Butter Naan- Tandoori oven effect made easy

Tandoor naan is my all time favourite.We used to crave for naans in  India,But I have not tried there.After coming to US,started trying this out at home.Previously used to prepare on the tava.It will be soft ,but I was not able to get that smoky naans with brown spots.I was searching thru net to get a tandoor effect for naans.Then came to know the procedure of  making tandoor naans at home thru a you tube video.Cooking naan on a flame is impossible,here as we have electric heaters.So I used the technique of using pans - covering the stove.It gave the naans brown spots and smoky flavour.This method is bit time consuming,but the outcome is so perfect .

Ingredients:
1.All purpose flour                            -          2 1/2 cups
2.yeast                                               -          2 tsp
3.Salt                                                 -          1/2 tsp
4.Sugar                                              -           1/2 tsp
5.Curd                                               -           1 tbsp
6.Luke Warm water                           -           1 cup or as required
7.Oil                                                  -            3 tbp
8.Wheat flour                                     -            2 tbsp (for dusting)

Method:
Preparing  the Dough:
* Take the luke warm water ,add sugar and yeast.Mix and keep it aside for 10 mins.
* After 10 mins,the mix would have become frothy.
* Take a mixing bowl,add flour,salt and curd.
* Crumble it well and now add the yeast water .
* Knead  it into a firm ,yet soft dough.
* Add oil to the dough and cover with a wet towel.
* Keep the dough in a warm place for 2 hrs or untill it doubles in size.
*  Divide the dough into equal sized balls.

Rolling the naan:
After dividing the dough,let it rest for half an hour.This will make the balls again double in size.But I used a technique to reduce the time.I started rolling each ball and cooking it simultaneously.Instead of rolling all the balls and cooking it in a batch.This helps  other balls to raise in the mean time.
The picture shows theraised balls.

* Sprinkle  wheat flour and roll the balls into a medium thicknessed rotis.Using wheat flour for dusting ,helps  naan to spread a bit.
* Pull it into a oval shaped naan.

Cooking the naan in tandoor effect:
* Take a heavy bottomed pan.Apply water to one side of the naan and press it into the pan as shown in the  picture four.
* Now, turn on the stove to high ,place the naan pressed pan upside down .As shown in the picture five.The pan should cover the stove completely.This will create a tandoor effect,where naan gets cooked with smoke and  some fire spottings like the  picture six.

* When the naan gets cooked 90 % ,it will come out of the pan.Make sure that it doesn't fall on the stove .If so, naan will start burning ,after fallen on top of the coil.
* Now turn the naan and cook for a minute  on top of the flame ,with the help of the spatula as shown in the seventh picture.Dont over cook the naan,then it will become hard.
* The eighth picture shows the naan cooked on the other side.

Immediately apply butter or oil and cut the naan into 2.Serve it with any side dish.

Note:
* Instead of using pans,we can also use small pressure pans,which has heavy bottomed.
* Once the naan is cooked on the first side,ther others side will be cooked quickly.So dont keep it on the flame too much.Dont try to cook the naan on the tava .It shud be cooked on top of the flame.

* Since we have electric stoves,I have used this method.In India,we have gas burners.So we can show the naan directly on the flame,instead of covering it on the stove.


Sending this to Ayeesha's A.W.E.D Indian Cuisine started by D.K