Tag Archives: Indian food

Aloo Garlic Stuffed Naan

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The best naan I’ve made …. to date anyway!

I can’t pretend to be humble when it comes to my cooking, but these naan impressed me more than I usually impress myself! The dough is very pillowy soft and tender, they were so delicious I pulled six out of the oven and they were inhaled.

This is the kind of thing you do when you have a little time on your hands, not necessarily because they are so much work, but it is important to give the dough time to rise and develop that light texture you want in a naan.

NAAN

  • 1 tsp dry active yeast
  • 2 tsp sugar (separated)
  • 3/4 cup lukewarm water (around 100* )
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1/8 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp dry herbs
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 tbsp plain yogurt

In a large glass, dissolve 1 tsp sugar in the warm water and sprinkle in the yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes until it is foamy.

In a large bowl stir together the flour, salt, remaining 1 tsp sugar, baking powder, garlic powder and herbs.

Once yeast is nice and foamy stir in the olive oil and yogurt. Mix well and then stir into flour mixture with a fork. Using your hand, mix and knead in the bowl just until everything is incorporated. As soon as it is together, soft, and slightly sticky, cover it all and let it rest until doubled in size. This could be anywhere from 2-4 hours depending on how warm your kitchen is.

FILLING

  • 1 cup cooked & chopped up potato (could be leftover mashed potatoes too!)
  • Saute 1/2 -1 cup of minced onions in ghee, until nice and soft (amount of onion depends on your love of onions!)
  • Remove from heat and stir in one crushed garlic clove and 1/2 tsp dried coriander.
  • Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  • Set aside until cooled down.

(Ghee is clarified butter and most grocery stores carry it now, but you could easily substitute olive oil or butter)

Once the dough has doubled, gently punch it down and divide into 6, rolling those into balls.

Flatten each ball with your hands until they are 6-7 inches across. Divide the potato stuffing amongst the flattened dough pieces, and then gather the outer edges like you are forming a little pocket or purse.. Once you have completely encased the potato mixture press down gently until flattened and once again about 6-7 inches across.

Brush the tops with beaten egg, sprinkle with a little salt & pepper, chili flakes and sesame seeds.

Bake at 400 until golden brown – about 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and rub with a little melted butter and sprinkle with minced cilantro.

Ready to flatten, you can see the bits of herb and they already smell great.
This dough was the easiest naan dough I have ever worked with – so tender and easy to flatten.
Once you have them all stuffed and flattened back out, sprinkle with beaten egg and toppings. Confession time? Somehow I got on a roll and before I knew it I had brushed the tops with melted ghee, not the egg wash I had planned on. Hmm. Still turned out so do whatever floats your boat.
Using your finger tips, flatten around the outer edge to create a bit of a border. Some of them puffed right up like a pita, and others didn’t, and either way they were delicious!
Ready for the oven
Soft potato and onion filling made these the best ever!
Next time I’m going to leave out the garlic, and try using a different stuffing …. ham and cheese maybe? They’d be great for lunches.

This naan dough originally came from an Indian Cookbook I have – Aarti Sequeira “Aarti Paarti”. I’ve loved watching her on Food Network. She added fennel and nigella seeds, and didn’t stuff them. I had something different in mind so I used this dough, and then watched endless YouTube videos on stuffing naan to come up with my own version. Have fun, play around and let me know if you come up with any other stuffings.

In making naan, I often stand over my cast iron pan, frustrated by trying to get nice char marks and yet still allowing the bread dough to be fully cooked inside without burning the outside. This often leaves me less than satisfied! This totally hands off approach yielded the softest naan and the breads were fully cooked while still having wee bits of crunchy dough around the edges and on the tops of the ones that puffed up like a pita.

Naan Bread

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Soft and supple, yet crunchy bits.  Homemade naan can never be totally authentic without a tandoori oven, but you can come pretty close!  I love the feel of this dough, and always make enough for leftovers, they heat up really well.

onion naan 3

naan 5

Just look at the way they puff up in my cast iron pan!

INGREDIENTS

For Dough

  • 2 tsp active dry yeast
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup water lukewarm
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg large
  • 1/4 cup yogurt plain
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Other

  • 12 tsp olive oil
  • 4 tbsp butter melted
  • 2 tbsp parsley chopped

 

  • Heat the oven to 200 F degrees.
  • In a medium bowl, combine the yeast, sugar and water. Lightly whisk it all together, then let it sit for about 5 to 10 minutes or until the yeast dissolves and starts to foam.
  • To the same bowl, add the oil, yogurt, egg and whisk well. Set aside.
  • To the bowl of your mixer, combine the flour with the salt and garlic powder. Add the yeast mixture and mix for a couple minutes, until the dough comes clean from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, add a bit more flour, starting with a tablespoon at a time. The dough should be nice and soft but not sticky.

naan

Your dough should feel soft and smooth, but not too sticky.

  • Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover it with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Turn OFF your oven, place the bowl inside and allow to rise for about 30 minutes to 1 hour or until doubled in size. I use this trick all the time to speed up the rising time. Mine only took about 40 minutes, so the time depends on your yeast and your environment.
  • After it rises, cut the dough into 12 equal pieces and shape each piece into a small ball.

naan 1

naan 2

These little dough balls are so soft and supple, they roll out beautifully.

naan 4

onion naan 1

This variation included slivered green onions, we loved it.  Don’t worry about the making the dough balls round, as long as it fits in your pan, and you can handle it, it works!

 

  • Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and add about 1 tsp of olive oil. Roll out one ball at a time until it’s about 1/3 inch thick and about 5 inches in diameter. Add the piece of rolled dough to the hot skillet and cook for about 1 minute, the skillet should be very hot, so you’ll see bubbles forming as you cook the dough on the first side. Flip the dough and cook the other side until the bottom is golden.

onion naan 2

naan 3

  • Repeat with remaining dough until all of the pieces are cooked. Keep the naan covered in a towel so that it doesn’t dry out. When all of them are cooked, brush each one with the melted butter and garnish with some parsley.

naan 6

Keep these covered and warm until ready for service.

Have you checked out the website “Jo Cooks” ??  She has some amazing recipes, and this is where I got this one from, I felt the texture was amazing, but I added just a bit more salt and some garlic powder.

Indian Spiced Chicken Korma

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This rich Indian sauce is packed with enough spices and layers of flavour, you will want extra rice or naan bread to mop up every bit of sauce left on your plate.
Korma 8
  • 2 white onions, peeled and cut into quarters
  • 6 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 4 teaspoons curry powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 large tomatoes, diced small
  • 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger root
  • 1/2 cup ground raw almonds
  • 1 cup unsweetened canned coconut milk
  • 1 1/2 cups plain low-fat yogurt
  • 1/2 a small red chili, de-seeded and minced (dried or fresh)
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar (packed)
  • 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces

(or – see below for other options to replace chicken thighs)

Korma 7

Key to making a dish like this is to have all your ingredients ready at hand.  Here I’ve blended all the dry spice together so it is ready to be stirred in at the moment I need it.

Korma 2

Chefs call this “mis en place”, which simply means having everything ready to go, BEFORE you start cooking at all.  It sure does make things smoother!

Instructions

  • Place the onions, garlic, and 1 cup of water in the bowl of a blender. Puree until smooth.
  • Measure out the spices (curry powder through nutmeg) into a small bowl.
  • In a large saucepan heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the pureed onion mixture and cook for a 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until it begins to darken in color.

Korma 6

  • Add the tomatoes, ginger, ground almonds, coconut milk, yogurt, red chili, pre-measured spices, and brown sugar. Stir well.

Turn the heat down to low and simmer 30 minutes. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and add to the pan; simmer for an additional 15 minutes. 

Korma 4

I had roasted a whole chicken the day before and felt like this Korma would be the perfect way to eat it all up the next day.  Use a rotisserie chicken for a quick dinner if you don’t have leftover chicken on hand.  Honestly, when we eat out, we usually order lamb korma, so you could just as easily use any protein of your choice – or go vegetarian and stir a bunch of fresh vegetables in.

Korma 3

Served today with homemade naan and the best crispiest crunchiest vegetable pakora!