Definitely not gooey inside, nor does the little extra flour at the flattening stage cake the outside.

As Jerry mentioned, you really need to try them to appreciate.

J

Let me clarify my experience with the stickiness. The dough itself in the bowl is very sticky, yes. But following UB's note to oil the hands and "heavily" flour the surface before flattening the dough, the naans before going on the tawa/skillet are not sticky at all. Rather they are mostly dry and very pliable.

My local BIR has a glass window that patrons can see into the tandoor area where the naan and tikka are made. When I see them preparing naan, they are very clearly as soft and pliable as UB's. The "throw between the hands technique" seems well-suited to a softer dough. In fact these are the only naans I've been able to really utilize that technique with. Most others are too hard in texture that I've resorted to rolling or pulling into shape.

From that perspective, I'd say these are quite BIR.

SnS - yes kalonji=nigella=wild onion seeds.

J

I tried these tonight - minus the yeast. I also added a tsp of kalonji seeds.

The results were my excellent - better than a lot of naans I've had from BIRs out of tandoors. 

They were also the ugliest naans I've made to date. I need to get used to the stickiness, but as someone else pointed out that's key.

Question - you mention oiling the surface of the naan before flipping them. Am I right to assume that the skillet (I'm using a large heavy cast iron one) should be lightly oiled as well?

J

I have to second that. This is the best CTM recipe I've tried to date.

J

UB - it seems your naan recipe is getting good reviews. I didn't try it because it mentions yeast, which whenever I've used in naan in the past has given it an unpleasant undertone taste.

I've been using the Pacman naan recipe (no yeast) and while these are good, they are not as fluffy as your typical BIR.

Why do you mention the yeast as optional? What different results with it "in" vs. "out"?

Thanks!

J

I took a look at the Rajver madras recipe, and its almost exactly the same as the Bruce Edwards one. The only difference is that the Rajver's fries a pinch of garlic first, while Bruce's fries some green pepper. Everything else looks the same (other than methi in a bit later).

Are you suggesting the Rajver recipe or their base?

I'm actually thinking that the green pepper might be the thing I was missing.

Also, when I cooked it, at the point I dumped in the spices, I gave it a stir for about 30 seconds, and then instead of immediately adding the Saffron base, I had a bit of trouble opening the freezer bag. I was afraid I might have burnt the spices (heat was on maximum) while I was fumbling around. To my surprise I hadn't, and the result was 100%.

I even made the same curry again last night, same method (including the little extra time for the spices) and the result was exactly the same. Aroma, taste and all.

-- J

Thanks for the pointers. A quick search shows a few retailers selling the Pataks kind. Probably simpler to do that than to mess around with potentially the wrong thing.

Will give this tikka a try.

Thanks SS. I was about to write this one off! I'll give it a try.

I'll look for another brand of kashmiri masala. Just so I can narrow down the search in my local indian grocery store, is it a jarred paste? a boxed spice mix? something else?

Cheers.

UB - thanks for the pointer.

1.5kg of yogourt looks like a lot. Terry - how much chicken is this intended for?

How many milliliters is a "large pot"?

They don't sell the Patak's Kashmiri masala around here - what is it? any suggested substitutes?

Cheers

J