Cottage Cheese and Garlic Stuffed Naan – Wholewheat Indian Flat Bread
Naan – a popular flat bread from South Asia, always reminds me of my college days in Delhi. The time I traveled quite frequently to my home during weekends and used to eagerly wait for the bus to stop at those high way Dhabas (makeshift village side eateries) for some scrumptious meal. Charcoal smoked Naans hot from Tandoor (clay oven), generously smeared with fresh butter and served with whole creamy lentils, yogurt raita and sliced onions…Mmm. Although I often make Naan at home but nothing can beat that authentic taste of charcoal infused slightly charred stuffed Naan. If only I knew that a food blog is on the anvil…I would have asked him the recipe for sure 🙂
Naan resembles Pita bread which is baked with white flour leavened by yeast and generally baked in oven, while a traditional Naan is baked in clay oven or Tandoor which gives the characteristic smoky flavor to it. Of late I have switched to wholewheat flour baked Naans and like the more nutty flavors and crispy bake of the wholegrain. This recipe of cottage cheese & garlic stuffed Naan is all time favorite of my family who enjoy these breads with just dollops of butter. I cooked this recipe over stove top using my thick iron griddle and served them with simple Kidney beans curry also known as Rajma, a very popular North Indian curry.
Ingredients;
(makes 6 )
For the Bread
- 2 cups wholewheat flour
- 2 tbsp. yogurt/curd
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. oil
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 tsp. instant dried yeast
- Warm water or milk for kneading
Filling
- 1/4 cup cottage cheese (paneer)
- 1/4 cup grated carrots
- 1 tbsp. crushed garlic
- 2 tbsp. mint leaves
- 1 onion sliced finely
- 1 tsp. red chili powder
- 1 tsp. coriander powder
- Salt as desired
Topping
- Nigella seeds (onion seeds)
- sesame seeds
- coriander leaves
Method; Mix dried yeast and sugar in a little warm water and leave it to rise for a few minutes and make sure that the yeast bubbles up and make frothy solution. Take the flour in a large vessel and mix it with salt. Make a well in the center and add yogurt, oil and the yeast mix into it.
Knead all the ingredients into a soft dough using little water at each time. Cover the dough with a muslin cloth and keep aside for 2 hours to double. Since it has wholewheat in it, the dough will not rise as much as a dough with all purpose flour will.
Punch down the dough and make 6 balls of equal size. Smear little oil over each ball and keep side covered with muslin cloth for 10 more minutes.
Meanwhile make the stuffing ready by mixing all the ingredients for filling together.
Take a ball and flatten it to about 1/4 inch round disc with a rolling pin dusting the board with dry flour, fill a little stuffing inside and close the disc from all the sides to secure the filling properly. Dust it with dry flour and roll it again into a thick round disc.
Lift the Naan and stretch it a little to give it a characteristic elongated shape. Sprinkle Nigella seeds or sesame seeds or chopped coriander leaves and slightly press the topping on it.
Flip to the other side and apply a little water on the other side (use a sprayer).
Heat a thick griddle/tawa and carefully lift the rolled out Naan and put the wet side on the griddle. Keep the flame high and see for bubbles on the Naan.
Turn the griddle at this point directly over the flame, Naan will not fall as it is struck to the griddle with water. Keep turning the tawa for even cooking and cook it for about 1 minute on high flame till brown spots appear on it.
Take out the cooked Naan with a knife, slice it into four pieces, smear it with butter and serve it hot with any accompaniment of your choice or enjoy these stuffed wholewheat flat breads just plain with extra butter.
Serve these cottage cheese stuffed wholewheat Naan with quick & simple recipe of kidney beans – Rajma.
Note;
- Make all the balls, fill the stuffing and keep them ready to cook or bake, saves a lot of time.
- Use a plastic sheet greased with oil to roll the Naan.
- White flour or all purpose flour (maida) will give much fluffy and lighter Naans. Try this here.
- You can avoid the filling and make plain Naan and pair it with any spicy Indian curry.
what a delicious idea! making me hungry this lunchtime. I have never made naan bread at home but will give this a try
Lovely naan Sanjeeta..:) I like the trick of turning the griddle along with naan onto the flame… nat one..:)
Reva
Omg, wat a great looking naan,feel like having rite now.
Then Naan’s look so very good and so gr8 pics s well and substituting atta for maida makes it double healthy along with the filling. I love your blog dear .
thats real scrumptious. such a warming bread for the winter months.
I can eat this just like dat…no side dish required..looks yumm yumm
this naan looks SOO good! wow! is there such a thing as gluten free naan?
The naan looks so yummy and so healthy. You pics are making me drool 🙂
nice naan very delicious sanjeetha today i tried chickpea flour fudge it came very well. easy to do also. thank u
@Latha, Thanks for trying out, and happy that it came out well!
I just like Naan and I am sure you can stuff it with anything and it will be good – sounds fabulous!
Delicious looking naan Sangeetha.. I tries making naan a few times in oven, but always they came out very hard.
These look super tasty!!
Ah! I’m craving for some naan now, it looks sooooo good!
It is very hearty. Perfect for Winter!
Yum – I would love to eat this now! A perfect fluffy stuffed bread – so comforting and delicious. Thanks for sharing!
wow awesomely healthy recipe with yummy stuffing!
Wow…cant be any better..looks perfect
This looks amazing Sanjeeta! I recently bookmarked a recipe for gluten-free naan bread that I am dying to try-Your filling would be perfect with it!
Good idea to use whole wheat flour,looks wonderful,thanks for sharing 🙂
naan looks yummy
I already adore garlic naan, but garlic and cottage cheese stuffed…oh wow! So delicious!
Fabulous! You’ve taken nan to a whole new level. It’s not just a bread, it’s a meal! Love, love, love it!
I love naan. This is so beautiful and delish, makes me hungry even though I just had my lunch
Your naan looks amazing! I also LOVE cottage cheese…this is something I could happily eat for any meal! 🙂
Love bread of all sorts. When we do an Indian night at home, we either have Naan bread or Basmati rice. Thanks for this recipe! Simply yummy!
Wow….love it….a naan is perfect winter warmer recipe to me….love that spicy and filling stuffing…..
Thats such a wonderful bread..yummy
Healthy and delicious naan.Looks so tempting
i love naan…this is perfect for anyday 😀 garlic flavor makes it even better
thanks for this spacial recipe looking very tempting and healthy too:)
Hi sanjeeta
This recipe looks awesome and want to give it a try as I love naan n we get it shop brought. Yours seems to b a healthy option. Just wondering whether this could be made in a hot plate stove as compared to flame ones ( I stay in UK and we have hot plate stoves here). If not, can you provide me with baking details for the same.
Thanks& regards,
Jaya
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