Tawa Naan

Naan is that delicious leavened bread associate with the tandoori dishes of Northern India, there, it is baked pressed against the inside wall of a heated tandoor ( brick oven ).

Here’s the recipe of Tawa Naan

Makes : 6

Ingredients

2 cups ( 300 g ) plain flour ( maida )
60 ml - 80 ml warm milk
30 ml warm water
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar ( for yeast )
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon curd / yogurt
1 teaspoon sugar ( for dough )
Butter for applying ( optional )

A piece of advice at the start itself (this is the lesson learnt from my many disasters) – If the yeast is not fermenting as described / also shown in the picture – never go any further. The flour won’t rise. Get a new pack of yeast and start all over again.

Method

Mix 1 teaspoon sugar with 30 ml warm water. Add 1 teaspoon yeast and keep aside for 25 minutes ( cover, keep in warm place , until the yeast is completely dissolved and risen / it will be double in quantity ).

Sift flour and salt into a large bowl; add yeast mixture , sugar and curd. Make a soft and elastic dough with warm milk (add required amount of milk from 60 - 80 ml milk).

Place the dough in an airtight / Tupperware container for about 4 hours or until the dough has doubled in size (or keep it in a deep steel bowl and cover it with a wet towel . The wet towel and dough should not touch each other).

Divide the dough into six equal portions. Roll them into balls and flatten each ball with a rolling pin to give a round chapati like shape. Then stretch on one side to form oval shaped naan ( or you can make round shape ).

Heat an iron tawa ( heavy based frying pan ) until hot. Reduce heat to medium and cook naan on both sides, ( one naan at a time ) until done ( change in the color / light brown / golden spots / nice aroma ). Apply butter and serve hot with Paneer Butter Masala / Mughlai / Tandoori dishes....