The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TASTING INDIA The goodness of naan How to make naan at home, plus recipes for using it.
How to make naan at home, plus recipes for using it.
Warm, freshly baked bread drives me crazy. I associate it with my grandmother’s kitchen, my sister’s holiday loaves and trips to Poilane Bakery in Paris.
Little wonder, then, that loaves from the tandoor oven at our neighborhood Indian restaurant haunt my dreams. We go there and I swear I order one of each of their 15 offerings — from plain naan and roti, to deep-fried whole wheat poori to multi-layered potato and cilantro-stuffed aloo paratha. All arrive hot and fresh tucked into baskets between layers of crisp, white cloth.
Christine Manfield’s gorgeous book “Tasting India” tells us that bread is a staple across all of India. It’s “an everyday necessity as well as a signifier of celebratory and festive occasions.” She says thin, soft chapati is perhaps the most common household bread.
However, simple naan is the breakout star in our collective global food embrace.
Manfield says that naan was introduced to the Indian repertoire by the Persians. These ovenbaked flatbreads prove reminiscent of pita. Naan also is a yeasted dough, but the Indian tradition is to hand-stretch the tender dough into large tear-dropped shapes before they are slapped onto the walls of very hot tandoor ovens to bake. There are many variations to basic naan with flavorings ranging from herbs to garlic.
I follow Manfield’s suggestions and bake my own naan on clay tiles heated in my oven set at 500 degrees. It’s nearly as good as the neighborhood restaurant, so I’m including an adaptation of her recipe here.
Lately, I’ve enjoyed tinkering with store-bought naan found in both the freezer and bread aisles of my local stores. My favorite snack involves simply smearing the naan with some garlicky seasoned oil and baking until crispy. A topping of nuts or seeds, honey and herbs sends the combination over the top.
Crispy baked naan wedges perfectly scoop up the following lentil and peanut dip. Serve everything warm on a cool night with a glass of sparkling rosé.
Convenient, easy naan pizza is a long way from the English muffin pizza of my youth. Rather than tomato sauce, I use a bottled curry sauce, such as Maya Kaimal or Patak’s, for the base. Then a topping of roasted vegetables and crumbled cheese for an exotic but warm and comforting weeknight dinner.
The recipes that follow use naan weighing about 4 ounces each. If using smaller breads, reduce the cooking time a bit. Thick, fresh pita (without pockets) works well in all these recipes; just know that it tends to be a slightly denser bread without the delicious browning found on naan.
News flash: That glass jar of yellow curry powder many of us grew up with is not actually used in authentic Indian cooking. Instead, traditional Indian cooks toast and grind their own blends of spices. Experts say the stuff in the bottles labeled “curry powder” is actually a British blend of spices, usually heavily laced with ground yellow turmeric; it vaguely resembles a spice blend known as garam masala. In this country’s current global food embrace, it’s easy to find garam masala and other traditional Indian spice blends in grocery stores and online. I stock several of these blends — most of which taste good in these recipes. But fear not; if the reliable yellow curry powder is what you have on hand, please use it as long as it smells and tastes fresh.
This recipe is adapted from Christine Manfield’s “Tasting India” (Conran Octopus, 2011). I make 6 flatbreads instead of 4 for ease of handling in and out of the hot oven. Always measure the water temperature with an instant read thermometer so it is not too hot for the yeast. 3 cups flour, plus more for work
surface
1 packet (1/4-ounce) or 2 teaspoons
active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees) 2 tablespoons plain yogurt 1 tablespoon expeller pressed canola
oil
1. Mix flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Stir in warm water, yogurt and oil. Work with floured hands to make a dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, 5 to 6 minutes. Put the dough ball into a floured bowl and cover with a cloth. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in volume, usually about 1 hour.
2. Line your oven with a pizza stone or clay baking tiles. Heat oven and tiles to 500 degrees.
3. Punch down the dough and divide into 6 even pieces. Roll 1 piece into a ball then stretch into a thin elongated oval.
4. Place the oval in the oven on the preheated stone. (You can bake 2 breads at a time if your stone is large enough to allow space between the breads.) Bake until the bread puffs up and turns golden, about 5 minutes. Remove and wrap in a towel. Repeat to bake the other breads. Serve warm. Makes 6 flatbreads.
Nutrition information per naan: 256 calories, 3 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 1 mg cholesterol, 48 g carbohydrates, 0 g sugar, 7 g protein, 393 mg sodium, 2 g fiber.