Dhaba style Naan from a Jewish Baker's recipe with Chicken curry

PHEW!! I never had more hectic and stressful days in my whole life like the past 3 weeks!! My daughter had 6 AP exams and 2 EOC tests, (she is done with all her HS credits a year early except English 12, is being sent to University by the county free of charge next year instead of 12th grade), her Immunization record is updated with 2 new shots for college, a half day of exhausting University tour on a very sunny Monday with class registration, college ID etc for Fall 2008 class as a "High School visiting Student" and my son went thru' 3 EOG exams (7th grade) himself this week and a booster Varicella shot for him too. To top it all, I sprained my left Index finger yesterday and I have no clue how and when that happened until I saw the swelling and felt the pain! :P
Now we are almost home free and school ends on June 12th! Hurray until Aug 25th! Looks like I am back to regular Wednesday posts again like before too! :D

Oh well..so be it. Here they are, my newly discovered recipe for almost Dhaba style soft sour dough Naans! Dhabas are small Punjabi road side restaurants in India, very much like "Truck stop" restaurants here in US which serve authentic, delicious and inexpensive food!
You know how I am always on the look out for that elusive restaurant style Naans? I have tried and posted 4 types of Naan recipes so far, usually tried from Indian cookbooks with satisfying but "not yet there" results! This time I found this "Dhaba style" Naan recipe in a Book called "Secrets of a Jewish Baker" by George Greenstein which has traditional Jewish breads along with other World breads and these sour dough naans taste almost like restaurant naans. If I had a Tandoor which heats up to 1000+F temp. at home like the restaurants, these would look perfect. Alas! My oven goes only up to 550F but I am mighty pleased with these naans! They taste excellent with my fragrant Chicken curry or use the gravy recipe with Koftas or veggies for vegetarian curry treat with these Naans. Hope you give it a try!:)

Dhaba style Naans with Chicken curry, made with coconut milk and Almond gravy:

Naans Stacked up!
Sri reminded me of her "Roti Mela" event which going on in full swing right now. I am sending my Naans to Srivalli from "Cooking 4 all seasons" blog for "Roti mela" as well. Have fun Sri! :)

Fermented sour dough starter of flour and yogurt:
(made 24hrs in advance at room temp.)
For sour dough starter, you Need: 1 cup plain Yogurt or Sour cream or Buttermilk, 1/2 Cup plain flour, a pinch of dry yeast or 1 small piece leftover dough if you have made the dough earlier instead of yeast.

How to start:
Mix all the above well to a smooth paste in a glass bowl and leave it on counter top for 24hrs without covering the bowl (very important, do not cover it!) and let it ferment.
Note: If you want the Naans for 6pm dinner next day, mix the starter day before at 4pm and next day at 4pm, add it to make the Naan dough. Make sure to save a large marble size dough for next starter or make the starter again.

How to make these Naans:
You need: Add all the above sour dough starter, 1 Egg (skip if you are a vegetarian), 2 tbsp oil, 1/2 tbsp sugar, 3 cups to 3 1/2 cups of plain flour or enough to make a smooth dough, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt.

To make Naans:
1. In a large bowl or in stand mixer bowl, add all the starter, 1 Egg (skip if you are a vegetarian), 2 tbsp oil, 1/2 tbsp sugar, 3 cups or 3 1/2 cups of plain flour enough to make a smooth dough, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, mix them well with flat beater or by hand until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl.
2. With kneader attachment or by hand, knead the dough very well for 6 mins until the dough is smooth, soft and silky to touch.
3. Brush some oil allover the dough, cover the bowl and let it double in size in a warm plave for 1 hour or more. After rising, punch down and divide into 6-8 balls. Cover again and let it rest for 15mins.
While it rising for the second time, turn on the oven to your highest setting ie 550F. Place a Pizza stone if you have it in the oven.
4. Roll each Naan to about 1/8" thin 6" circle, pull one side to a tear shape, place on square foil sprayed with no-stick oil. You can bake 2 at a time.
5. When the oven is ready, place the foil with Naans on the Pizza stone using a Pizza peeler if you have it or on a non-stick baking sheet.
6. Bake for about 2 mins or until you see the golden bubbles on Naans.
DO NOT OVER BAKE which makes them crispy. If you want more color on top, turn the oven to grill and let the top get some color or lift the foil with the Pizza peeler closer to top of the grill. The base should be soft and bubbles you get on top should be crispy, a sign of a great Naan!:)
7. Take them out, brush some butter or Garlic butter with cilantro and cool and store until you need them. Repeat with others in the same way.
Almost Dhaba style soft Naans are ready! :)

Pile of Naans!
To make delicious Chicken curry:
(Make the fragrant gravy and add veggies to make it vegetarian)
You Need: 8 Chicken Drumsticks or use white and dark boneless chicken, 1 tbsp Butter+1 tbsp oil, 1 small Onion finely chopped, 1/4 tsp Turmeric, 1 tsp sugar,1 Cup of thick canned Coconut Milk.
Roast and powder:
1 tbsp Coriander Seeds, 2-3 dry red Chillies or add cayenne pepper pd or Kashmiri chilli pd to gravy, no need to roast and grind, 1 tsp Aniseeds, 1 tsp Cumin Seeds, 1" Dalchini/Indian Cinnamon, 3 Cloves, 1 Cardamom Pod seeded, a piece of Star Anise or Mace, 1/2 tsp Pepper Corns, 3 tbsp Almonds, skinless or blanched.
To grind:
2 Onions,chopped, roasted until reddish, add 1" ginger, 2 Garlic Cloves, 2 Tomato or 1 cup Tomato sauce, grind these to paste.
For garnish: Few Lemon slices or 1 tsp lemon juice and 2 tbsp chopped Cilantro.

How to make the chicken curry:
1. Heat oil and butter in a non-stick pan, fry finely chopped onion until reddish. Add ground onion, ginger, garlic etc and fry for 5 mins. Put in all the powdered spices, turmeric, stir fry till oil shows on top.
2. Add in chicken, stir fry for a minute. Add 1 cup water, sugar, bring to boil and turn down the heat to low, cook covered for 10 mins until chicken is tender on low heat.I use pressure pan on very low heat to cook for 1 whistle, so I don't burn the burn the bottom of the dish.
3. Uncover, mix well. Turn down the heat to low if it's not already and add coconut milk, mix. Simmer gently for 5 mins. Gravy should little thicker to help scoop with Naan.
3. Garnish with Cilantro and squeeze some lemon juice before serving or serve with lemon slices.
4. Serve with Naan and cucumber Raita/salad.
One more look:
Enjoy!:)

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Book: "The Blood of Flowers" by Anita Amirrezvani.
The author was born in Tehran, Iran but raised and educated in US, a Iranian-American. She went to Iran and researched the history for this book. This is a beautifully written book with lot of stories inside the story, describes the Iranian culture, LOT about beautiful, plush Carpets and it's impact on many lives, shocking practice of "renting brides" thru' temporary "marriage contract", the young girl's struggle to survive and feed herself and her mom and how she succeeds to be free of "Sigheh" and earns enough to survive solely by her skills of carpet making in the end !
The story is set in 1620s when Shah of Iran was ruling, gives an insight to culture and practices of Iranians at that time. Story revolves around a 14yr old girl, the only child of poor but loving family. It tells us about her life and coming of age as it unfolds after the sudden death of her father. She moves to another city with her mother to her Uncle's house where mom and daughter were treated as servants. While there, she also learns the secrets of Carpet weaving from her uncle, which only men are privileged to learn and learns to weave the most beautiful carpets with most unique color dyed wool and also gets abused by her aunt.
At 15, she was forced to "marry" a much older man for just 3 month's contract by her aunt who gets paid by this rich old man as "bride price" citing a common practice called "sigheh" and her mom says she has to do this to help her and the family members! About 10% of the book is very sexually explicit. I am not a prude but it made me very uncomfortable to read how a poor 15yr old girl trying so hard to seduce an old man just to please him so he extends the contract for 3 more months so she can please her family!
Personally for me it was ugh!.., even though "Sigheh" (a temporary "marriage" contracts, for a day or month or few month's for money!) was acceptable, but kept secretive in that society in the 17th century!! How awful and what a degradable responsibility for a child, all that for money!! Author says this practice is still goes on there to some extent although not as common as in 1600s! How sad!!
Anyway, when old man tries to renew his 'Marriage" for the third time, she dares to refuse to be his "bride" anymore since her own best friend, also a 15yrs old girl, is legally forced to get married to the same man as one of his wives and about to produce a son for him! As a result of her refusal, she gets her jaw broken by the uncle and along with her mom gets thrown of the Uncle's home. Her own mother gets very angry with her and humiliates her for her lack of compassion for the family, makes her feel guilty for not accepting the "marriage" and of course his money!!
They move into a home of her uncle's servant, begs for money and food on the streets to survive, gets offers of "marriage" for a day from men. But she refuses the offers and finally, she goes back to her Uncle and begs him to get her some wool to make Carpets, which he does and at the end of the story, she sells her beautifully designed carpets to women of Shah's Harem, who are her biggest clientèle, which makes her rich enough to keep her mom happy again! I bet her mother didn't win any "MOM of the year" award anytime!:P
Except for "those" few chapters, it's a great read which tells a beautiful imaginative vivid story of carpets, women bonding in the bath houses and bazaars. I learned a lot about a culture. But I will not be keeping this book at home in my collection though. I don't want my kids to read it, will donate to the local library. For adults, it's a fascinating book keeps you glued to the story! Hope you read this Summer! :)
No movie until Memorial day holiday!
Dishes I tried last week:
I am very very attracted to traditional dishes in all your blogs most of the time and I absolutely love it when some recipes reminds me of my grandmothers' dishes like Mudare Kanni here. Thanks for hunting it down to post Linda and thanks to all of you who posted these wonderful traditional recipes. We are practically eating dishes from other blogs for atleast 4 days a week now! I have bookmarked so many, the list scares me! :D

Coorg style Mudare Kanni from Linda's blog.(I used Hurulikalu/Horse gram/Kollu)
Tausha Idli from RC's blog.
Pudina Pachadi with peanuts from Indira's blog.
Muttai Kuzhambu from Purl's blog.
Set Dosa and veg curry from Sagari's blog.
Thengai Vengayam chutney from Kalai's bog.
Rajma from Mandira's blog.
Kalayile Phovu with Phova Pittu from Shilpa's blog.
Saibhaji from Jyotsna's blog.
Kolombo with Kolombya Pitto from Maya's blog.
Onion-Tomato sauce Kulcha from Jayashree's blog.
Ulli Kozhi from Shaheen's blog.
Have a great week while I hunt for more dishes in your blogs! :)