Stuffed flatbread filled with spiced mince meat cooked to perfection. Golden on top and soft and fluffy naan with beautifully spiced mince meat, these naans are an absolute treat !!
Keema naan is an occasional dish, not your typical daily food but its delicious and completely worth the time and effort. The best part is that its a complete meal in it self like Biryani and you don’t need anything else. It also makes best leftovers for lunch !
Originally, keema naan is baked in a tandoor(clay oven). But we don’t have tandoors at home so to mimic that same process at home, we first cook the naan on tawa (iron skillet) which cooks the bottom of naan and then we transfer it in an oven and cook the top using grill/broiler. The heat in the oven helps naan along with mince to cook through getting beautiful golden top.
HOW TO MAKE KEEMA NAAN
Making Keema naan is a 2 step process – dough and the mince meat filling. I stuff the dough with raw mince, it tastes better and results in soft naans. I will briefly share the method for cooked mince as well, incase you prefer it that way.
- Preparing Dough – the dough for naans is pretty similar to dough for Stuffed Chicken Bread, Garlic knots or Turkish Pide. I used instant yeast. Make a dough using yeast, plain flour, sugar, yoghurt and oil. Yoghurt helps the dough to be soft and fluffy. Keep the prepared dough in a warm place for 2-3 hours.
- Mince Meat Filling – You can use goat, lamb or beef mince. Chicken Mince can also be used. It should be fat free or have minimal fat as the fat wont get rendered in cooking process so it wont taste great. Add finely chopped onion, garlic, ginger, green chillies and corriander/cilantro. The spices added are salt, red chilli powder, crushed red chilli, garam masala, coriander seeds, cumin powder and cumin seeds.
While the dough is rising, prepare the mince and leave it aside too.
Assembling naans, divide the dough into equal parts and roll it slightly. Put mince meat in the middle and fold the corners, sealing the mince and forming a ball. Lightly roll the flat bread. Using a round wooden spoon or skewer make indents into the naan leaving an inch on sides/borders.
Preheat oven at 200 C. Heat a iron skillet or pan, once hot turn the heat low and put naan on it. Allow it to cook until bottom of lightly brown or cooked through. Brush the top of naan with milk and sprinkle sesame seeds. Carefully lift the naan and transfer it to oven under grill. The naan will gradually get nice golden brown on top. Its important to keep an eye on it as it can burn really quickly. Take the naan out and brush them with some butter.
Tips for Best Keema Naans
- Allow dough to rise properly for fluffy soft naans. Leave the prepared dough in a warm place to ensure it rises to nearly double.
- Use fat free lean mince meat.
- Make sure the mince meat is not watery, it will break the naans.
- Using spoon make indents, it helps naan to cook through and prevents them from fluffing up.
- Use all types of chillies listed as they all have a distinct flavour. If you prefer less spicy you can reduce the quantity.
Using Raw mince Or Cooked Mince Filling
Many people are afraid of using raw mince thinking it may not cook properly or its hard to handle the naan with raw filling. Let me assure you it works perfectly well ! The mince cooks thoroughly well when cooked in oven and remains juicy and soft.
If you still however prefer to cook the filling you can fry it in little oil in a pan. Cook it until the water has evaporated and mince has cooked. Allow it to cool down before filling it in the dough.
Watch How to Make Keema Naan
What to Serve with Keema Naan
The best part about keema naan is that its a meal in it self. You don’t need any curry to be served along with it. All you need is some Mint Raita and some pickles (achar).
Making Ahead and Freezing
These Keema naan are great for making ahead. You can prepare the dough and mince filling a day before and just assemble, roll and cook when required.
The left overs can be kept in a container. reheat them on lightly oiled pan and they are fresh again.
To freeze naans allow them to cool down then freeze them by putting parchment paper or cling in between them to prevent sticking. Wrap it foil or plastic wrap and freeze up to a month. Reheat them on skillet or pan at low heat until its defrosted.
Other Stuffed Breads to Try
Turkish Pide
Spinach & Cheese Gozleme
Braided Chicken Bread
Try these Keema naan and let me know how it turned out for you !
Keema Naan
Ingredients
Dough
- 4 cups Plain Flour
- 20 g Instant yeast
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Salt
- ½ cup Plain Yoghurt
- ¼ cup oil
Mince Meat Filling
- 800 g Beef Mince
- 1 Medium Onion Finely Chopped
- 1 tbsp Finely Chopped Garlic
- 2 tbsp Finely Chopped Ginger
- 2 tbsp Finely Chopped Green Chilli
- 1 cup Finely Chopped Coriander/Cilantro
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Red Chilli Powder
- 1½ tsp Crushed Red Chilli
- 1 tbsp Corriander Seeds
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 1 tsp Cumin Powder
- 1 tsp Garam Masala
- Milk for brushing
- Melted Butter
- Sesame Seeds
Instructions
Dough
- In a small bowl add yeast and sugar and add 1/4 cup warm water. Cover and set aside to allow yeast to proof. After 10 minutes you will see that yeast have become fluffy and foamy.
- In a bowl add flour, salt, yeast mixture, yoghurt and oil. Mix while adding warm water gradually. Continue to mix until dough is formed. Cover and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for 2-3 hours.
Mince filling
- In a bowl add mince along with all ingredients. Mix well while kneading it until the mince is thoroughly mixed. While the dough is rising refrigerate the mince.
Assembly
- Dust some flour on a clean surface. Take the dough out and knead it for a minute untill smooth. Divide it into eight parts.
- Roll each portion and cover it with clean cloth for 20 minutes.
- Dust some flour again and flatten each portion. Roll it lightly using a rolling pin. In the middle spoon out the mince filling spreading it in the middle. Wrap the edges in a way to seal the filling and form a ball.
- Using hands gently flatten the filled ball. Keep the sealed side at bottom. Lightly roll it with rolling pin. Keep the surface dusted with flour to prevent it from sticking.
- Using a wooden spoon or skewer make indents all over the naan leaving an inch border on the sides.
- Preheat oven at 200° C. Turn on the grill/broiler and place the grill closer to the top.
- Heat an iron skillet or pan on high heat, once hot turn the heat low. Carefully lift the prepared naan and put in on the pan. Allow the naan to be cooked at the bottom. Brush the top with milk and sprinkle sesame.
- Lift the naan and put it in the oven. Cook until naan is lightly golden on top. Take it out and brush with melted butter.
- Serve immediately along with mint raita
This was delicious, The naans turned out perfect, cant tell they are made in oven not tandoor !!