Sourdough Naans Stuffed With Chickpeas & Potatoes

Makes x6 Naans

The consistency of yoghurts change considerably so you may find that you need to make slight adjustments to the recipe depending on your chosen yoghurt. 

I usually find I have a few tablespoons of the chickpea mixture left over, but such treats are the cooks perks!

The naans can be stuffed, laid between baking parchment or lightly oiled cling film, and stored in the fridge for 24 hours. Remember to bring them back to room temperature before cooking. They can be served as part of a meal or eaten as a snack; I love mine served with a homemade fig chutney.

 

250g                Frisky Wild Yeast Culture

250g                Plain full cream Yoghurt – made with sheep, goat or cow’s milk

10g                  Nigella Seeds

370g                Organic Strong Plain Stone Milled Flour

8-10g               MaldenSea Salt

1                      Quantity of Spicy Chickpea, Potato Mixture (recipe below)

To finish:

2-3tbs              Melted Butter

 

Mix together all of the ingredients and form into a single rough ball of firm dough. Knead the dough for a minute to ensure all of the flour is incorporated. Leave the dough to rest on the work-surface but covered with an up-turned bowl, for 30 minutes to an hour.

After resting, knead the dough for 4 minutes.  Rest it again for 15–30 minutes.

Knead for a further 4 minutes then rest for a further 30 minutes. Test the gluten development using the window-paning method.

Return the dough to the bowl, cover the bowl with a piece of oiled cling film and leave it at room temperature (around 14–22°C) until the dough shows signs of starting to inflate. Depending on the friskiness of the culture, the season, and the room temperature, this will probably take 2–4 hours. Once the dough shows signs of inflation, put the dough into a lightly oiled plastic bag and place the bag into the fridge overnight or until the dough has doubled in size (it should be fine left in the fridge for up to 3 days).

To Shape & Fill the Naans: 

Drop the dough onto a lightly oiled work surface and divide it into 12 equal sized pieces (about 75g each).  Re-oil the work surface and your hands and shape  each piece into balls, then flatten each ball with the palm of your hand to form a thick disc. If you leave the discs to relax for 15-30 minutes it will make rolling them into shape infinitely easier. 

Keep the work surface lightly oiled, roll out 2 of the thick discs into circles measuring 10cm in diameter.  Pile a couple of dessertspoons of the cool chickpea mixture onto one of the pieces of dough, leaving a ½ cm margin around the edge.  Lay over the second piece and push it firmly down to sandwich the mixture between the 2 discs of dough and press the edges firmly to seal. Using a rolling pin, gently, roll to make a stuffed naan about 20cm long and 12cm at its widest.

Repeat this process with the other 10 thick discs of dough to make 5 more stuffed naans.   Don’t worry if the dough tears slightly it will give character and crispness to the naan.  The secret at this stage is to keep your hands and the work-surface oiled to prevent the dough from sticking.

Paint the top of each naan with melted butter.

Put a large heavy frying pan over a low heat and let it slowly heat up.  Place 2 of the naans, side-by-side, and buttered side downwards, into the hot pan, paint the top of each naan with more of the melted butter and cook for about 8 minutes. The naans will be golden brown and ideally will have a few black spots; if you don’t have any black spots (and would like them!) increase the heat, alternatively if you smell burning before 8 minutes turn the heat down to prevent the naan from completely blackening. Once the first side is cooked, flip each naan over and cook for a further 6-8 minutes.  Remove the naans from the pan and wrap them in tin foil to keep them soft whilst you cook the remaining naans.

 

Spicy Chickpea, Potato Mixture

Like the dough this mixture can be made a couple of days in advance.

1 large             red onion, finely chopped

40g                  organic peanut oil or any neutral oil

300g                potatoes, washed and cut into small cubes of about 1cm

3 clove s           garlic, peeled and finely sliced

1g                    sea salt

1tsp                 ground cumin

1tsp                 ground coriander

¼ tsp               hot chilli powder or cayenne pepper

5cm                 fresh ginger, finely grated onto a piece of kitchen roll

200g                cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or 400g tin, drained)

Small bunch    coriander, leaves and stalk finely chopped

½                     lime, juice

 

Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan that will hold the potatoes in a single layer, over a medium low heat. Add the onion, potato, garlic, salt and then enough water to just cover the potatoes.  Simmer gently until the potatoes are soft and the water has evaporated.  Turn the heat up slightly and let the onions and potatoes fry until they start to turn golden brown.  Add the cumin, coriander and chilli powder to the pan, then squeeze in the ginger juice through the kitchen roll, and continue cooking until the spices give-off a delightful aroma, this will take 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle in the chickpeas and the fresh coriander. Cook briefly, until the coriander wilts, then squeeze in the lime juice. 

Remove from the heat and using the back of a fork or a potato masher, crush the mixture until the potato and chickpeas have all broken up.  Leave the mixture to cool before using.