Garlic naan bread

Being brought up in Asia, I love spicy food, Thai, Indian, Malaysia, Szechuan and Mexican. I am a fire-eater, spicy food has totally got my heart.

I eat and cook Indian food quite regularly and one of the most popular Indian side dishes is Naan which you can easily make yourself at home. It only requires a few essential baking ingredients and it is a flatbread; which means it doesn’t have a long rising time. It is probably one of the easiest bread recipes in my opinion.

First, you will need to activate the yeast…

Add yeast to lukewarm water with sugar, salt and olive oil; Let it sit for 10-15 minutes until a layer of foam has developed on top of the water.

If you struggle to activate your Yeast, you may need to check:

1. That the yeast hasn’t expired – Yeast has such a short life, if your yeast has been in your cupboard for too long, it may be expired and will no longer activate.
2. What container you are using – You shouldn’t use a metal container to proof your yeast, use glass.
3. The temperature of the water – If the temperature is too low the yeast won’t activate. Ideally you want the water to be over 15˚C, the hotter the temperature is the faster the yeast will activate.

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the minced garlic. Slowly pour in the yeast blend and mix well. Add a bit more flour if the dough feels too moist but make sure you only add a little bit at a time because you don’t want to make it too dry either.

Knead well for 8-10 minutes, until you can form the dough into a smooth ball.

Place the dough in a bowl, covering it with cling film and a kitchen towel. Keep it in a warm place and let it rise for 1-2 hours (a friend of mine puts her dough in the airing cupboard to rise).

The dough is ready when it expands to about double its size. Sprinkle some flour onto a flat work surface, take the dough and knead it for about 1-2 minutes.

Divide it into 4 equal-sized parts.

Roll each part into a 2-4mm thick oval shape, sprinkle some sesame seeds on top and roll the seeds lightly into the dough.

Mix the garlic and olive oil from the topping list in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat up a large, non-stick pan over high heat, place a piece of naan dough in the middle of the pan. Let it heat for 1-2 minutes until you see bubbles appearing all over the naan’s surface and a nice brown colour developing on the bottom.

Brush the garlic oil onto the surface and flip over. Brush the other side as well, and heat for an other 1-2 minutes… until both sides of your naan are a lovely golden brown colour.

Remove the naan from the pan and repeat the same process until all your naans’ are done.

Decorate with chopped coriander leaves.

I love my naan garlicky and nutty, I top it with garlic and sesame seeds, but you can replace these with your favourite toppings, or it tastes delicious just on its own. This naan is fluffy, soft and airy with beautiful golden brown blisters on the surface, just like the ones you get from Indian restaurants. It tastes fantastic alongside any of your favourite Indian curry dishes.

This recipe was created for Veahero, a cool new (free!) meal planning platform for vegans and vegetarians.

If you have followed and made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment and take a picture, tagging it with #k33_kitchen and share it on Instagram! I’d be very excited to see what you come up with. Cheers, hope you enjoy my recipes!