Easy garlic naan bread

It was a cold Saturday night a few weeks back and just the husband and I, no kids and it was late and we couldn’t really be bothered cooking dinner. I was craving Indian food for some reason and I looked online for a local Indian takeaway. I was dreaming of a hot, fragrant, spicy curry and some chewy, soft, garlic filled naan bread to soak it all up. I had all the ingredients for ALL of it and said, “don’t be lazy, get in the kitchen and make it” so I did. I had this garlic naan bread made in about 20 minutes flat while the curry was bubbling on the stove. By the time it would’ve taken us to order it, pick it up, bring it home and serve it, I had dinner made.

Every country has their own bread. The Mexicans have tortillas, the Turkish have pide and lavash, the Lebanese have pita bread and it goes on and on. Indian breads are some of the nicest and so, so easy to make. Cooking them on a griddle pan on the stove stop works just fine. It’s just a matter of mixing plain flour, baking powder, a little sugar and salt, adding oil and milk and in this case, garlic and finish off with melted butter once cooked.

I believe the best utensil in the kitchen is your hand so get stuck into it, bringing all the ingredients together until a soft dough forms.

After resting for 10 minutes, take a small piece of dough and roll out flat (about the size of your hand) and place on top a little crushed garlic. Fold that over and roll out flat again.

On a griddle pan (or any pan will do), place a piece of baking paper and the rolled out naan bread dough onto the pan over a high heat.

Once cooked and charred on the underside, flip over and repeat.

You don’t have to worry about the bread being uniform in size. I think it looks better a little uneven and odd shaped. Once cooked, brush with melted butter and serve immediately.

If you can walk to the kitchen, you can make this naan bread yourself without having to order take out. Indian food at home isn’t all that difficult. You only need a few basic spices and basic pantry ingredients to recreate similar dishes, like this naan bread, at home. Save yourself a few bucks and make this at home. You’ll be glad you did and you’ll be surprised just how easy it is.

Easy Garlic Naan Bread

• 2 cups plain flour
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 to 1 cup milk (more or less, enough to bring the dough together to a smooth dough)
• 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbs butter, melted

1. Place the plain flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl and mix well.
2. Make a well in the centre and add the oil and the milk.
3. Add the milk a little at a time, adding more until a smooth dough is formed. (You may need more than 1/2 a cup.)
4. Leave the dough to rest for 10 minutes.
5. Take small handfuls of dough and roll out into shapes approximately the size of your hand.
6. Place a small amount of crushed garlic into the centre of the dough and fold over.
7. Roll out again, ready for frying in the pan.
8. Preheat a griddle pan (or similar) on the stove top and line the pan with baking paper.
9. Cook each naan bread in the pan until it is cooked on one side and flip over.
10. Once cooked and nicely charred brown, remove from the pan and brush with melted butter.
11. Serve immediately.

Slow Cooker Greek Lamb with Garlic Sauce (Gravy)

In an attempt to get more (or at least some) order in my life and balance family, study, blogging, a wedding and a new relationship, I’ve been using my slow cooker for just about every meal these last few months. In fact, most of my meal planning incorporates the slow cooker. As well as being the perfect appliance for heart warming stews in winter, it is perfect for the warmer months as it won’t heat up the kitchen but it will cook a joint of meat, such as this lamb, just perfectly. This is how I cook lamb all the time. I’ve shared this Free Form Lamb & Potato Pie before plus using the lamb in wraps, but I thought I’d share the recipe on it’s own and how you can make the perfect sauce made with the juices.

It really couldn’t be any easier than throwing as many cloves of garlic you like in the bottom of the slow cooker (skin and all), place the lamb on top, sprinkle on oregano, salt, pepper and a dash of olive oil. That’s it! Just leave it to do it’s thing.

Once cooked, retrieve the garlic cloves and squeeze out the garlic. It’ll be soft like butter.

This delicious squishy mush will be used in the sauce for the meat. Put the meat aside to rest while you make the gravy.

Pour the juices into a saucepan and carefully skim off any excess fat. Make a paste from 2 tablespoons of flour with water until a smooth paste forms. Add this to the juices from the lamb and over a medium heat, stir until thickened. Adjust seasonings if required. Return the roasted garlic to the gravy.

The lamb may not be as crispy as if you cooked it in the oven but the meat will fall off the bone and be so full of flavour.

Serve with vegetables of your choice and besides the above recipes for using up the leftover lamb, stay tuned for another tasty recipe to come. Make use of your slow cooker as much as you can. Your evening meal is prepped in the morning, cooking all day which makes your job a lot easier come dinner time.

Slow Cooker Greek Lamb with Garlic Sauce

• leg or shoulder of lamb
• 5-6 cloves of garlic (no need to peel)
• 1 tablespoon of dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper

Garlic Sauce (Gravy)

• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• enough water to form a smooth paste
• juices and garlic from the lamb

1. In a slow cooker, place 5 to 6 cloves of garlic, unpeeled.
2. Place the joint of lamb on top of the garlic and sprinkle with the oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil.
3. Cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
4. Once cooked, set the lamb aside and retrieve the garlic cloves, squeezing the soft garlic from the garlic peel.
5. Pour the juices from the lamb into a saucepan and carefully skim off any excess oil.
6. Make a smooth paste from the flour and water and add to the sauce pan with the soft garlic. (If you don’t have enough juices from the lamb add 1 cup of stock.)
7. Stir over a medium heat until sauce is thickened.
8. Serve with vegetables of your choice.

Roasted capsicum (bell pepper) & garlic sauce

There’s a green grocer/butcher/deli shop at my local shopping mall and I guarantee you that if you walk past at about 11:30am, any day, you can smell capsicum (bell pepper), garlic and other vegetables roasting. Talk about drool! The smell gets me every time. If the red capsicums are cheap enough to buy (that is if they aren’t the price of a new TV), I’ll pick some up and take them home to roast.

Its become a bit of a habit for me and its not unusual for me to have a batch of this roast capsicum sauce in my fridge. I use it in everything. Unlike roast capsicum pieces, this sauce is a puree that can be used on sandwiches, in pasta dishes, in vegetarian dishes and the way I use it mostly, as a dip with tortilla chips. When added to dishes, it adds a real sweetness and smokiness to the dish. Its my new love. Its so easy to do. Just de-seed (although you don’t really need to do that), put on a baking tray with garlic (just put the whole garlic bulb on the tray), sprinkle with olive oil and salt and roast until the skins on the capsicum go black.

Remove from the oven and pop into a plastic bag for about 20  minutes. The skins will be come really loose so you can peel them. Once peeled, add to a bowl. Add the garlic. The garlic is soft and juicy and can be squeezed like a tube. Using a stick blender or food processor, puree until the desired consistency and store in the fridge. This is just a fabulous tasting food and is so easy to prepare. You can add to oils for salad dressings, cream cheese or mayo for a dip or spread or finely diced tomato and other vegetables for a salsa. You’ll find heaps of way to use it. I actually prefer it as a puree rather than pieces or strips. Hope you give it a go.