But I've never tried making them at home, I meant the traditional tandoori way! I would rather make way with chapathis and phulkas everytime. We don't have a microwave at home yet, may be that's also a reason for not trying. :) I decided to give it a try, after remembering my mom making naan with a pan - she took all pains to do new stuffs for us without much gadgets those days!! Cakes, Spring rolls, naan, pizza, and much more without a oven... so let's give it a try the same way.
Most of the Naan recipes online are made using yeast, but i did not have them in stock. So tried my own version with baking powder.
Maida (All purpose flour) - 2 cups
Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp (Optional)
Curd - 1/3 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Salt
Sugar - a small pinch
Oil - 1 tbsp
Butter to grease the naan
Toppings: (Optional for adding flavour)
Garlic finely minced - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves finely minced - 2 tbsp
Method:
1. Sieve the maida, baking powder, baking soda(if using), salt and sugar together. If you do not have a sieve, just make sure to mix them evenly.
2. Pour oil and curd into the mixture. Start kneading the dough with water as required to bring it together, but do not add more water. The dough will be sticky initially, but dont try adding more maida. Roughly make a big lump of dough and keep it aside covered with a cloth for 20-30 mins. The dough will increase in size. I added only baking powder, so my dough had risen a bit lesser, but my naans were super soft :)
3. After 30 mins. Knead your dough gently, making even sized balls in the size of a gooseberry. :)
4. Pat your rolling surface with generous amount of maida. Flatten the ball with your rolling pin as much as you can. Then take the rolled dough in your hand, pull on each side slightly to make an oval or pear shape, with even thickness. The more you make it by hand, the more it bubbles and becomes softer.
5. I added a pinch of minced garlic and coriander on top of the rolled out dough and pressed a bit. You can also add them while making the balls, and then roll them out.
6. Heat a pan or small tawa, grease it with some butter. Place this rolled dough on the pan and let it cook for sometime.
7. Brush the naan with some butter. Turn it over and cook the other side of the naan until golden brown spots appear.
Remove and serve topped with butter, with rich gravy like butter paneer or butter chicken. We had it with butter chicken and it tasted so awesome, better than the restaurant served ones :) Butter Chicken recipe queued to be posted next.
# If you wanted the charred naan taste, sprinkle water on the rolled dough and place that side on the pan. But you need to use an aluminium or iron pan (Not the non-stick one). The naan would stick to the pan, turn the pan ulta and show the other side of the naan in the direct flame until it is charred.
# If you wanted to avoid maida, try the same with whole wheat flour.
Let us know if this recipe was useful for you.