Monday, February 18, 2013

easy garlic herb and sesame naan


When I posted my recipe for easy yoghurt naan, last year, I had no idea it would be so well received and eventually become one of the most popular recipes here on Singapore Shiok. I have had very positive and heartwarming feedback on it. Clearly, Indian food is one of the most loved in the world, and rightly so, for such a varied, sophisticated and flavourful cuisine. Personally, I love naan because apart from being utterly delicious, it suits my unimpressive dough rolling skills perfectly; irregular tear drops preferable, perfect circles optional...





The naan post continues to garner an encouraging number of views daily, much to my surprise and almost every week since its publication , I have gotten requests for a garlic flavoured version. I've so far resisted posting another naan recipe as I felt insufficient time had passed since I posted the first. 




Two weeks ago however, I found out that a reader had tried my recipe, for her Indian food loving husband, with trepidation, as she's not well versed in Indian cooking at all. Much to her surprise, and my delight, the naan turned out "absolutely wonderful" in her own words. They were, apparently, her first Indian food triumph, and one which she has since repeated with equal success.




She wrote me a warm and appreciative email, requesting a garlic and herb version. Under such circumstances, how could I possibly refuse? The recipe below is my basic yeast free naan recipe, jazzed up with home made garlic butter, fresh coriander and toasted sesame seeds, all gently kneaded into the dough itself, not just sprinkled on top.




Its tender,fluffy and flavourful crumb makes it delicious enough to eat on its own, as a light meal or substantial snack, with a mug of thick, frothy teh tarik. Pairing it with your favourite curry, sambar, my green chilli chicken or easy keema will make it an even more delicious and satisfying meal. If I have no curry, I'll happily eat it with Indian style mango pickle, lemon pickle or lime pickle and crushed green chillies. 




You could use commercially prepared garlic butter, which makes this even easier. I prefer to make my own gently cooked version as it infuses the naan with a more subtle and layered garlic flavour and aroma compared to the single note pungency of raw garlic, which is what your average store bought garlic butter contains. 




Feel free to use either, but whatever you do, make at least a full batch of these gorgeous breads; they are even better than my original recipe and one per person will almost certainly not be enough! Halve the recipe and you may find yourself back in the kitchen, sleeves rolled up, wrist-deep in another bowl of flour, stirring up more, at your family's insistent request. 




easy garlic herb and sesame naan

prep 25 mins        cook  35 mins            makes 10


Garlic Butter


3 tbsp soft butter
8 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely minced



300 g (3 cups) plain or all purpose flour
2/3 - 1 tsp fine salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp lightly toasted sesame seeds
1 cup chopped fresh coriander, Indian borage or flat leaf parsley
60 ml (1/3 cup) plain unsweetened yoghurt
140 ml (2/3 cup) water
5 tbsp runny garlic butter (cooled)
A little extra garlic butter or plain melted butter for brushing



Make garlic butter by combining butter and garlic in a small pot and cooking over very gentle heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often, to prevent burning. When fragrant and garlic is limp, turn off heat and leave until cold.

Combine flour, salt, sugar, baking powder,baking soda and chopped herb in a large mixing bowl and mix well with fingers. Add yoghurt and water and mix into flour until well incorporated. Mix in the garlic butter and knead for a minute or two, or just enough to form a ball of soft dough. Do not overknead or breads will be tough.

Snip dough into 10 pieces with scissors and flatten them into discs. Dust both sides of discs generously with flour and stretch each out into small oval or tear drop pieces.

Roll out a piece into a thin ovoid or tear drop shape. If dough resists rolling and keeps stretching back (not likely unless dough was overkneaded) cover and rest for 15 minutes then roll again.

Heat a heavy pan or griddle until very hot. Put naan on griddle and cook about 1 minute or until top of naan puffs and bubbles. Flip over and cook other side for 1 minute. Flip over and cook each side a further 1 minute each, until puffed and lightly scorched here and there.

Remove from pan and brush top lightly with melted butter. Keep warm and repeat for remaining pieces of dough.

Serve warm with curry, tandoori chicken, keema, green chilli chicken or sambar.



21 comments:

  1. Wow Denise! The garlic naan looks so good that it can be eaten on its own... no need curry or tandoori chicken...

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    1. Thanks :) It really was delicious, especially if you're a garlic bread fan. I agree - no need for curry!

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  2. Your flat bread looks great!! I'm sure tomorrow you will posting a curry chicken *mouth watering already* Have a nice Monday, Denise..

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    1. Thanks Fitri. Actually, I'm making something seasonal as it's officially still CNY, but a curry for the naan is a fantastic idea ;)

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  3. Mmmm... garlic naan. That's so yummy! And looks beautiful too :-) I just made paneer and plan to make some Indian curry. I could use this naan too.

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    1. Thanks Elana. Wow! That's impressive! I keep meaning to make paneer as I love it and it's not available around my neighbourhood, but I just get lazy and it stays on the back burner. If you posted it on your blog, I need to check it out. Who knows, mattar paneer may be in my future ;)

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  4. Found you through Pinterest....... lovely blog and oh my! i m drooling over the naans

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    1. Hi Anusha, welcome to my little kitchen! And thank you for the kind words. I hope you will visit often and enjoy the offerings from my oven and stove :)

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  5. I saw your post on foodgawker. Lovely Lovely pics...I always assumed that the naan puffed up because of the yeast. and that happens only if you let them sit for some time? Loved the macros...Could you tell me the lens you used?
    SHobha

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    1. HI Anubhavati :) Thank you for your kind words.

      Yes, traditional naan relies on yeast to aerate and lift the dough and yeasted naan dough does require a rising time where you leave the dough to puff up, before baking it. My recipe uses baking powder and baking soda instead, so you can cook it as soon as the dough is mixed up and rolled or stretched out. The heat of cooking activates the baking powder and puffs up the dough. No waiting needed!

      I use only two lenses - my kit lens (Canon EFS 18 - 135 mm) for general shooting and my macro lens (Canon Macro EF 100 mm) for the close ups. The kit lens is my workhorse, nothing fancy, but it gets the job done well enough and works for most of my set ups. With creative editing though, I can get very decent shots out of it. I LOVE my macro lens - the detail it captures is stunning, and produces beautiful shots even in iffy lighting, which is a huge plus for me, as I only use natural light. I'm not very technical about my photography, so I can't give you much more techie details, but I hope this helps :)

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  6. Replies
    1. Hi Usha, that's either the single most flattering compliment I've ever gotten for my blogging efforts, or the most wickedly delicious play on words ever to appear on Singapore Shiok! I think I'll just say "Thank you" and run real fast ;)

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    2. You're welcome, Denise !

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  7. Hi Denise, I live in Singapore too and I must tell you that your blog is brilliant! I am super inspired by it. Ur naan recipe has been on my radar every since I saw it but I might just try this updated garlic version instead! Keep up the good work!

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  8. Hi Megha :) Thank you for your very kind words. I am happy to know that you are inspired by my simple home cooking blog. I hope you do try either or even both, of the naan recipes and that you will be pleased with the results. I will certainly keep posting my best recipes, thanks in no small part to appreciative readers like yourself and hope that they will be helpful to all who seek ideas to make cooking at home more enjoyable and rewarding. I look forward to your continuing readership and feedback!

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  9. For some reason, I have never tried my hand in making naan. You make it look easy and I should give it a try soon. Love this garlicky version. I can almost taste it. Would be so delicious with some chicken curry.

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  10. This looks like a winner. I have tried making naan, without much success. bookmarking this now, gonna try this one.

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    1. Hi Ami, I am very pleased with the ease and results of this recipe and I hope you will be too :)

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  11. Denise,
    This was the easiest and tastiest Nan I have made. People have made so much fuss over nan that it was intimidating for a while. This one was easy to follow,quick to make gave us supersoft and tasty nan. I have few leftover from dinner yesterday and want to try making desi pizza out of them if possible today
    Thanks Again for this recipe
    Sonia

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    1. Hi SS, thank you for your kind words, and for taking the time to write your feedback on the recipe. I am really pleased that it worked so well for you. This is indeed very easy, compared to traditional naan recipes and I really like the garlic, herb and sesame flavour. I hope your naan pizzas work out beautifully too :)

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  12. I was terrified of making naan but your earlier naan recipe without yeast was just amazing ! After trying that and getting wonderful results, not to forget praises at every mouthful... This recipe is on my must do list !!! Hmmm maybe I'll try this out for tonight !! As it is hubby loves garlic in any form ;) !!! Thanks a lot Denise :)

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