Naan on Tawa-No yeast No egg

Dark and cloudy mornings, temperature below 15C (Europeans,please don't laugh), a deep silence in the air, we peeping through the window every five minutes to check whether it's raining and then it drizzles by evening and we call it rain !  I blog too much about climate.Don't I? Sometimes I think we Middle easterners are crazy; trying to capture clouds almost everyday, updating in social media, going to kitchen for some coffee or mugcakes early morning, spicy chaats in everning-- this climate is going to make me fat. Help!! I can't stop eating!!. Fasting is the best way out or a temporary escape ; but the thought of no coffee mornings keeps me away from fasting. I shall wake up early for that or ready to face +2 kgs this season :(

Naan need no introduction and is one of the most liked Indian bread worldwide. Different varieties depending on the toppings used are available these days . Kalonji(onion seeds), garlic, butter, mint, italian herbs, cheese etc. are a few among them. You can see varieties like Peshawari Naan, Afghani Naan etc. outside India . This is Zebi Zubair's recipe.Naans are usually cooked in Tandoor, but could be baked in oven or even Tawa too. It takes its own time in Tawa as we could cook only one at a time; but believe me gals, it's worth it! There's no compromise in taste. 

Ingredients:

Maida/All purpose flour    4 cups
Baking Powder                 2tsp
Salt                                    1tsp
Sugar                                 1tbsp
Ghee                                  4tbsp
Yogurt                               1 cup
Milk (warm)                       3/4cup
Kalonji/Onion seeds          2 tbsp
Coriander leaves                few
Butter for brushing on top
Dry mint leaves (optional) 2tbsp

Method:

1. Mix curd, milk and sugar together.

2. Sift flour ,baking powder and salt together. Make a well in the centre and pour the milk mixture to it.

3. Incorporate well and make a dough adding ghee in between. You can add more milk or water if needed, but little at a time. Take care as maida requires little water than whole meal flour.

4. Let it rest for 2-4 hours. It will rise, but won't double as no yeast is used here.

5. Punch down the dough and make balls out of it. You can make balls of your required size.

6. Now roll into thick paranthas . Usually Naans are rolled into sort of balloon or oval shape. Stretch from one side after rolling, to give the shape.

7. Immerse your fingers in a bowl of water and imprint on the rolled naan as shown in the picture.

8. Place Naan on a hot tawa, water side down.

9. Sprinkle kalonji,garlic or dry mint (choose your favourite or a mix of all three) and press mildly on top to fix it there.

for the first time, I made a mistake to sprinkle kalonji as soon as I rolled, which was a mistake ,as then it would be impossible to place water side down on the pan.

10. Now either

     -you could wait till bubbles appear on the pan and then, transfer into a wire rack(wired spatula or the like) upside down and cook on fire.

OR 

     - after few seconds transfer to the wire racks and let the bubbles appear there on the direct fire.
I found the second option better as more bubbles appeared that way.

I used my microwave grill. You can use grilled spatulas or anything similar to this which can do the same purpose.

11. Cook neatly and carefully turning both sides . Let not burn too much. Check frequently and keep those sides on fire which is not browned. Grill on medium flame as too much flame might brown naans on top but uncooked inside. Use tong spatulas for that. You can master within 1 or 2 naans ;)

12. Brush with oil or butter on top and sprinkle coriander leaves. Serve hot .

Notes:

You can either mix the toppings like kalonji or dry mint while preparing dough or sprinkle on top.

Linking this to Motions & Emotions originally hosted by Gayathri

Valentine Event

Recipe of the week