Most of you will know “naan”, the Indian flatbread, that gets served with your favourite curry. But have you tried Peshwari Naan?
Surprisingly, the word “nan” didn’t originate from India but from Iran. The word is used throughout the Asian subcontinent for any type of bread. In India, naan is traditionally baked in an India tandoor, as you will see in the the pictures to follow. Fret not, you can bake it in your oven too at its highest setting, just check the recipe below.
A big thank you to London chef, Sabbir Karim, and his staff for letting me shoot this Peshwari Naan recipe step-by-step at his restaurant Namaaste Kitchen. Sabbir is quite a high flyer in the food industry, having won the Chef of the Year award twice at the Asian Curry Awards. Namaaste Kitchen has won the accolade of Best South Asian Restaurant and Takeaway in London in 2012 and 2014. If you’re in London and fancy some Indian food, you now know where to dine.
Cook More Indian Food At Home
- The Curry Secret: How to Cook Real Indian Restaurant Meals at Home
- The New Curry Secret
- How To Make British Indian Restaurant (BIR) Style Meals
- Rick Stein’s India
Much like sandwiches, naan can have different fillings. Peshwari, sometimes spelt Peshawari, has a dried fruit and coconut filling and once you taste it you’ll never go back to plain, old boring naan bread. The other most famous ones are Keema Naan, which is stuffed with meat and Kulcha Naan filled with a spicy, onion mixture. The sky’s the limit, really, so let your imagination run wild.
On Greedy Gourmet you’ll find another type of Indian bread recipe, Kerala Paratha. Sabbir and I also shot Chicken Pathia, check it out.
Place all the wet ingredients in a large bowl and stir well.
Next add all the dry ingredients to the bowl and incorporate all the ingredients into a smooth dough. Keep kneading to get the desired result.
Divide the dough into equal portions and roll into neat balls. Cover with cling film and allow to rise at room temperature for an hour.
Flatten the ball of dough in your hand and place a portion of the fruity filling in the center. Pinch the dough around the edges to close the naan into a ball and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
Roll the filled dough ball flat. You can either cook it in the tandoori or in your oven at its highest setting. It would take around 7-8 minutes to cook. Enjoy!
Peshwari Naan
- Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
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Pin RecipeIngredients
- 2.5ml (½ tsp) sesame seeds
- 15ml (1 tbsp) almond flour
- 10ml (2 tsp) pistachios, finely chopped
- 25g (1oz) sultanas
- 15ml (1 tbsp) coconut powder
- 10ml (2 tsp) desiccated coconut, plus more for sprinkling
- 10ml (2 tsp) caster sugar
- 20ml (4 tsp) single cream
- 5ml (1 tsp) mango pulp
- 500g (4 cups) bread flour, plus more for rolling
- 5ml (1 tsp) baking powder
- 5ml (1 tsp) salt
- 2.5ml (½ tsp) kalonji (onion seed)
- 250ml (1 cup) milk
- 1 egg
- 250ml (1 cup) oil
- 5ml (1 tsp) rosewater [optional]
- 2.5ml (½ tsp) sugar
Instructions
- Filling: Mix together the sesame seeds, almond powder, pistachios, sultanas, coconut powder, desiccated coconut, caster sugar, single cream and mango pulp into a dough paste. Divide into 4 equal portions.
- Naan: Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the oil.
- Add the sugar, egg, milk and bind to a dough.
- Add 1 or 2 tablespoons water and knead into a medium soft dough, it will appear sticky at first but keep kneading for few more minutes (5-6 minutes), adding another tablespoon of oil if required. When smooth and elastic, place the dough in a large, greased bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Allow to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to its maximum temperature and place a heavy baking sheet on the top shelf to heat.
- Roll out each of the 4 portions of dough balls into thick circles.
- Fill half of each circle with one portion of the filling leaving about an inch around the edge.
- Wet the dough around the edges with a little water and fold each circle in half to enclose the filling.
- Pinch the dough around the edges to close.
- Gently roll out each naan into a round shape.
- Sprinkle over sesame seeds.
- Place the naan on the hot baking sheet and bake for about 1-2 minutes until there are brown spots on the surface.
- Brush with the melted butter and serve hot.
- Alternatively, place each naan on a thick cloth pad and press onto the wall of the tandoor and cook for 7-8 minutes or till crisp and brown on both sides. Remove with the help of skewers or tongs when it is crisp and brown on both sides.
- Category: Bread
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Indian
Nutrition
- Calories: 563
- Sugar: Sugars
- Sodium: 67 mg
- Fat: 62.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 58.3 g
- Fiber: Dietary Fiber
- Protein: 13.1 g
- Cholesterol: 55 mg
More Indian Recipes
- Chicken Pathia
- Dal Makhani
- Kerala Paratha
- Coconut Fish Curry
- Spicy chickpea soup and coriander chapatti
- Sourdough Naan Bread
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Rosa says
Beautiful flatbreads! Perfect with a good curry.
Cheers,
Rosa
Rosa says
Beautiful flatbreads! Perfect with a good curry.
Cheers,
Rosa
Fiver Feeds says
I haven’t tried “naans” before, but after seeing all those lovely photos, I’ll just might give it a try!
Nusrah Asad says
Peshawar is in Pakistan. Peshawari naan is a Pakistani flatbread not Indian. 🙂
Ay says
250ml of oil is that correct. Do you use it all at once
★★★★★
michelle says
Yes. You might need a little bit extra a few steps further though.
Jacqueline Meldrum says
I loved the step-by-step photos. It was great to see them being made. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
★★★★★
Bert says
I usually replace the milk with almond / Coconut milk or something similar, but if I leave the eggs out will it be noticeably different? I love these naans but I’m looking to go vegan.
★★★★★
michelle says
I’ve been in touch with a few vegans and they said you can try substituting the eggs with yogurt or egg replacer. Hope it works! Please let me know how you got on. 🙂
michelle says
Vegan yogurt, I meant!
priyanka Kothari says
Wow….Very easy to make. I am surely going to try this Peshawri Naan soon. Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
michelle says
Hi, Priyanka. Have you tried the recipe yet? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
ash says
tried these today – I know flour can have different absorbance levels but there was way too much oil, to the extent that I couldn’t add any water and the dough was still very runny. Tried needing for 5 mins and didn’t help.
filling didn’t look anything like the photo either, and I’m not sure would be sufficient for 4 naan breads
overall these were nice but the bread was crumbly and didn’t hold together, possible due to the amount of oil
michelle says
Hi Ash, sorry to hear that it didn’t work out for you 🙂
Indeed, the oil or the flour could have caused this. For me, it worked out really fine, am I am the type of person that fears making bread from scratch :)I am sure next batch will turn out great xx
Atif says
I am from Peshawar and have lived in Peshawar for over 25 years. I have not seen this bread or any such bread with Coconut or nuts in Peshawar. Actually, coconut is very rare in Peshawar and is usually imported for halwa use.
If you come to Peshawar, you will find sesame seeds in “Til walay naan” or “Roghni naan”. But never will you see any naan with the items you have put in your recipe.
I am certain, you have not been to Peshawar. I suggest you visit Peshawar, before calling your naan a Peshawari Naan. Your naan may be good, but it has nothing to do with Peshawar.
Michelle Minnaar says
Hi, Atif. Many thanks for your comment.
You are right, I’ve never been to Peshawar. Have you been to the UK though?
The British loves curries and there are lots of Indian restaurants here. The menus got adapted to the western panel and new “Indian” dishes were born, one of them being Peshwari Naan.