Bread #4: Naan bread

 Naan bread is my bread number 4. It isn't all that difficult to make and once rolled out, it only takes 10 minutes under the grill. The main difference in making naan is that you add a dollop of yoghurt to the dough. 

Naturally, this is perfect with a curry - I made a James Martin Chicken Tikka Masala (he does like his full fat dairy products!), some pilau rice as well as some cucumber & mint raita. No photos of the curry/raita/rice I'm afraid (you probably think I'm making it up now) but they're just some suggestions really. After all. . . this is a baking blog!

Let the dough rise in a warm place for an hour until doubled in size

Cumin seed (unnecessary caption)

Knead in the cumin

Roll out and stretch as much as possible! Then brush with melted butter.

Here's the recipe for the James Martin curry.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chickentikkamasala_73305

 I wasn't so sure if this was a recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala though. It seemed a bit too creamy and I thought Tikka Masala should have tomatoes in it?! I did some thorough research (from reliable sources) and to be fair, it does say that there is 'no standard recipe' - BUT -  'the sauce usually includes tomatoes'. I think James Martin may have replaced the tomatoes with another block of butter or pint of double cream or something. . . :P
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Here's a couple of the other recipes that I thought would go well with the naan bread.

Pilau Rice 

1) Fry some onion and garlic in butter.

2) Add the tumeric or saffron to give it the yellow colour. Saffron is quite expensive though!

3) Coat the dry basmati rice in the butter/onion/garlic.

4) Pour in boiling chicken stock (or a knor/oxo cube and a kettle!) and simmer for 15 minutes.(The ratio of water:rice is roughly 2 cups:1 cup)

5) Once the rice is cooked (and drained), stir in some toasted almonds (put some on a baking tray in the oven - turning occasionally - whilst waiting for the rice to cook) and sultanas if desired!

Cucumber and Mint Raita

1) Cut up a 1/4 - 1/2 of a cucumber (depends how much you want!) 

2) Roughly chop a few sprigs of mint.

3) Add the cucumber and mint to 4-5 dollops of natural yoghurt.

4) Season with salt + pepper, a pinch of sugar and ground cumin. Mmmm...raita time!

Sorry, this probably isn't the most interesting of posts. I think I'm getting bread fatigue. You'll have to be patient though!  I've still got bread number 5 to complete before I post up the Bread Gallery. I'll get on it ASAP! :D