With Rizwan confirming that last week’s wonderful Naan at Kabana (Manchester) was made from – strong white flour, Hector was motivated to once again try making Naan Bread at home. The range of flour available remains sporadic, simple – white flour – was the best I could find.
The second attempt at homemade Naan employed a basic recipe of flour, oil and water. This time I would also include Yoghurt, an Egg (one egg is un oeuf), Salt, Sugar, and Yeast. It was about time I got around to using the Yeast, it has been in the cupboard for some twenty five years. Again, I have not seen Yeast in the shops through Lockdown.
Maybe I should not have been surprised yesterday when the mix of Sugar, Water and Yeast did not react. (Add to the shopping list – Yeast.) With plenty of time to hand, I let the dough sit under cling-film in an oiled bowl to rest for some hours. Last night I divided the dough into four balls, two for today, and two for, well we’ll see what transpires.
The Naan would be the accompaniment to the Kofta Anda purchased at Basharat G’z (223-225 Allison Street, Glasgow, G42 8RU) at the start of the month when travelling restrictions were lifted, a bit. Four Meatballs, one Egg, I’ve done that one already.
Normally I would use a pan to reheat, tonight the frying pan came out to play. Here I was able to watch the Shorva sizzle, then thicken. Slow cooking, despite appearances, to try and reheat the Kofta evenly.
I still cannot source a non-nonstick Tawa. A stick? Just how hot does one get it before adding the dough? I had a spare in case the intuition was wrong.
The dough rose initially around the edges, not in the middle, then a big bubble formed, encouraging.
I knew the half cooked Naan had to be flipped, the bubble would then burst.
Once flipped and with some butter pasted over the entity which now resembled Bread, I decided that this was as good as it was going to get.
Kofta Anda + Hector’s Naan
The Naan had the texture of Bread, but was nowhere near as light and fluffy as was the objective. Still, not too shabby, recognisable as a Naan.
The Kofta were lightly Spiced, and as much as they had a decent level of Flavour, I soon came to realise just how much more wonderful – Kofta Palak – can be. The hard boiled Egg felt out of sorts without copious Shorva and a Chapatti. As a snack, this was fine, I was left wanting more.
The Aftermath
It was time to experiment again. I rolled out the other dough-ball and placed it on a baking tray which in turn went into a preheated oven. The golden Bread which resulted looked OK, alas, it went straight into the bin after tasting. So, this is how one bakes biscuits?