Tomato Naan

Naan is one thing that goes well with every Indian curry or dry vegetable dish. From makhhni daal, to Jeera aloo, it works like it is made for the dish. I have had a variety of naans. I like them a lot, but avoid them in the restaurants/dhabas for they make it with all purpose flour, which is not that healthy.

So, whenever I make them at home I try to use whole wheat flour. But, on special days when I have guests, I do the mercy of adding some all-purpose flour. Just to give that restaurant touch! Ding!

It was one of these days when a friend couple was coming for dinner and I was planning the menu. I couldn’t decide upon what bread to serve with dum aloo and punjabi chhole. At first, I thought of making pooris, but the health conscious girl in me and also my guest friend won’t let me do that. So, I decided on naan. The next question in my head was – what? The usual naan! Usual is just so not me. I did some more thinking and came up with the idea of making tomato naan. It came out so well that everyone loved it.

 

Tomato Naan made with 50% whole wheat flour

I repeated the naans for another guest couple some days later and they ended up eating more naans they would normally have in a meal. I secretly danced when they asked for more 😉

So, here is what I did…

Ingredients

• All Purpose Flour (APF) – 1½ cup
• Whole Wheat Flour (WWF) – 1 ½ cup
• Active dry yeast – 2 ½ tsp
• Sugar – 1 tsp
• Baking powder – ½ tsp
• Salt – 1 tsp
• Luke Warm milk – ½ cup
• Yogurt – ¼ cup
• Melted butter – 4 tbsp
• Warm water – 3 tbsp
• Tomato – 2 medium
• Butter to grease a bowl
• Water at room temperature to stick the naans on the pan surface

Method

1. We need to activate the yeast first, so take luke warm water in a bowl and add the dry yeast. Now, give the yeast its food, i.e, sugar, and let it sit for 6-7 minutes till it is frothy.
2. While the yeast is blooming, blanch the tomatoes and peel off the skin. Puree the tomatoes.
3. In another bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients, i.e, flours (APF and WWF), baking powder and salt.
4. Now, add the warm milk, yogurt, melted butter, tomato puree and mix well. Add the yeast mixture, and knead until you get pliable dough. Make sure it is not sticky. Do not add more flour to get rid of stickiness; keep kneading instead, else you may get hard naans.
5. Grease a bowl and place the dough in it. Cover it with plastic wrap or damp kitchen towel and let it rise for 2-3 hours or until it is doubled in size.
6. Take the doubled dough, punch it and knead for a few minutes. Divide the dough into equally sized balls and let it rest for 5 minutes.
7. Using rolling pin, roll the balls into the shape of the naan.
8. Heat a pan on high heat, apply some water on your hands, pick the naan ensuring you wet hands make the naan a little wet too and gently lay it on top of the pan.
9. Cover the pan with lid and cook till bubbles start to appear on the surface of the naan.
10. Flip it to the other side and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
11. Repeat the process till all the prepared naans are cooked.
12. Smear some ghee or butter on naans, if you like and serve hot!