Naan! (Indian Flatbread)

See the new Vegan Naan version with 4 variations on the new post here.

I have been thinking of making some fresh hot Naans for a while now. So today i finally made some. The yield was 3 Naans. One was gobbled up just like that, all warm and tasty. One of them has a spinach and Garlic filling and the other one has some Garlic flakes added in the dough!

Other fillings I want to try next time.. Paneer(cottage cheese), Keema(minced meat), garlic and mint, Aloo(spicy mashed potatoes) !

Ingredients:

• 2.5-3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 Tablespoons yogurt (plain)
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 teaspoons active yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons ghee(clarified butter) at room temperature for dough
• 2 teaspoons ghee for cooking
• 1/2 teaspoon ajwain(carom seeds) (use onion seeds/kalunji/nigella if you can find them)

Directions:

1. Warm the water and add yeast and sugar to it. Mix well and let sit for 10 minutes or until frothy.
2. In another pan, add flour and add ghee to it.
3. Mix the ghee using hands and try to knead. The dough should start getting some crumbs, Knead for 4-5 minutes.
4. Add in the yogurt, salt, ajwain seeds and mix well,
5. Add in the yeast mixture and knead into a soft dough. Add more water if dough is too firm.
6. Place dough in a warm place in a covered and well oiled container for an hour.
7. Knead dough again for 5 minutes.
8. Let the dough rise again in a warm place for half an hour.
9. Punch the dough down and knead for 2 minutes. Make 3-4 balls of the dough.
10. Using a rolling pin, roll the balls into a thin oval shape. You can experiment with the thickness as everyone like their Naan their own way. I like it thin as well as thick.
11. Brush the top with a little ghee.
12. I used a girdle on my gas stove top to cook the Naan. You can also cook Naan on a Pizza stone in a pre-heated oven at 425 degrees F for 7-8 minutes.
13. Heat the girdle/pan on high heat for 5 minutes, then place the rolled dough on it.
14. Cook the Naan on medium high heat on both sides 2-3 minutes each side. Apply ghee on both sides.
15. Serve hot with any Indian main course dish !.

For spinach filled Naan, I cooked the chopped spinach with some garlic flakes and salt for 5 minutes, cooled it and sprinkled it on the rolled Naan. I folded the Naan over it, half way and sealed it shut using some water. rolled the Naan again a bit and cooked as mentioned above. These hot sizzling Naans are headed to Susans's Yeastspotting !