Making homemade naan has always been something of a novelty for me. I visualised one day owning a purpose-built outdoor tandoor, to make fresh naan and tandoori roti and then I discovered these recipes online that don’t require anything more than a bit of baking soda and yoghurt in the dough mixture and and a traditional skillet or tawa, add to this mix a regular flame grill and my life has now been changed!

So here’s the recipe:

4 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup yogurt at room temperature

1-1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

About 1 cup luke warm water

Once you’ve mixed the dry ingredients together, add the melted butter, yoghurt and then slowly add the water and mix well. Add enough water, bit by bit, to bring the mixture together with your hands to make a dough.Take a small amount of your dough, divide your mixture into eight if it helps to work out the size. Make a circle with your palms and flatten- just like a traditional roti.

Roll it out into a circle about 1/4 cm thick.

Put it onto the tawa and you will see the dough rise in some places which will make the wonderful flowery black texture once you grill this area.Sometimes it rises a lot, don’t be alarmed- this is all good. It will make pockets of air in your naan which will make it extra yummy! The bottom of the naan is made now.

The next step is to keep the naan on the tawa and grill the top of it so that the flames brown the top. It will brown the raised parts first to make that well-loved texture.  

Soften the top of the naan with a smidgen of butter and then wrap it in a tea towel so that it stays soft. If you have a hot pot I suggest you put this in straight away. If you haven’t got one, I suggest you buy one! They’re not expensive and they keep the naan (and roti) beautifully soft and warm through capturing the steam in the pot. This is of course especially helpful if you’re making a lot of roti or naan at once. 

And of course, finish off your lovely naan with some delicious lamb curry. Indeed, any curry with ample gravy will work wonderfully well.

So, that’s it! Do let me know if you liked this recipe. Send me photos of your own naan breads and let me know what other recipes you’d like to hear about. As always, I love hearing from you so don’t be shy!

Peace and love,

Sidra