Garlic Cilantro Naan
Soft, fluffy, restaurant-style naan made easy at home (and way cheaper!) and no tandoor required!
Ingredients
- All Purpose Flour for dusting and rolling
Naan
- 300 g All Purpose Flour
- ½ tsp Salt
- 80 ml Whole Milk
- 80 ml Warm Water
- 3.5 g Instant Yeast
- 4 g Sugar
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil/Vegetable Oil
Garlic Cilantro Butter Mixture
- 30 g Unsalted Butter melted
- 10 g Fresh Cilantro/Coriander finely chopped
- 4 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 tsp Salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add all-purpose flour and a pinch of salt. Use a whisk to mix well. Next, make a well in the center and add milk, warm water, instant yeast, sugar, and olive oil (or vegetable oil). Using clean hands, mix everything until it forms a shaggy, scraggly dough.
- Knead the dough for 5 minutes or until the it becomes smooth. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to incorporate any sticky bits back into the dough. Once kneaded, shape the dough into a ball and place it back into the same bowl. Cover the bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set it aside in the warmest area of your home. This allows the yeast to activate, helping the dough rise properly. Let it rest for 1 hour.
- While the dough is rising, prepare the garlic cilantro butter mixture. In a small bowl, add the melted unsalted butter, finely chopped cilantro/coriander leaves, minced garlic, salt and mix everything well. Set it aside.
- Once the dough has risen for an hour, it is ready to use.
- Lightly dust a clean surface with some of the flour. Place the dough onto the surface and roll it into a rough log shape. Using a knife or dough scraper, divide it into four equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and set them aside.
- Place a flat pan or skillet on the stove over high heat. Traditional naan is cooked in a tandoor (clay oven), which reaches extremely high temperatures and creates the signature charred spots on naans. Since most of us probably don't own a tandoor, we can replicate this effect by using high heat on the stove.
- Using a rolling pin, roll it out horizontally, then flip it over and roll it vertically. This method creates a long, oval-shaped naan, but don’t stress about the shape, it can be round, oblong, or irregular. Roll until the dough is large enough to fit snugly in your pan. Make sure the dough isn't rolled out too thin, maintain about 0.4 cm thickness equally across all sides. Place the rolled naan dough onto the hot pan.
- As the naan begins to cook, you’ll notice bubbles forming on the surface. These bubbles are caused by steam building up inside the dough. When the naan hits the hot surface (like a tandoor, skillet, or oven), the moisture in the dough turns into steam, which expands and pushes against the gluten structure, creating air pockets. These air pockets puff up, forming those signature bubbles and charred blisters. The hotter the cooking surface, the more dramatic the bubbling! That’s why naan cooked in a tandoor develops big puffs. Since we’re using a pan, our naan will have slightly less dramatic puffing, but that is perfectly normal.
- Cook each naan for about 3–4 minutes in total ( 1.5-2 minutes on each side). After flipping, spread a spoonful (½ teaspoon) of the garlic cilantro butter evenly over the cooked side using the back of a spoon. Transfer the naan to a plate and repeat the process with the remaining dough.
- Serve them warm with tandoori chicken, butter chicken or any curry of your choice.
Notes
TIPS & TRICKS
No curry left but still have naan? Turn it into a naan burrito! Warm the naan, fill it with your ingredients of choice and roll it up tightly. If you're taking it on the go, wrap it in foil or sandwich paper for an easy grab and go lunch.
STORAGE
If you have leftover naan, stack them together, roll into a bundle and wrap tightly in foil. Store in the fridge for up to 2 days. To reheat, place a pan over medium heat and allow it to warm up. Sprinkle a little water onto the hot pan and place the naan on top. Sprinkle a touch more water on top as this helps bring the moisture back so it stays soft. Heat for about 3 minutes, flipping every minute until warm.