Garlic Naan: ready in the time you could chant"Ommmmm."
So you've decided to make Indian food. Good choice. But you don't have any Garlic Naan, and Indian meals are traditionally balanced on the plate, or something like that.
You know Waitrose sells ready-made naan, but the nearest Waitrose is 20 minutes away, and if it's anywhere near the time school lets out all the moms will be clogging the A road with their Minis, but fighting traffic would require mumbling some calming mantra or other in order to get back to the state of peace required to make Indian food and there's just no time for that.
What do you do?
Make it yourself, of course! It only takes a few minutes to whiz the ingredients together in the food processor, then the dough can rise while you assemble the rest of the meal, leaving you with plenty of time to chant your calming mantra.
How easy is it? Read on.
Garlic Naan
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/3 cup potato flakes
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons cold pressed vegetable oil*
Combine first five ingredients in a food processor and blend briefly. Gradually add water while the machine is running. Process in short bursts till a thick ball is formed. Remove and knead for 5 minutes. Add flour if necessary to prevent sticking. Let rise in a warm dark place for 20 minutes while you get on with the rest of the meal.
Divide dough into 6 equal balls. Roll each into an oblong shape, about 8 inches long. Heat non-stick skillet over high heat. (Do not add oil.) Heat dough until bubbles form and the bottom is golden brown. Turn, and heat the other side. (This will mean the bubbles that have formed will brown first. You can pop them if you wish, or don't worry about it.)
Mix oil and garlic and brush over hot naan. Alternatively, you can brush the garlic and oil mixture over the naan and heat it briefly on the skillet, until the garlic is cooked.
Serve hot.
Note on ingredients: Use cold-pressed organic canola oil, or if you wish, olive oil. This will give them a slight Italian flavor, which is known as fusion cooking. It's trendy now, so you might try it.
