending time to plant a seed or pick some kale or roll dough reminds me of this quote:
“The fast food culture sees that we forget – the best things take Time and Presence.” -Alice Waters
Recipe is adapted from Iron Chef’s Alex Guarnaschelli’s Flatbread with Charred Broccoli and Roasted Grapes (we just happen to like onions and garlic 🙂
Indian Naan with Roasted Garlic and Onion
May you have a most marvelous weekend! Love, Amy
My daughter’s birthday is this weekend, and she wants us to try your chicken recipe as well as this naan – she loves Indian food. Thanks for the inspiration!
Amy, I have a couple of questions because I am in the market for a new naan recipe. (Mine is only so-so.) Have you ever tried this with whole wheat? Do you finish it off in the oven? My naan recipe calls griddle-baking on one side and then finishing in the oven. It helps the naan separate into layers, but I’m not convinced it needs to be.
We’re trying this tonight with rice and curry.
Hi Cecily!
I’m sure you could use whole wheat. No, I do not finish in the oven – there is no need if you flip it. Now, maybe it would separate better but it was delicious without that step – and any time savers I can get ill take! Let me know if you have any more questions bc this turned out really really well – if I need to describe a step better I’m happy to!