Naan

The last time I made curry, I promised that the next time I will eat home made curry, I’ll do it with home-made naan. I kept my promise. I used this recipe and seriously, excellent naan breads came out of it. Only one thing - I did not have grill, so I prepared them on a frying pan…the next time I would maybe try to bake them in the oven and see what comes out of it.

Anyhow, if you follow the recipe, you’ll get very tasty naan breads and believe me, there will be no leftovers. So you better make more to be sure everyone has enough. If you are having a dinner party, where you are planning to offer Indian food and naan, keep in mind that you’ll need time to prepare them (the dough needs to rise).

7 g active dry yeast

235 ml warm water

50 g white sugar

1 tsp baking soda

45 ml milk

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp salt

500-600 g flour

1 smaller garlic glove (optional)

55 g butter, melted

 

# In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water (I also added a bit of sugar). Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy and stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, crushed garlic and enough flour (mixed with baking soda) to make a soft dough (about 400-500 g).

# Knead on a lightly floured surface, until smooth (about 6-8 minutes). Cover and set aside to rise for about 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.

# Punch down dough and pinch off small handfuls (about the size of a golf ball). Roll them into balls, and place on a tray.

# Cover with a towel, and allow to rise about 30 minutes.

# Roll the balls into thin breads and choose where you’ll prepare them - in the oven, on frying pan or on grill.

# When using grill or frying pan, you should brush the side you’ll be cooking with butter and cook it for 2-3 minutes until puffy and lightly browned. Then brush the other side with butter butter and turn over. Cook until browned. Continue the process until all breads have been prepared.  

# If you’ll use oven, brush both sides with butter and bake at 180 degrees C until browned.

Serve warm with Indian food, like spicy or mild pineapple curry. Those were very good naan breads, do try them, if you are a fan of Indian food!

Chicken and pineapple curry

I wanted to try what comes out, if you put together coconut milk, pineapple, celery, bell pepper and potato and season them with curry powder and ground cumin. It turned out to be a kind of a mild curry (not as spicy as this one) and I loved it. You are of course welcome to spice it up with some Cayenne pepper and extra curry powder.

1 smaller onion

100 g pineapple chunks

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 carrot, julienned

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 crushed garlic glove

200 ml coconut milk

125 ml heavy cream

1 tsp ground cumin

3 tbsp curry powder (e.g. 1 tbsp hot and 2 tbsp mild curry powder)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

2 bay leaves

200 g chopped chicken fillet

salt and pepper

olive oil

 

# First of all chop all the vegetables and chicken, set aside.

# Mix seasonings and pour into a hot saucepan. Toast for a few minutes and add oil, onion, garlic and bay leaves. Stir and turn the heat lower.

# Add celery, carrot, bell pepper and potatoes and continue to simmer for 3-4 minutes.

# Pour the mix over with coconut milk and cream and stir thoroughly, to distribute spices evenly.

# Fry chopped chicken in a frying pan until not pink and add to curry sauce. Continue to simmer for about 20 minutes (stir once in a while).

# When vegetables are soft, add pineapple into the sauce, simmer for another few minutes and remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper, if needed.

# Serve with rice and naan bread.

Since I have come up with this ecipe myself, I can’t say it is authentic Indian food, but it has a pleasant taste and you can adjust the taste if you add more/less spices. If you don’t like sweet curries, I suggest omitting pineapple chunks.