Back when Darren and I lived in San Diego we discovered an Arabian restaurant called Ali Baba's. That is where we had our first taste of naan and hummus. At Ali Baba's the naan they served was as big as a dinner plate and oh so yummy! As most of you know, we spent last summer in Connecticut. While we were there myself and the other Apx wives would get together once a week for an afternoon of food and movies. On one occasion I brought over naan and hummus. Per Mindy's request I am posting the recipes I used this summer for naan bread and hummus.
Hummus
2 cups garbanzo beans (a.k.a. chickpeas), drained if using canned
1/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic (or less according to your own taste)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
Pinch of paprika
1 teaspoon chopped parsley (optional)
Combine first 5 ingredients in a blender or food processor. Add olive oil until you reach desired consistency. Garnish with the paprika and parsley and a little olive oil.
A note about the tahini: Tahini is sesame seeds that have been ground into a paste. It smells kinda funny and separates easily. Darren happens to be allergic to sesame seeds (along with his other allergies of dairy and soy products!) so I just leave this out. You can do the same if you would like; I personally think the hummus is still delicious without it. I also like to make two other varieties of naan, which you can see by clicking here and here.
The naan recipe that I use can be found here. My tweaks on the naan recipe are as follows: I use olive oil instead of butter, again because of Darren's food allergies, and it's also a healthier fat. I like to make the dough in either my food processor or my bread machine, so you could do the same if you like. When I'm rolling out my naan I like to do it on a clean countertop that has been floured and I like to use an empty Prego jar. I know that sounds strange, but I can roll them as thin as tortillas with this method and then my naan turns out just how I like it. I also do not cook my naan on the grill (because I don't always have one) but instead I either cook them on my electric griddle or in a non-stick pan on the stove. Also, you can make the dough ahead of time, let the dough have it's first rise and then once you've shaped it into balls you can put the dough balls in a ziplock in the fridge. When you're ready to cook the naan, just get your dough balls out of the fridge and roll out and cook. I love this because then I can have fresh naan all week--just take out a dough ball, roll it out, cook it, and you have fresh naan when you want it! One last note, I also like to do half whole wheat flour and make a healthier version too.
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