Naan which is an oven-baked flatbread is available and popular world wide and is an excellent accompaniment to any curry. Naan is traditionally prepared in a charcoal-fired clay oven or tandoor. But you could even bake them in the regular oven.
This recipe is from the book, "Curry Cuisine -Fragrant dishes from India ,Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia".Ingredients :
- 2 heaping tbsp caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 2/3 cups whole milk
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp salt
- 3 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
Caster (or castor) sugar is superfine refined sugar. Its finer than granulated sugar but not as fine as confectionary sugar. Keep some milk handy, when kneading the dough, I did have to add a little more milk approximately 1/4 cup more than recommended.
Preparation :
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place 2 non stick baking sheets in the oven to heat up.
- Whisk sugar and eggs with milk in a small mixing bowl, until the sugar has dissolved.
- Take the flour in a large mixing bowl and mix in the baking powder and salt.
- Gradually add the milk mixture to the flour, mixing with your hand, and knead lightly,just enough to make a soft dough. (Take care not to knead too much or the dough will beome too stretchy). Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave to rest for 15 for minutes.
- Add the oil and mix lightly to incorporate it into the dough. Divide the dough into 16 small balls. Roll out each ball into a round about 4" in diameter. (To Form into the traditional "teardrop" shape, lay a round over one palm and gently pull one edge down until it stretches a bit).
- Place the breads on the hot trays and bake for 4-5 minutes.
- Serve warm. You could apply some butter before serving just when its hot out of the oven. It tastes divine. This recipe yields 16 Naans.
**You could even bake the Naan directly on the oven rack. If you wish, just layer it with aluminium foil. Thats how I did it.