When I cook curry, more often than not I’ll make a bread to go with it. I suppose it comes from the Balti houses I used to go to when I was in Birmingham. For me a curry is made better by a bread.
I don ‘t have the right sort of oven for cooking naan, and pre-bought just don’t pass muster for me (sorry), so I make this bread instead. It’s not authentic by any stretch, but it’s tasty and fresh and always disappears.
I’ve listed different fillings below, my favourite is almond.
Prep: 10min Proving: 2 lots of 2 hours Cooking: 8min
Ingredients
40g semolina flour
135g strong white flour
1 dstspn sour cream
1 dstspn veg oil
pinch of salt
1/2 pkt (3.5g) dried yeast
1/4 tsp sugar
80ml water
Method
- Mix the yeast sugar and water and set to one side for a few minutes to wake up the yeast (gives you a quicker and more even rise)
- Mix the flour(s), cream, oil and salt in a bowl
- Add the yeast mix and work into a dough. Knead the dough for 4-5min until smooth. Add extra water/flour as needed to get the right consistency. (if you’ve got a bread-maker you can get it to do the mixing and kneading for you, just check the consistency after a few minutes)
- Leave it to rise (cover with a damp cloth) about 2 hours room temperature or 30-45min in a proving oven.
- Halve the dough and flatten each half to the size of a frying-pan (use flour to stock it sticking to the board). Add the filling to one half, put the other half on top and seal. Leave to rise for another 2 hours (or 30min in proving oven)
- fry for 4min each side in a little butter or ghee. Cut like a pizza and serve.
Fillings:
You can use garlic butter, finely sliced garlic, fennel seeds, sultanas, chopped figs or a spoonful of ground almonds – they all work. You just need a thin coating – don’t be too heavy handed.
For garlic it’s better to boil it for a few minutes then cool before cutting. It stops it being raw and crunchy because the bread takes so little time to cook.
I’ve also found it’s better to fill the ‘not naan’ than mix the fillings with the dough – they can really slow the rise – and they make the bread heavier and tougher. It should be light, tiny air bubbles in the dough, slightly golden in places from frying.