Butter Naan with Dum Aloo

All of us at home enjoy dining in restaurants and trying out different cuisines. But what becomes mandatory is to order butter naan with some side dish to accompany it. Without it, my dinner will never be satisfying. It has become a practice lately :)

I always had a thought that making Naan at home is close to impossible since it needs a special fire place where it is usually cooked. I have seen it being done so during my visit to North India. But lately, I have been seeing a lot of people making it at home and their outcome seems to be so tempting that I wanted to give it a try too.

I am really bad or infact working with yeast is a nightmare to me. I'm yet to fish out why the darling yeast is so sensitive and fickle when it has to raise and when it wont. grrrrrr :( it frustrates me sometimes. But inspite of its sensitivity my Naan has always come out well irrespective of how much the dough raises. Thats so sweet of naan for not ditching me :)

And when it comes to accompaniments, baby potatoes is a cute little vegetable that is so versatile and takes in the taste of rich gravy and makes the subzi so special and yummy :)

Dum aloom, though not the authentic way of making it was still so tasty. Its absolutely my way of making it ;)

Loved the potatoes, slight sourness of curd, aroma of kasoori methi and rich cream of almonds :)

Dum Aloo Recipe

Ingredients:

Baby potatoes - 1/4 kg
Almonds - 5
Onion - 2
Tomato - 2
Curd - 1 cup
Ginger - 2" piece
Garlic - 5 pods
Dry red chillies - 4
Cloves - 3
Cardamom - 2
Cinnamon - 1" stick
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Kasoori methi - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves
Salt - for taste
Oil - for frying

Method:

Pressure cook the potatoes. See to that you don't over cook it. Peel the potatoes and pierce holes with a fork.

Take 2 tblsp of oil in a pan and shallow fry the potatoes until they turn crispy and golden brown on all sides. Keep them aside.

Blanch the almonds in hot water for ten mins and peel off the skin. Grind it into smooth paste along with ginger, garlic, red chillies and tomatoes.

Chop onions into thin slices.

Heat two tsp of oil in a pan and add cumin. After it splutters, add cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. Fry for just a min and then add the chopped onions and fry till they turn transparent.

Now add the above ground paste and fry till the raw smell disappears. Now add the turmeric powder, garam masala powder, kasoori methi, sugar and salt. Mix well and now drop the shallow fried potatoes into the gravy. Simmer the stove and slowly add the beaten curd stirring continuously. Keep the flame in medium and cook closed for five mins.

Finally garnish with cut coriander leaves.

Hot dum aloo is ready to eat. Serve with butter nan or any Indian bread. :)

Butter Nan Recipe

Ingredients:

All purpose flour(Maida) - 3 cups
Warm water - 3/4 cup
Yeast - 3/4 tbl spn
Sugar - 2 tsp
Salt - for tasye
Olive oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

Drop the yeast, salt and sugar in warm water and beat until everything dissolves.

Add the sifted maida to the above ingredients and kneed well until you get a smooth dough.

Finally add olive oil and kneed for a while till the dough springs back when you press with your finger.

Leave the dough in a greased bowl and cover it with cling film or wet cloth. Allow it untouched for an hour. The dough will double in size by then.

At this stage, I would like to tell you that its absolutely ok if the dough does not raise much. It really doesn't affect the texture of the naan. My dough dint raise much but the naan was really soft and tasty.

Now knock down the air in the dough and kneed again for few mins. Divide the dough into equal sized balls.

Lightly flour the surface and roll out each ball until you have a circle of 1/2 "thickness. Gently pull on one edge of the circle to form the Naan into a teardrop shape. Do not pull too hard or you may tear the Naan.

Apply water on top of the naan and place it on the skillet wet side facing down. This will make the naan stick to the skillet. Cook closed for a min. You will find bubbles on the nan when you open it.

Immediately turn the skillet and roast the naan directly on flame. Since the naan is sticking to the base it will not be hard for you to do it. Once you get brown spots on the naan, turn the pan and transfer the naan to your serving plate. Apply butter generously when the naan is hot.

Serve it with hot dum aloo :)

Happy making and enjoy eating :)

Written by: Nithya
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