Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Sanjanas' Soup and Naan Bread Made Easy!


I am a happy camper this evening. Happy because finally after months of cold weather and rain we were able to put our dining tent up on the deck. We love the dining tent and so do our friends. Our house has 1800 square feet of deck. That's a lot of deck and it's a shame not to use it. So use it we do. Our property is also fairly wild with a winter creek and there are lots of bees during the day and mosquitos in the evening who are only too curious about what we're eating. That's why we got the tent.

So we had our first summer lunch outside today and what better way to start the season off than with Sanjanas' wonderful Gujarati-Style Mango Buttermilk Kadhi.
  Sanjana if you don't know her, writes a wonderful food blog called KO Rasoi, and I always find tempting delights and a lot of inspiration there. The minute I saw her wonderful soup recipe, I knew I had to make it.
I've highlighted and linked to her website for the recipe which is simple, quick and easy to make. Sanjana serves the soup hot, I had it hot and it was amazing. I served it chilled and it was fabulous.

To go along with the soup, I served several other dishes. I also baked naan bread. I don't bake naan too often, mainly because I have very poor self control when it comes to naan bread. However, we had company this afternoon and of course sacrifices had to be made in the name of hospitality.
  Naan is pretty easy to make. That's part of the problem. It's too easy. Also, it's too delicious. The naan bread recipe that I've used for 20 years comes from Madhur Jaffrey. There are other recipes out there but for me, hers is the gold standard. It just works.
 The other thing about making naan bread at home that helps, is having a pizza stone . Heat that stone up, slap the naan  down on it in 3 minutes...you're eating naan bread baby!

  Here's how it goes.
  Start off with flour!
  Unbleached all purpose flour.
 In a bowl heat 2/3 of a cup of milk add in:
1 tsp of sugar
2 tsp of dry yeast
Stir it all together  then set it aside in a warm place for about 15 minutes or until it begins to bubble and get a bit frothy.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl mix together:
3 and 3/4 cups of flour
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of baking powder
2 tbs of vegetable oil

2/3 cup of plain yogurt, whipped a bit

1 slightly beaten egg.
  When  the milk, yeast, sugar mixture is foamy, blend it into the rest.

Put your dough onto a work surface and knead it for about 10 minutes.

Put a bit of vegetable oil in the bowl and roll your dough into a ball. Put some plastic wrap over the top of the bowl and stash it in a warm place for at least an hour. The dough will double in size.
 Meanwhile place your oven rack on the top place in the oven and pre-heat it to 500 degrees. If you're using a pizza stone, place it in the oven before you turn it on so it gets nice and hot. If you're using a regular baking sheet, use a heavy one.
When your dough  is HUGE....Punch it down. Break it off into about 6 separate balls.
Scatter some flour on a surface.

Roll each ball into a tear drop shape.
Place your naan breads on the hot pizza stone and carefully slide them into the oven and bake
them for about three minutes or so.
They'll puff up and brown.

Alan was delighted to be eating out on the deck again.



This recipe for naan makes 6 breads. Of course things can be added to your naan, onion, garlic,black onion seed. You're the naan boss. If you can't finish all your naan (fat chance!) the dough also freezes wonderfully for another day.

The rest of the Meatless Monday recipes are coming, but as a teaser can anyone guess what this is??????
  I have to add again that my 1 year Blogiversary is coming up and I'm having a Giveaway!
About my Giveaway
 As I mentioned before, our 1st Blogiversary is approaching and the people at Early Morning Pottery have given me 2 of their wonderful ceramic Chicken Cookers, and 1 set of Game Hen Cookers to give away in celebration. The rules are simple:
 Rule 1
 On Your Blog:  Post about The Colors Of Indian Cooking and this contest on your blog
or
 On Twitter: Tweet about The Colors Of Indian Cooking. (Include @kathygori in your Tweet)
or
 On Facebook: Become a Fan of The Colors Of Indian Cooking Facebook Page here and talk about it on your Facebook status.
or
   Become a follower of The Colors Of Indian Cooking
or
  Follow @kathygori on Twitter
 Rule 2
  Leave a comment on this blog with a link to your activity.
  That's it.
 Winners will be chose at random on June 14th .
 Good luck!

16 comments :

  1. Love it! So glad you tried this, Kathy. Your version looks absoloutely stunning! I bet it tastes completely different chilled- the spices will take on different notes, I'm sure. I must try that!

    ReplyDelete
  2. WHOA! Everything I have read says that Naan is too hard to make at home. That does it...I am going to make this soon. You are the best.

    ReplyDelete
  3. fantastic. starving for good indian mangoes here in uk.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I will have to try making Naan. It looks delicious. Hopefully, it will as easy as it seems to be.

    BTW, I follow you on Twitter. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. The soup looks splendid! I saw at Sanjana's place a few days ago. Great tip on making Naan from scratch. I have always held back on that because of the fear that I am going to mess it. Your step by step guideline is going to make the job easier! Yum!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great instructive photos. You make it look so easy. I might try baking. A non-existing skill of mine...

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've made naan once and it was hard work! You make it look super easy

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is a great blog. I have always wanted to try to make Madhur Jaffrey's naan, and now it will be so much easier, thanks to you! Here's my website link to enter the contest:

    http://www.culinate.com/user/susankellen/blog/contest_on_the_colors_of_indian_cooking_website

    ReplyDelete
  9. Absolutely great job at the Naan Kathy!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I just made pita bread so this looks like the next step- thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Shirley,
    thanks so much. I'm going to be posting about the semolina pudding most likely tomorrow. I was delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  12. YOU make it look easy - and who doesn't love naan?

    ReplyDelete
  13. mmmmm, naan bread...gaaallaaaa (Homer drool). it's so dangerous, i never have any left over either! what could be better than naan bread and soup on the deck. awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well hello, darling, just dropping by to let you know that I'm making your naan this evening. I'm slutting it up by stuffing it with Laughing Cow cheese, but other than that I followed your logic. As it rises, I can't help but admire the consistency of the dough. I think it's gonna be a winner.

    ReplyDelete
  15. There's no one I'd rather go to Slut Town with than you babycakes... Let me know how it turns out

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin