Curry Recipes Online
British Indian Restaurant Recipes - Starters & Side Dishes => Starters and Side Dishes Chat => Topic started by: chriswg on April 12, 2010, 01:45 PM
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I'ev recently been trying and failing to make decent Naan breads. In the absence of a tava I've been tring the grill or hot oven methods which have been very poor. Looking through the forum the two main recipes seem to be UB's and CA's. Both are over 2 years old. Is that because they are perfect or because no one has been able to improve on them yet?
It seems the tava method is the most popular. Are there any other ways that give equally good results? Would the tava method cook a raw keema mix all the way through? They seem to be rolled out very thin which woudlnt work well for a keema naan.
Now I'm happy with my bhajis I'm going to explore naans for a while, starting with these two recipes and methods. it would be great to hear others input into new methods or recipe changes that improve on either of them.
Thanks
Chris
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Chris
I look forward to your experiments. I have tried yeast and non-yeast nan recipes and never really got anywhere, though in all fairness to us on the forum I have eaten some takeaway nans that are no better.
Good luck!
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Chris,
Following your example I have attempted a proper go at making bread useing Dipurajah's dough recipe (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4355.0). I followed the doh recipe to the letter only halving the quantity. Whilst the doh was resting, I made my Keema recipe (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4468.0) only replacing the gram with 1/2 a can of chickpeas which I smashed to a pulp. As I was cooking shami kebabs as well, I chose not to pre-cook the mince which allowed me to test the theory as to whether the mince would cook in a Keema Naan.
The cooking process I chose to employ was as follows. Pre-heat the grill for 30 mins. Then on a hot stove, heat my heavy based frying pan until smoking hot. Roll out the naan and place in the pan and immediately transfer under the grill at a distance of about 4-5 inches from the element.
Plain Naan
Before attempting the Keema Naan I chose to try a normal Naan bread. The only addition was to sprinkle water to the underside of the naan before adding to the pan. At first attempt, I waited until I could see bubbling in the dough and then placed it under the grill. This then really encouraged the dough to rise and gain that characteristic burning on the top of the blisters.
The result was quite good. I felt the timing to grill should be shortened as the base was a little hard. However, the dough was soft. It could probably use some salt and maybe worth tying yeast in the mix to make it lighter. The bread whilst tasty and looking like a naan, was more like pitta bread in taste and where the doh had gone crisp, was textured similar to pitta as well.
Keema Naan
The second attempt was the Keema Naan. I prepared the dough in a 5 inch circle with most of the dough bunched in the centre and the edges thinned out. I placed the same amount of Keema as dough in the centre and bought the thin edges together and pressed them gently. Lightly floured and gently rolled out being careful to get an even spread. The Naan was cooked as before with the timing reduced to grill.
The result was again good but the Naan did not resemble BIR in that it had not blistered like the plain Naan. One thing I have mastered is the Keema and managing to get it spread evenly in one sheet, along with the flavour which is superb for me. What I did notice is that I could have perhaps rolled it a little thinner. This comes with experience I didn't want Keema splitting out of the dough. I was very pleased that the bread was also still very moist and soft. But I think the Naan needs to be prodded in certain places to try and get the dough to stick and prevent the whole thing puffing up in one big bubble. This may also be attributed to the dough being slightly thicker.
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/b1dee88de9c33241d33e03498e420b90.jpg)
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/7e8d48356e2e97c5ed153bd9ff0dc1e0.jpg)
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Naan bread is a problem! I do not have a tandoor, a pizza stone or hot grill (nor a proper oven for that matter), so I have only a gas hob to work with. Given that, I am quite pleased with the results I get, and never have any bread leftover when I cook for friends or paying customers.
The dough recipe I use is as follows and was found on this site (I think) but I can't find it. If anyone knows where it is then please post a link.
480g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
200ml water
30ml oil
45ml milk
1/4 tsp bicarb
1tsp salt
2tsp sugar
5tsp yoghurt
1tsp dried yeast (optional)
butter / ghee for brushing (optional)
Sieve the flour, salt, bicarb, baking powder, yeast into a large bowl.
Whisk yoghurt, sugar and milk
Make a well in the flour and add the liquids (water and whisked milk), mixing until everything is combined into a smooth dough. Leave for 10 minutes.
Turn the dough onto a suitable flat surface and add the oil. Knead until the oil is
absorbed and the dough is smooth and elastic. Leave for a couple of hours in a
warm place. The resulting dough will be quite a bit wetter than normal bread dough
but with a bit of practice it is not hard to handle.
Divide the dough into balls, and using oiled hands manipulate into flat naan shapes (or shaped to fit the pan!). The dough has to be quite thin using my cooking method
because the steel pan gets really hot and can burn the naan before it cooks through.
Very lightly oil the pan and heat, but reduce the flame before adding the dough. Cook
until blisters start to appear on the top surface, checking that the underside has
coloured nicely, then turn over. Cook for another minute or two. Brush with butter or
ghee if desired, and serve.
The dough can be frozen or stored in the fridge for a couple of days.
Because I rely on a gas hob I use a steel pan which would normally be for paella.
I have a tava waiting to be brought over from England which may work better.
I find that this method does produce tasty, soft and authentic smelling bread. Not
quite a true naan; the blisters get broken when the bread is turned for example, but
pretty good given the limited facilities available to me.
This photo shows a (very small) portion of chicken jalfrezi (CA's recipe), mint raita,
naan and pilau.
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/d646ea6698a6a8cd55975c65bc12ac6d.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#d646ea6698a6a8cd55975c65bc12ac6d.jpg)
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I watched a few video's on the web yesterday and it sounds like you could do to try the inverted method. The naan is placed in a dry pan so it sticks to the pan, cook until blistered and then invert the pan over the flame to toast the blisters.
I am annoyed that I didn't take pics of the plain Naan I did yesterday as that resembled a naan at least. But so far and judging by sight only, CA's naan looks better. I am sure UB's works well, but I can't see how I can create a Keema Naan with a very wet dough.
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Axe has it right, we need to cook naans in dry frying pans over a reasonable heat.
I've done loads here and they are spot on, the keema can be a problem but you need the naan rolled really thin to cook the lamb. In a BIR the keema is showing in a keema naan, that shows you how thin the dough is rolled before it goes into the tandoor.
medium/hot heat, with a lid on and turn it over after checking the base.
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Thanks for the suggestion on using a dry pan, I will try that next time. :)
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I've tried several times with Dipurajah's dough recipe and failed each time. They always come out like pita bread.
I grabbed a recipe from the web a few weeks ago but for the life of me I can't find it again, it was pretty close to the right thing cooked on a Tawa. There was no yoghurt in it and it was 2 cups SR flour and 1 cup plain flour but I can't remember the rest.
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millsoni,
for defo switch to a dry pan and turn the heat down a little - u'rs from the pic is too hot (causing black before the naan is cooked). try to shake any loose flour off before placing into the pan too (tends to go brown and gives poor flavour to the bread).
tarva will be big improvement over paella "frying" pan.
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for everyday i now make SR (self raising) flour naan which i'm sure is what BIR's do.
however when u need to go all out or that extra mile i use the KD1 yeast naan recipe:
150ml milk
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp dry active yeast
450g plain flour
0.5 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp veg oil
150 ml plain yogurt
1 off egg
melted butter to brush on when cooked
i put all the dry in a bowl mix then add all the liquid and mix using spoon. knead the dough (rosemary shrager method), leave till x2 volume. roll into long sausage and cut into individual dough balls. roll out and cook on gas bbq.
makes 6 naans or enough for 4 off people.
u can leave out the egg and baking powder if u want. the yeast must be "easy bake" or that for hand baking.
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thanks Jerry, I will try this one next time round. :)
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For me, naan needs instant dry yeast. Self rising flour is not good enough. I tried the Dipujara recipe and found it well below par.
Also I've found by trial and error of 200+ naans, that the high heat oven method beats the pan fry method hands down. 3 minutes under highest heat will toast the bottom and spot-char the top. Pizza stone works by far the best.
-- Josh
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Here's Heston Blumenthal's approach to Naan, note his opening comments.
Heston Blumenthal/ In Search of Perfection/ Naan bread (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmrgCc7Fswk#)
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Here's Heston's recipe for naan:
Preparation time 30-45 minutes
Cooking time 2 minutes
Ingredients
* 750g/2lb self-raising flour
* 20g/?oz sugar
* 2 tsp salt
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 230g/8oz water
* 230g/8oz whole milk
* 100g/3? free-range eggs
* ghee
Method
1. Sift all the dry ingredients together and place in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a hook attachment.
2. Add the water, milk and eggs, incorporating them on a slow speed.
3. Once all the liquid ingredients are incorporated, mix for three minutes on a low speed followed by one minute at a medium speed.
4. When the dough is well mixed, transfer it to a generously floured work surface and knead by hand for an additional two minutes.
5. Divide the dough into 100g/3?oz portions (12 pieces), roll into balls and place on a floured baking sheet. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least two hours before using.
6. Remove all the racks from the oven and place two square pizza stones in the bottom in a V-shape: each stone should rest against the oven wall on either side and meet in the middle at a 45-degree angle. If your oven has room for only one pizza stone, you can use a small baking sheet or another metallic object to keep it against the oven wall at a 45-degree angle. Preheat the oven, with the top grill set at 100 per cent for 20 minutes.
7. Flour a work surface and place a floured ball of dough on it. Oil your hands and flatten the dough with the tips of your fingers until you have a disc approximately 20cm/8in in diameter. Repeat with the other balls of dough.
8. Place one or two pieces of flattened dough on a floured pizza peel (or the back of a baking sheet) and brush lightly with melted ghee (alternatively make a 'cushion' out of folded tea towels and place the naan on this before transferring to the oven as Heston does in the video).
9. Put the dough on top of the stones as far back in the oven as possible. Note: If you have two stones in the oven, you can bake two naan at a time. If not, you will have to bake one at a time.
10. Bake for 1 minute 40 seconds, then remove and bake the remaining naan in the same way. Serve immediately.
Taken from here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/perfection/recipe_popup_one.shtml (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/perfection/recipe_popup_one.shtml)
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What does he know!
I tried his recipe / method a long time ago. I dont rememeber it being any good.
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What does he know!
I tried his recipe / method a long time ago. I dont rememeber it being any good.
Calm down calm down ;D others may feel differently to you if they try the recipe/method, Chris ;) Horses for courses and all that :P
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This guy has another way to cook naans on the stove top...might be worth a try ;)
Indian Food Naan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qbCigxf_sc#)
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the dough that the other guy uses is very similar to how mine turns out - sticky.
wow - even down to the pat a cake trick
i must try kneading the SR dough - something i'd not thought of.
many thanks Domi.
ps going to look out for one of those bunsen burner sheets - he calls a "shouter"?
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ps going to look out for one of those bunsen burner sheets - he calls a "shouter"?
Lol Jerry, his poor engish accent is hard to get with some words I had to listen a few times too. He says 'Stove Top'.
I don't know if it would be too fine but what about these cheap anti-splatter guards you can buy for frying pans, maybe that would work?
When I first watched this video last week, I wondered if a blow torch could be used while the naan cooks on a frying pan or Tawa. I'm going to give this a go. :)
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I thought you might find this site usefull for naans, also for most indian foods and cookery tips.
For techniques on cooking naan click on the Naan Baking link on the left side of the page.
Recipes on the right.
http://www.indiacurry.com/bread/index.htm (http://www.indiacurry.com/bread/index.htm)
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When I first watched this video last week, I wondered if a blow torch could be used while the naan cooks on a frying pan or Tawa. I'm going to give this a go. :)
Axe,
it's the panning and the heat transfer of the gauze that's crucial i think to the chappies method of trying to replicate a tandoor - i find i have spare gas when using the cast iron pan - if i go up to full wack the dough burns in places before it's cooked (i guess down to hot spots even on a gas hob and thick cast iron pan).
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tried the magic carpet trick with a splash guard "metal gauze" - complete waste of ?1.50.
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Hi Jerry ;)
Was it the splash guard or the method that was wrong, luv? I've used a splatterguard when frying in the past and anytime I cooked at a high temp the overhang would be knackered so I wouldn't have thought it an ideal tool for this style of nan-cooking. I must admit I was intrigued by the upturned pan method but I'd rather not be the one to try it lol :P
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Domi,
the method or principle was wrong
i cooked 2 off naan in my normal cast iron frying pan and 2 off using the splash guard. we could not tell any difference in the tasting or appearance.
as u say the overhand area is a real problem - the heat distribution is not even (in cross section dough on one side and nothing on the other) and u end up burning the edges.
the other downside for me is that i prepare the next naan (roll/pat a cake) whilst cooking the previous naan in the pan - having to hold the mesh prevented this.
for me the dough (proportion of water) and the preparing (getting it even thk) have the bigger impact on the result in the home kitchen.
the result was real disappointing as i hoped for much better. it's not even something i feel u could improve with practise.
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/5dfb44098688d405007e795799611c05.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#5dfb44098688d405007e795799611c05.jpg)
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Thanks Jerry :) That's that method scratched then. ;D
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Domi,
a slight under statement on the magic carpet naan trick for sure.
it may well turn out of use in another way - cooking on my chiminea. the dark circle is down to me putting the net over the chimney. i'm not totally convinced how useful it would be as a cooking method but going to explore a bit if the wheather ever improves.
all the best. ;D
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I think it is likely that the splash guard hasn't helped. In the video, you can see the wire mesh tray being used is much more open than a splash guard. Perhaps the fine mesh on the splash guard actually stops the flame 'licking' the dough.
I haven't been able to try the Blow Torch theory out yet. I made some Naan last week and went to grab the torch, only to realise it had no gad left. ::)
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Axe,
i should have taken a photo - will do next time.
i tried the splash guard low & high and slow rotation and targeted. i found i needed to almost land the guard on the gas hob ie in the flame to have any effect. i could get the gauze to turn red and to burn the naan if i left it in the flame too long. it took far longer to cook than in the pan. it was the burning around the edges that finally put the nail in.
for all the faffing the result was no better. i think u need the mechanism of the oven to improve on what the pan produces.
i can't see the blow torch working any better.
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I'll let you know on the blow torch. The theory behind this is to provide heat to both surfaces whilst cooking. The same thing that happens in a Tandoor and perhaps why Pizza Makers seem to work ok.
I'm not expecting any miracles but its having the heat on both surfaces that will help to create the blistering. Ideally i'd like a thick metal tray to be used in conjunction with my grill, but haven't found anything suitable yet.
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i could get the gauze to turn red and to burn the naan if i left it in the flame too long. it took far longer to cook than in the pan. it was the burning around the edges that finally put the nail in.
Jerry you need to use one of those things they use to cook the chappatis with. Does anyone know the name of these things? I can't even find a picture of one, but you'll see Maliks using one if you're lucky!
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SS,
Can you describe it. The only things I cook chappati's on is my Tava or Tawa if you prefer.
Ray :)
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Ray it's like four or five concentric circles of wire held together with radial spokes and a long handle. Think metal spider's web!
It was mentioned on this forum many years ago but for the life of me I can't think what it was called.
I use a similar thing that came with a cheap wok I bought, there it's used for steaming.
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Oh should have said, of course you start the chappatis off on the tava, the spider thing is what you finish with over a naked flame so that the chappati puffs up and scorches.
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SS,
Your description puts me in mind of the 'fish cage' thinghy's that you use on a BBQ for cooking......well....fish ::)
Does what your describing clasp together?
Ray :)
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Does what your describing clasp together?
No it's just a single flat, umm, spiders web thingy with handle. You put the chappati onto it and hang it over the flame, moving it about, then you flip the chappati and do the same for the other side. It puffs up and gets all nice and singed.
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SS,
I know what you mean, I've seen them at my Asian supermarket. So that's what they're used for then??
Ray :)
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SS,
I know what you mean, I've seen them at my Asian supermarket.
Ah well next time you get down there ask them what it's called would you? I'd love to know!
(They'll probably say, in a broken English accent, ah that's what we call a 'spider web thingy'!) ;D
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I've found something called a Papad Grill, it's used to make Papadums. Has a very coarse wire mesh.
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SS,
or they may call it this:
it's a four or five concentric circles of wire held together with radial spokes and a long handle. Think metal spider's web and it will cost you 20 quid
Ray ;D
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Secret Santa,
i've seen the thing u describe in the Asian shops and had thought it was for draining stuff out of the wok.
to be honest i'm happy on both the naan and chapati front cooking them in the tarva (gas bbq for yeast naan). if i've got time i even make my own on TA night.
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i've seen the thing u describe in the Asian shops and had thought it was for draining stuff out of the wok.
That one is more like a basket Jerry, the one I am talking about is perfectly flat. Its only purpose, as far as I know, is to finish the chappatis off with.