Every friday night I plan out the next week’s meals and accompanying grocery list. This may seem about the dullest way to spend a Friday night ( don’t worry, I jazz the night up with not one, not two, but three cups of chamomile tea) but I look forward to it every week. Spreading out dozens of cookbooks, I read, think and plan what we’ll eat all in a wondrous silence that only mothers of young children can appreciate. I usually have too many ideas and slowly widdle my list down until I have a reasonable compilation of meals that won’t bankrupt us and and are feasible on a weekday.
But this past Friday I couldn’t think of a single thing. Nothing sounded good, everything seemed far too complicated and little boxes of macaroni and cheese started to float inside my brain availing themselves as legitimate dinner options.
So instead of flipping through page after page of fancy cookbooks I thumbed through my old meal planning entries hoping to find some easy inspiration. It was there I discovered the not so ugly truth; We have a clear Indian food addiction and didn’t even know about it. Curries, Daal, Tikka Masala; the list went on. At the height of our Indian obsession we were eating Indian food 2 or 3 times a week. And who could blame us? Is there anything better than piping hot vegetable tikka masala poured over a bed of rice with a huge delicious and buttery hunk of naan? I dare say not.
Speaking of naan, it never occurred to me to actually make naan despite making the accompanying dish from scratch. While I’d never actually seen a recipe for naan I assumed it would be laborious and difficult. Let me tell you something; once you go homemade naan, you never go back. Store bought naan is like cardboard and homemade naan is like manna from heaven.
Making naan involves dough balls and rolling pins and thus lends itself to tiny helping hands. Seeing all those tiny little dough balls rolled up elicited a high pitched squeal and a ” wow ..how cool!” from Fig who promptly got to work rolling out the dough balls and handing them over to me.
So as you might have guessed, Indian food is gracing our table several times this week. We made a batch of 20 and freezed most of it but not before eating a few warm slices just ensure it was palatable and safe for consumption ( the sacrifices we make as home cooks I tell you!).
Bonus: I showed Fig how to use his naan as a vehicle for getting Tikka Masala into his mouth and he was totally into it. I’m a bit embarrassed I didn’t think of it sooner since Fig is a sucker for all things bread. Getting him to eat heavily spiced foods with complex flavors usually comes with quite a bit of coaxing and sometimes even bribery but I think we’ve solved that with naan!
Ingredients
- ¾ cup warm water
- 1 tsp. honey
- ¼-oz. package active dry yeast ( standard one package)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup plain, full-fat yogurt ( if you don’t have yogurt I’ve used coconut milk cream with amazing results as well).
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- ½ tsp. salt
Directions:
- Combine water, honey and yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes.
- Add the flour and yogurt. Combine well and knead. Let rise in a warm place for one hour.
- After dough has risen, divide into 10 equal tiny balls.
- Roll out to to about a 1/4 inch thick.
- Oil a pan and heat on medium.
- Cook naan on each side. You’ll know it’s ready to flip when tiny bubbles appear over the surface.
- Serve warm!
We are taste bud soul mates!!! Indian food is one of my favorite cuisines!!! I’ve made it from scratch but I’ve never made the naan. You’ve inspired me! The kids will love making these 😀
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Thank you! I agree. Everything you post is just perfection to me!
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Thanks!
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I so want to be a better planner about meals! Your naan looks great!
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Thank you!! I used to be so loosey goosey with my meal plans and then we realized how much money we were wasting….planning saves us at least $70 dollars a week!
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That’s fantastic!!
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Your naan looks superb 🙂
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Thank you so much!!
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Yum, great job! I’ve made naan at home before too and you’re sooo right: once you start there’s no way you can buy store-bought ever again 😉
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Thank you!! I think I’ve gained a full pound since making my own naan 🙂
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Reblogged this on Montessori in Vienna, Austria and commented:
If toddlers can do it, so can I! I look forward to making some of this soon!
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So worth the time it takes to make it…just delicious! Thanks for stopping by!
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Love your naan. Going to make this, just fed lunch to the kids, Indian food, korma a bit spicy and they scooped it up with naan. Love the idea of making it myself. Looks great and Fig is quite good at rolling it out.
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Thank you! I’ve never heard of/eaten Korma before. On my “must make” list now 🙂
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What a great idea, and I just love your pics. Your naan looks totally great. Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you!
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Loving perusing your site. (I found it though Simple Bites 🙂 ). I’ve never made naan, though we have made many other types of bread. Yours look so tempting and like a great rainy day activity. Thanks for sharing!
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Homemade Naan is one of my baked good guilty pleasures. We eat it with Tikka Masala at least once a week and my two year old just can’t get enough of it. He’d fill up on Naan if we let him 🙂
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