Homemade Naan Bread | Easy Tawa Naan

best naan bread brushed with butter, served with chicken curry.

5 from 26 votes

Homemade Naan Bread | Easy Tawa Naan

Make the best, easy homemade naan bread with 7 basic ingredients. This butter naan is pillowy, soft, and chewy with brown blisters and made on a cast iron skillet (tawa). I bet you will never return to the store-bought ones after trying this simple recipe!

Prep Time20

Cook Time20

Resting Time1

Total Time1 40

Course: Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine: Indian, north indian, South Indian

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories: 165kcal

Author: Kushi

Equipment

cast iron skillet (tawa pan)

Ingredients

2 ¼ teaspoon Active dry yeast
1 teaspoon Sugar
½ cup Water , lukewarm
2 cups All purpose flour or Maida, more as needed (maybe another 4 to 6 tbsp)
1 teaspoon Salt
½ cup Yogurt or Curd or Sour cream
2 tablespoon Butter or Oil

For Garnish (Use garnish of your choice or brush with butter and skip the rest)

3 tablespoon Butter (Use oil for vegan version)
2 tablespoon Cilantro or Coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 Green chilie or serrano or Jalapeno, finely chopped

Instructions

Activate the yeast

In a bowl, add lukewarm water and sugar. Sprinkle yeast. Cover it and leave it undisturbed for 5 to 10 minutes. Let the yeast activate.
2 ¼ teaspoon Active dry yeast, 1 teaspoon Sugar, ½ cup Water

Making of naan dough

Add flour, salt, yogurt, and butter to this, and knead for about 10 minutes until you get a smooth and soft dough.
2 cups All purpose flour, 1 teaspoon Salt, ½ cup Yogurt or Curd or Sour cream, 2 tablespoon Butter or Oil
Transfer the dough to a greased bowl. Cover and let this rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Divide the dough into eight equal portions. Take each portion of the dough and form a smooth ball using a kneading motion (it takes about 1 min for each ball). Rest the dough balls (cover to avoid drying) for about 5 mins.

Prepare the garnish

In a small bowl, melt the butter or ghee. To this, add chopped cilantro or coriander leaves and green chilies. You need this to brush the naan as soon as it is ready.
3 tablespoon Butter, 2 tablespoon Cilantro, 1 Green chilie

Making of naan

Heat a cast iron skillet or tawa on medium-high heat.
Once the dough has rested for about 5 mins, sprinkle some flour on the working surface and, using a rolling pin, roll into 8-inch diameter flatbread.
Sprinkle some water on one side of the rolled flatbread, and then place the wet side down on the preheated tava or skillet.
Once a bubble starts forming on the naan's surface, flip the tava / skillet such that the top surface of the naan is about 1 inch from the flame and gets directly roasted over the flame for about 30 seconds to 1 minute or until it develops desired color. (This gives the restaurant style traditional texture)
Flip the tava back, remove the naan using a flat spatula, and transfer it to a plate. Immediately garnish with melted butter (or ghee) and herb mixture.
Repeat the process for the remaining dough balls.

Alternate method:

If you do not want to flip the whole tawa or if you are using a nonstick pan, then you can simply flip the naan once you see the blisters on the bottom surface and cook on the other side.

Notes

Use a cast iron pan or skillet as this allows the naan to stick to the pan using its wet side, and it can be roasted directly above the flame by flipping the entire cast-iron pan halfway through the cooking process.
If the yogurt is thick or the dough looks dry, you may have to add a splash of water and knead. But if the dough looks wet and sticky, then add more flour in increments and knead till you get the smooth, shiny dough.
You can use salted butter for garnish.
This simple naan recipe works even on cooking ranges that use electric coils.
You can substitute green chilies with serrano pepper or jalapeno.
The amount of flour or maida to make the dough may vary depending on the flour brand and weather conditions. So it is always good to add flour in parts.
You can also add the garnish ingredients to the dough.

Nutrition