naan the better.

last night i decided that i was going to try my hand at making some curry and naan bread again. i really love indian food with all it's spices and robust richness. trouble is...i really can't seem to get it quite right. so frustrating. the last time i made some indian food, i ended up with a less than satisfying concoction that really frustrated me (the naan in particular). the curry itself was alright, the naans just sucked. :/

this time around, it was switched...i got the naans perfect but the curry recipe i tried was okay. definitely a more "inspired" dish than actual indian. and i think i really prefer a vegetable, fish, or chicken curry as opposed to beef. it was okay...again not what i was looking for.

well, to be fair, i didn't really follow directions for the beef curry. i felt it was all meat so i added some more veggies (namely the chunks of onion and green bell peppers) and used a full can of coconut cream. AND i threw it in a slow cooker. *sigh* the naans, however, were delicious! i deviated just a little bit from the recipe by adding some coconut oil to the mix (see a theme here? lol), subbing 1/2 cup with some whole wheat flour, and gave it a thirty minute second rise before rolling out the dough. i think that helped with making it soft and chewy and much easier to work with. also, i think by adding the coconut oil, it was easier to roll between two sheets of wax paper as opposed to adding more flour which could've possibly made it more dense. the naan recipe was killer and i'm definitely going to keep it as my go-to for naan bread!

 

Indian Spiced Beef Curry
(from Ocado)

900g lean beef, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2½ cm fresh root ginger, peeled
4 tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
2 fresh hot red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
150ml double cream
1 handful fresh coriander, finely chopped (optional)

1.) Put the beef, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, garam masala, and oil in a bowl, and mix thoroughly. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the spiced beef, and sauté for about 10 minutes until cooked through. Remove from the pan, and set aside.

2.) In a food processor, whiz the onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and chillies until minced. Add to the same frying pan as used for the beef, and cook for about 5 minutes over a medium heat. Stir in the cream, add 150ml (5fl oz) water, and bring to the boil. Return the meat to the pan, reduce the heat slightly, and simmer for 15–20 minutes.

3.) Stir through the chopped coriander (if using), and serve immediately.

 

Yeasted Naan
(from Journey Kitchen)
Makes 6

2 cups bread flour or strong white flour or all purpose flour* (subbed 1/2 cup with whole wheat)
1 tsp sugar (used pure cane sugar)
1 tsp salt (used kosher)
1 tsp active yeast
2 tbsp ghee (didn't have any, used regular butter)
5 tbsp yogurt (used plain greek yogurt)
1/2 cup lukewarm water
3 tbsp or so extra virgin coconut oil plus more for greasing

Author's Note
* I use bread flour whenever I have it around because it creates much better naan but when I don't all purpose flour works just fine. Sometimes I also use 1 cup chapati flour instead of all white flour for nuttier flavor.

Mix the water, yeast and sugar and leave for 10 minutes for the yeast to come alive. It’s necessary that you don't get confused between a yeast that mixes and rises to the top and an yeast which actually proofs with bubbles of air forming.

Add salt to the flour and keep aside. Once the yeast has proofed, add it to the flour along with yogurt and ghee (also added the 3 tbsp coconut oil here). Knead the dough well for about 10 minutes. The dough may feel sticky at first, apply some ghee (used coconut oil) on your hand and keep kneading till it’s soft and supple. Keep it in a greased bowl covered with wet towel to rise (preheated oven to 200 then turned it off when it was at temp--let rise covered with loose saran wrap). It may take any where between 2-3 hours to rise (mine doubled at the hour mark).

Once it rises, knead it for another 5 minutes and divide it into equal size balls (here i let them rest for another 30 minutes in the warmed oven before going further). If you want to make garlic or cumin flavored naan, add it while kneading the dough at this point. Roll each piece into a flat ball. Dust the work surface with flour and start rolling the balls with a rolling pin. After the intial rolling it become much easier to handle it with hands. Try to give it a tear drop shape by stretching it from one end. Don't stretch too much as it may tear. (skipped the fouring part--i rolled the dough into 1/8 inch thin rough ovals between two sheets of wax paper)

Heat the pressure cooker or skillet on high heat for 3 minutes. Put this rolled naan on the skillet and cover with a lid. If using a pressure cooker, remove the whistle and tighten the lid. In less than a minute bubbles with pop up. Reduce the gas to medium high, flip the naan on the other side and cook for few seconds till the bubbles char. Alternatively, with tongs take the naan and put the other side on an open flame to cook and char the bubbles. Naan cooks very quickly at this point so don't let it be on flame for more than 30 seconds. (used the skillet method and slightly deviated--didn't cover, let cook until bubbles formed then flipped and charred the other side until i thought it was done, about two minutes or so at most? they cooked real fast!)

Brush immediately with butter and sprinkle with chopped coriander leaves. (i buttered them and sprinkled a little bit of garlic powder on them...worked just fine and they turned out perfectly awesome with just a hint of garlic. :D)