Curry Recipes Online
British Indian Restaurant Recipes - Starters & Side Dishes => Starters & Side Dishes => Breads (Naan, Puri, Chapatti, Paratha, etc) => Topic started by: sp on July 31, 2014, 09:41 PM
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First of all, this is my initial naan recipe based on an ingredient list (no measurements were given) and guidance/tips I was given by one of the chefs at the BIR where I work. Some of you may be familiar with my previous musings and experiments but recently the opportunity to volunteer to work in a BIR kitchen, something which is a real passion and a lifelong dream, came through.
For this recipe you really need a gas-fired tandoor or another method to get up to the 300c required.
- 300g of self raising flour, I used tesco value but the BIR uses Elephant Atta self-raising, note that there is no baking powder, soda or yeast added.
- 1 egg
- 175ml milk
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 0.5 tsp sugar
Lightly mix them all together in a stand mixer using a paddle until combined, then switch to a dough hook and knead until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Cover and leave in fridge for 4 hours (or overnight if time permits), divide, roll lightly in sr flour and shape into balls.
Flatten using hands or rolling pin, flatten and shape further by passing from one hand to the other (think how pizzas are made) and put on gaddi. If you are using a gaddi (naan pad) you dont need to oil a side, this is only to stop it sticking to your hands. Lightly dampen the "wall" side with water and cook in 300c tandoor, then finish off by brushing with melted butter.
Any questions please feel free to ask.
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My Puri Tandoor
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Naan Dough Balls
the white stuff at the bottom of the tin is cooking spray to stop it sticking, alternatively the dough balls could be rolled in sr flour; i had the cooking spray to hand so used that, it makes no difference
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The Finished Article...
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Feelin' hot....hot...hot....
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another one...
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Great pics sp, I'd love to have a tandoor but not very practical living in a flat. These look 100% BIR, how did you find the taste were you happy with them? Do you know what they add to make peshwari naan where you volunteered?
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Missed this :'(
Splendid looking naans SP
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Look briliant, sp. As I live in a flat (not the same one as Stephen), I can't have one either.
Hope you have fun :)
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Thanks guys, less arsing about with this method and gives a better taste (although I probably would say that ::)), my main criticism of the h4ppynaans was the overly sweet taste no matter how little sugar I put in
Anyhoo, to answer the question - peshwari - sultanas, chopped cashew nuts, cream and coconut block (or pataks creamed coconut is what i use). If you want the filling pink coloured, add a touch of red food colouring to your coconut. Roll the uncooked naan dough out, then smear your softened creamed coconut (hand heat is enough to melt it) over the dough like you're doing the pasatta layer of a pizza base. Sprinkle your cashew nuts and sultanas over, fold the dough up by the edges into a little pocket, and roll out again... very important to now dimple the rolled-out dough with your fingertips to press out the air, otherwise the dough will burst and the filling will spill out. Cook as normal.
Garlic & Coriander naan - cook the naan, brush a mixture of garlic puree (they use big jars of minced garlic you can see in one of my photos), oil, yellow food colouring and touch of salt over the cooked naan, and sprinkle with finely chopped coriander.
Keema naan - follow the peshwari prep method but use keema mince instead of peshwari mixture (keema is minced beef cooked with green chillies, a touch of red food colouring and garlic & ginger paste)
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Peshwari Naan being made in the restaurant, you can see the method
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1490512014564418 (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1490512014564418)
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ty SP great vid and glad to see you are one of the 45!
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Brilliant stuff SP. Thanks for sharing. Would be great if you could post all directly to the site and upload your vids to youtube. Mine of info ;)
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lol if my facebook privacy settings are set correctly you shouldn't be able to do much data mining...errr...i hope... ;)
i will get the pictures, notes and videos put up in more static format if there is demand, to be honest they were aide memoires for me as my memory can be pretty terrible at times and not intended for broadcast, unfortunately i'm not h4ppystephen and don't have any BIR secrets or keys to share, i lead a boring life ;)
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Don't knock it mate. Any info gained from behind the scenes are pearls of wisdom. Eventually they willl all tie together to provide the whole picture. Post away ;) It's this sort of stuff that mokes THIS site unique and THE authority. The envy of other sites. Long may it continue ;D
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sp:- Out here we are sold a variety of naan from the T/As and Restaurants called Shahi Naan (or Royal Naan) which is actually just cheese naan, but it is good. I noticed in the video that chef applied a spread of creamy cheese into this one before adding the other ingredients and refolding the dough.
My question is what is the type of cheese used here? I've tried to use regular cheddar and tasty but it just doesn't cut the same flavour. I read somewhere to use "Laughing Cow" which I also tried but I'm not convinced that is it either. It certainly isn't Paneer. Any snippets of help there good friend?
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Thanks for the post and the video, sp. All knowledge and no ego. Fantastic! I'm going to try this for my next naan.
Like SL, happy to see another 45-er! :)
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Nice to see some more input from Scotland. ;)
Basic small recipe (2 maybe 3 Naans at a push)
with Kalonji missing, Naan flavour and aroma are missing for me.
So much so, when I open a packet of Kalonji, the aroma is of Naan, if that makes sense.
Anyhoo - Question: When they taught you to make restaurant size dough,
can you remember how many eggs to flour they used. Example: 4 kilo flour - 20 Eggs etc...
Livo - Not cheese, - SP said it was their Peshwari filling for Naan, earlier in the thread.
Sparking Memories - I spent a month in Inverness, back in 93 and couldn
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More great footage please SP ;) keep them coming.
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Great posts sp. My local doesn't use powders either & i've stopped using them a good while ago.
They do use whole spices in the gravy, finished dish,& whole spices boiled in water akhini stock to flavour it. I'm glad to see someone showing more of these methods. Think it may be a Pakistani thing rather than regional.
How do your own curry efforts stack up against the bir?
Regards
ELW
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My question is what is the type of cheese used here?
they just used a big block of mild, coloured cheddar, the big catering sized blocks, grated and sprinkled onto the cooked naan, then used a gas tap-off the tandoor like a flamethrower to melt it... health & safety exec would probably have a fit! ;D
for home use, a little cooks blowtorch would do just as well
hope thats useful
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I noticed in the video that chef applied a spread of creamy cheese into this one before adding the other ingredients and refolding the dough.
in the video i posted above it's not cream cheese that's being spread, its creamed coconut paste (either pre-creamed coconut block, like pataks creamed coconut sachets, or you can make your own with coconut flour and mixed with a little bit of single cream)
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ty SP great vid and glad to see you are one of the 45!
Ok, I seem to be missing something here :( Would someone put me out of my misery :)
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I missed it too.
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Anyhoo - Question: When they taught you to make restaurant size dough,
can you remember how many eggs to flour they used. Example: 4 kilo flour - 20 Eggs etc...
thanks for your kind words CT, in answer to your question the bowl (as shown in the photos) would be filled with flour, maybe 2kg at a guess, from the great big sacks of self raising (elephant atta brand). to this they would add about half a pint of milk, between 3 and 4 eggs depending on size, a tablespoon of granulated sugar and a small handful of salt. it was really done by eye, no weighing, no measuring, i just watched them put the ingredients in and i did the mixing of the dough. sorry my recipes don't have any specific measurements, i just took brief notes of the ingredients used (unless there was something really unusual in the ratio of one ingredient compared to another) and methods
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ty SP great vid and glad to see you are one of the 45!
Ok, I seem to be missing something here :( Would someone put me out of my misery :)
the 45 thing? it's to do with the scottish referendum, i was one of the 45% of voters who voted that scotland should be an independent country
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Sparking Memories - I spent a month in Inverness, back in 93 and couldn
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they just used a big block of mild, coloured cheddar, the big catering sized blocks, grated and sprinkled onto the cooked naan, then used a gas tap-off the tandoor like a flamethrower to melt it... health & safety exec would probably have a fit! ;D
for home use, a little cooks blowtorch would do just as well
hope thats useful
So with this method, which I assume is for a Cheese Naan (or other name), I take it that the cheese is sprinkled then melted on top of the naan with a flame gun. Am I correct?
The Cheese naan we get out here actually has the cheese spread out inside it in a similar way to how the video shows the Peshwari being done. I have only been able to find 1 video (Indian in Parsi) that showed anything like it and I couldn't get the type of cheese from it. I can't remember where I saw the Laughing Cow but again it wasn't in English.
In my earliest attempts I used to make 2 thin naan spread the cheese out and sandwich it before cooking but I have since tried the single method as shown. this works well but I just can't get the right type of cheese. Cheddary in flavour, but quite strong (but not like vintage or tasty cheese strong) and obviously creamy enough to be spread in a similar way the video shows the coconut paste being applied.
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So with this method, which I assume is for a Cheese Naan (or other name), I take it that the cheese is sprinkled then melted on top of the naan with a flame gun. Am I correct?
spot on, exactly. i think i've still got a video of a chappati being cooked, you can see the flamethrower on there
Cheddary in flavour, but quite strong (but not like vintage or tasty cheese strong) and obviously creamy enough to be spread in a similar way the video shows the coconut paste being applied.
I haven't seen or eaten that type of naan before, but from your description I'd be thinking along the lines of dairylea spreadable but with more of a cheesy flavour. Seriously Strong spreadable perhaps, or an own-brand or value-brand spreadable cheese?
How about some of these possibilities, but on reflection they might be on the too-fancy side for a typical BIR?
http://www.cheese.com/by_texture/?t=creamy&t=smooth&t=spreadable (http://www.cheese.com/by_texture/?t=creamy&t=smooth&t=spreadable)
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I'd think any cheap chedder, or even none cheese slices or the Oz equivalent, would do the job.
Cool and genuine reply about the Naan making SP, spot on in fact. ;)
Your description is exactly what I know and would expect.
The guys I know, either mix it directly in the sink or the 20lt pots they use for rice etc
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Sp
Journey end for me sir.
I've messed with naan off and on since the KD1 book. They have been ok but well short of even TA. The h4ppy-chris and I think CBM (turn the tarva over) took me up a league.
The trip to timperly hilal reminded me of what I miss from the midlands - top notch naan.
This recipe of yours is a 10 for me. I am well pleased. The chewytikka photo said it all.
The only thing I can do better is to say - sorry no photo - eaten before even thought of taking pic.
Recipe made 5 off with a 4 hr sitting.
Really really chuffed - many thanks
jerry
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Hi Jerry, I know you don't have a tandoor oven... What cooking technique did you use. Apologies if this horse has overlooked drinking the water on this subject.
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excellent news, glad to be of service :)
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Gonna give this a try. Quite a good surprise to find not just a recipe, but one which seems to be worth a go. Just when I was thinking this place was just for arguments :thumbsup:
Question:
"Cover and leave in fridge for 4 hours (or overnight if time permits), divide, roll lightly in sr flour and shape into balls.
Flatten using hands or rolling pin, flatten and shape further by passing from one hand to the other (think how pizzas are made) and put on gaddi."
Is there a particular time gap to keep in mind between taking the dough out of the fridge and cooking the naan? I mean do you make the balls and leave them to warm up or rise first?
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Rsholme123,
I used the same method h4ppy-chris shows in his video. Ive used this method since.
In short you need tarva. Heat till hot, wet naan with water, press onto tarva (particularly around edge), turn tarva over when you smell burn. Try to brown not burn top surface.
The video really does tell all.
You do need to practises at it though to get it right.
Sverige,
I did not put the dough in the fridge. No need if leaving for the 4 hrs. If going over night then yes fridge and take out 2 hrs before making. Self raising flour does not rise like yeast - only when heated.
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Jerry,
Thanks for the reply... I use the HC tava technique also, combined with the home made Naan pad, consisting of tea towel (has to be chequered for authenticity) stuffed with old cloth. ;)
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Thanks for the recipe, my Nan quest is over, these are perfect and so easy to make
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You're all more than welcome, thanks for the positive feedback :)
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A bit later than I had intended (and better late than never!), but at last I got around to making SP's naans.
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/4fff166a32e50f26d359d6432c54c72a.JPG)
Just plain, buttered breads which wouldn't win any beauty contest compared to some of the naans posted here these days, but they were really nice with a good texture that I've never replicated before.
Using SP's suggested ingredient quantities resulted in 4 naans. I used a 23cm tawa over the biggest flame on the cooker and just transferred the dough to the pan with my hands, rather than a gaddi pad.
I probably have to play around with the temperatures to finesse the cooking time and improve the appearance of the naans, but I'm very happy with the texture and taste of my first attempt at this recipe.
Thanks again to SP for writing this one up and posting it here.
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Hi naga I use this as my standard now and on my tawa also, put the gas high for 1 minute then on low and just cook the nans on it, I brush Garlic and butter paste on it before I flip it over, delicious
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Thanks for the advice, gazman. Much appreciated. :)
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Is there a Video not Facebook related for non Facebook people as I would like to take a look at this?
Thanks.
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The last 2 of 4 SP naan. SR flour and no additional baking powder. Cooked inverted Tawa method. Very nice.