Another world

Holy crap! I totally forgot to tell you guys about the naan! Short post today, kiddos. 

Welp, I'm finally a full time working girl. I'm not sure you could call my state of being anywhere near "job satisfaction" right now, but I'm learning a great deal of stuff about a world I didn't know so much about, so overall I should stick to happy thoughts. Honestly, even just a week into work, I've learned a great deal about myself and I'm curious to test my limits. Also, it's super crazy how organized all the people I've met are  (as far as I can tell). Seriously, I don't think I can think of any other profession in which management of so many multiple concurrent schedules is even a thing. Try me. I dare you. I really think I've exhausted the possibilities in my head. Kudos to these people.  

I'm sure you'll all hear a lot more from me about work and workplace as time goes on, so I'll be brief and cryptic here about what I do. It's only week one and I'm not quite sure how to rate it on the "love it hate it" meter, if that's even a thing, but you know. So it goes. 

Here's the naan that I made awhile back, which I served alongside chicken tikka masala. Sorry for the delay, but better late then never, as that whole meal, in general, was delicious. I'm eager to make it again, especially with winter oncoming and so. Stew season is back, y'all. In terms of this naan, I basically adapted this recipe from the food network's Ms. Sequeira, but there are some major changes so its not so traditional like hers, hence the word "adapted." I altered the flavor with some of my own additions, so while I may have taken the base ratios of dry ingredients, my modification of the wet ingredients and additions hopefully bring something new to the table. I also didn't just use plain yogurt (although I'm sure you can), but rather, chose to use dahi. I don't know if that's a brand or the general name for plain yogurt in India, but whatever that white container is at the Punjabi market, the one that's like yogurt but creamier and less tart and has cows roaming around on the label, choose that one. In terms of additions, I also finely chopped up scallions and mixed the bits in with with salted garlic paste, and then folded those into the dough. Green scallions add a wonderful flavor to the naan, but I recommend eating it all in one night. I find that the scallions in the naan go bad pretty quickly and don't store well too many days out, so omit them if you plan on not eating the naan for a couple of days.

Naan

makes 4-6 pieces

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 C warm water

2 C bread flour

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

3 TB dahi (or plain yogurt)

3 TB olive oil

1 teaspoon garlic salt

2 cloves of garlic

3 stalks scallions, diced

freshly ground black pepper

melted butter (to spread on afterwards)

Activate the teaspoon of active try yeast in the warm water with the 2 teaspoons of sugar. Once the yeast mixture is frothy, stir in the dahi (or yogurt) and olive oil, then slowly sift in the 2 cups of bread flour and baking powder. Stir the dough with a fork until it comes together, then knead gently with your hands until the dough comes together and is pliable. Place in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 2 hours in a warm and damp place. 

While you are waiting, chop up the garlic on a cutting board and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Using the flat edge of the knife, scrape the salt into the chopped garlic, back and forth again and again, until the garlic is macerated with the salt and paste-like in texture. Voila, garlic paste! Scrape the garlic paste into a small bowl and then chop up the scallions. Mix the diced scallions with the garlic paste and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt. Liberally season with black pepper. Set aside this mix until ready to use.

When you are about ready to eat, remove the plastic wrap and divide the dough into the desired amount of pieces. Stretch and roll out the pieces until they are thinner and flatter, using whichever method you desire. The dough will be a bit sticky, but use oil or a sprinkling of flour (sprinkling! don't over flour!) when handling to prevent it from sticking to your hands or the board. After stretching the dough out into a flat and round-shaped pieces, sprinkle each piece with the garlic and scallion mixture, then press the mixture into the dough with the palm of your hand. Tightly roll the dough up so that the garlic scallion mix is trapped inside, re-form it into a spherical shape, and finally re-stretch the into the traditional naan shape (teardrop). 

Heat a cast-iron skillet (or large non-stick pan, any hot piece of cookware, really) on the stove until it is super super hot, almost smoking. Using wet hands, pick up the naan pieces 1 or 2 at a time, and place them into the pan. After about a minute (there may be some bubbling, this is a good thing), flip the naan over and cook on the other side until the same thing happens. Each side of dough should be blackened/browned and blistered in spots, like the pictures in this post. Once finished, remove the naan from heat and brush with melted butter. Then place in a towel or warm place to help preserve heat until ready to serve, or while you cook the other pieces.