This recipe isn’t completely authentic – it involves more butter than any I’ve seen in a cookbook – but it is fun to make and good to eat! The basic recipe, as I make it, is similar to a simple pastry dough, with yogurt added at the end instead of ice water. And the whole process is not as icy and distant. You knead the dough for a few minutes, but it’s a very enjoyable dough to knead – soft but not too sticky. I added basil and black pepper, because I like basil with curry spices (we ate it with a cashew butternut squash curry and leftover kofta). The basil smells wonderful while these are cooking! I cooked them on a hot griddle, and then put them under the broiler to puff a bit, and then kept them in a warm oven till I was ready for them. They’re nice toasted the next day, too – they get crispy.

Here’s K’naan’s ABCs. Because it’s a brilliant song, and because my son just got his first headphones, and it’s the sweetest thing in the world to hear him sing along to this song.

2 cups flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 t. dried basil
1/2 t. black pepper
5 T soft butter
1 cup plain yogurt

Mix the dry ingredients. Add the butter and work that in. Then stir in the yogurt and mix well. You might need to add a tiny bit of water, but you want to work this all together until it forms a nice kneadable ball. Knead for 5 – 10 minutes, till it’s smooth and elastic. You don’t really need to add flour as it goes along, it doesn’t seem to get stickier.

Wrap in foil or plastic and put it in the fridge till you’re ready to use it.

When you’re ready…take the dough out of the fridge. Knead it for a minute or two and then break it into 6 pieces. Roll these into balls, squash them flat and roll them to be ovals about 1/8th inch thick.

Heat a non-stick skillet or frying pan till it’s quite hot. Slap the naan on the skillet. Cook for 4 or 5 minutes, until it has little brown spots on the bottom. Flip it over and cook for another few minutes. Then stick it under the broiler for a minute or two. It should puff up a little bit, but nothing like a poori, so don’t put any unrealistic expectations on it, okay!!

Keep it in a warm oven till you’re ready to eat them all.