Homemade Naan with Butter Chicken and Basmati Rice

My Saturday Lunch! 

I may have ruined my beloved Le Creuset. It's only been a month... but I spent over 30 minutes carefully scraping off the charred bits...

I love baking bread. I know I've said it before, but there's just something so wonderful about freshly baked bread.. of any kind. I ventured to the naan world this weekend. I love Indian food and craved it so badly. I didn't feel like trekking down the street and getting a takeout portion because I knew I had so much "potential" to make good indian food at home. I made butter chicken and turmeric basmati rice to eat with my freshly made naan. The butter chicken was made with a paste I bought in bulk from amazon (yea not so homemade,) I added about 3/4 tbsp garam masala, 1 tsp paprika, and 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper to the paste, and followed the instructions. I simmered for 40 minutes until the chicken was super tender. I left it on low for the entire time I had the naan process going. The basmati rice recipe was just a bunch of eyeballing... 1 cup rice, 1 3/4 cup water, 1/3 cup frozen peas, and 1/2 tbsp turmeric, salt and pepper as you wish, mix it up and leave it to the rice cooker!

I thought I needed a special oven for naan, or maybe even a pizza stone..... and well, I improvised, and used my pot.... my beloved Le Creuset (recipe said cast iron... and.. um.. it's technically an "enameled" cast iron!)... now I'm thinking, of course I'd be the one to "almost" ruin my pot after just some light uses.... I mean.. I returned my first KA mixer because it had problems after 3 baking trials... ugh. Cheap things don't have to live up to a hype.. because they don't have one.. I should remind myself to just use cheap things more often. I don't advise on using a Le Creuset for naan... just be careful if you do, don't heat it too high!

Fresh Naan with Butter Chicken 

Anywho, naan from scratch. Amazingly simple, and so delicious. I found a recipe that didn't need yeast. I'm a fan of yeast, but I never thought that naan had that yeasty flavor.... I mixed up everything and let the dough rest for around an hour. I was too impatient... they said let it rest for 2 hours... yea... maybe next time. It was getting late in the day, and that was my first meal. So, I heated up my le creuset, and um.. well that's mistake #1.. never preheat the pan... without anything in it. I wanted to get it nice and hot, and the recipe said... med-hi heat... I went at it at high heat.. whoops. so I shaped the dough and threw it in, covered it and opened it to smell the oh so familiar scent of freshly baked naan... I was in love. I ended up scraping the naan up and flipping it over... onto the direct flame of my other burner... oh nice and crispy... and burnt. (I'm not a fan of eating charred foods... but this... I like.... ) And voila. Naan. Bubbly, tender and soft.. with the perfect crisp in all the right places... and if it wasn't crispy enough... I threw it into the toaster... to warm it up even further.... this meal sent me into a food coma for a few hours... totally worth it though.... I made enough for a lil over 2 meals! .. What wasn't worth it? The pain of carefully scraping the burnt bits from the pan... it was smoking! I used a soaking method with a baking soda paste.. that seemed to do the trick for most of it... by the exterior of the pot isn't too pristine anymore.. I guess it's just going to add character to my pot... that will have to last me many many more years.

Ok, here comes the end of the quarter lock down... wonder if I'll keep up the blogging and cooking... 

Recipe : http://traceysculinaryadventures.blogspot.com/2011/02/homemade-naan.html

I put some garlic on top of the dough before baking it.. and brushed it with melted butter. I should have added a little bit more salt it was lacking a little flavor. Next time I will try to incorporates turmeric and curry powder into the dough... and maybe invest in a cheap cast iron skillet....