DIY INDIAN FOOD.
After our recent Valentines Day lunch, I have been craving Indian food constantly. We got some good advice on cookbooks and are planning on purchasing Julie Sahni's - but until then, I set out on my own to experiment in making my first naan and tikka masala. As always, I improvised quite a bit, but everything turned out so delicious. I was able to throw the naan together quite quickly by using baking powder instead of yeast. I plan on making the bread traditionally with the yeast next time, but it's nice knowing it can be made last minute if you are lacking the 3 hours of prep time.We have some aspirations of trying to grow some crazy Indian herbs and spices in our incredibly hot high tunnel. How amazing would it be to have local CUMIN!?Here are some photos from our meal, with the naan recipe following.- Hannah.
easy -no yeast- garlic naan
Ingredients:
- 4 cups of all-purpose flour (plus extra for kneading)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons of butter (melted, for brushing on top)
- 1 cup of plain yogurt
- 1 cup of warm milk or cream
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
Directions:Combine all of your DRY ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) in one bowl and all of your WET ingredients (yogurt, milk, honey, oil) in another bowl. Let these sit out for about 30 minutes of so.Add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring together with a wooden spoon until well combined (a big dough ball has formed). Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, adding flour as it starts to stick to your fingers. The dough should become smooth and somewhat stretchy, like a pizza dough. Work the dough into a ball and let it sit, covered, for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 500°.Tear off walnut-sized balls of dough and use your hands to stretch them into thin ovals, placing them on foil-lined baking trays. Sprinkle minced garlic on the top and press it into the dough with your hands.Bake for 5 minutes on the top rack, and then turn the broiler on HIGH for barely a minute, to get the little puffed places of the naan to crisp. After you remove the tray from the oven, brush with melted butter.I served mine with basmati rice, lentils, and tikka masala with potatoes and chickpeas. (I can also share the masala recipe if anyone wants it!)
//UPDATE//
As requested, here is the tikka masala recipe (that is probably not very accurate - it is incredibly improvised and mostly made up, per usual).
tikka masala with potatoes and chickpeas
Ingredients:
- 3 med/large potatoes
- 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- 1 cup of plain yogurt
- 4 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ginger (minced)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1 jalepeno pepper (minced)
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 2 tsp paprika
- 8 oz of tomato paste (or sauce)
- 1 cup cream
- salt
- fresh cilantro
Dice potatoes and boil until they are just soft enough to stick a fork in (not quite mashed potato soft). Drain and let cool.Mix yogurt, 2 tsp of cumin, ginger, cinnamon, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and 2 tsp of salt in a large bowl. Stir in the potatoes and let this mixture marinate for 1 hour.Melt butter and coconut oil in a large skillet. Saute garlic (and maybe a jalepeno if you like spicy food!) for a few minutes over medium heat. Add in the tomato and cream, seasoning with the remaining 2 tsp of cumin, paprika, and a bit of salt. Let the sauce simmer for about 20 minutes, or until it thickens.Add in the potato mixture and chickpeas, stirring into the sauce and continue cooking on low for 10 minutes.Garnish with cilantro and enjoy! It should basically be a big wonderful mushy mess - served over basmati rice and lentils, and scooped up with huge chunks of your homemade naan!