Lesson number one about trading urban living for rural Green Acres: You give up that perpetual buffet of authentic ethnic food options. While just about half the U.S. population lives in rural areas, most restaurant options reflect a bland line of fast food restaurants and heat-and-serve diners.
But when we moved to our Wisconsin farm over a decade ago from Chicago and opened our B&B, Inn Serendipity, this lack of international booty didn’t qualify as a deterring fork in our road toward sustainable living in the country. We life gives you a lack of pad Thai, curry or sushi, you simply learn to make your own.
Here’s the good part: many ethnic specialties root in relatively simple recipes and techniques. Sometimes centuries old, these culinary traditions lasted both due to three factors: good taste, use of available, local ingredients and ease of preparation. A quick Internet search harvests multiple recipe options and information for just about whatever you want to cook up, transforming even our country kitchen on County Road P into an international dining mecca.
Case in point: Naan, that Indian flatbread staple. We needed to add a dash of flavor to the last of our rutabagas in the root cellar, so my husband John started sautéing them into an Indian-style curry. Bread made a natural accompaniment, with no ethnic markets or Joe, the Trader to be found within an hour’s drive.
No worries, naan appeared on the table thanks to a basic stock of pantry staples already at home. While variations exist on naan, historically often made in a clay oven, I came up with this simplified version that cooks up the bread on a grill:
Naan
Ingredients:
1 standard package active yeast (.25 ounces or 2 ¼ t. bulk yeast)
1 c. warm water
1 beaten egg
¼ c. sugar
3 T. milk
2 t. salt
4 ½ c. flour (approximately)
4 t. minced garlic (optional – adds great flavor)
¼ c. butter, melted
Directions:
• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand 10 minutes.
• Stir in egg, sugar, milk, salt and flour to form soft dough. Knead on a floured surface or with the dough hook on a Kitchenaide Mixer (my preference) until smooth, approximately 6 to 8 minutes.
• Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a cloth. Set aside to rise until doubled in volume, approximately 1 hour.
• Punch dough down. Knead in garlic. 
• Pinch off small balls about the size of ping-pong balls. Roll into ball-shapes and place on a tray. Cover with a towel and let double in size, approximately 30 minutes.
• Heat grill (approximately 375 degrees; I cooked these on our woodstove). Roll balls of dough into a thin circle and place on lightly oiled grill. Cook for approximately 2 minutes and turn over.
• Brush cooked side with butter and keep grilling until both sides are brown.
Photo credit: Lisa Kivirist
Lisa Kivirist
Lisa Kivirist embodies the growing “ecopreneuring” movement: innovative entrepreneurs who successfully blend business with making the world a better place. Lisa is co-author, with her husband, John Ivanko, of Rural Renaissance: Renewing the Quest for the Good Life, capturing the American dream of farm living for contemporary times. Her latest release, ECOpreneuring: Putting Purpose and the Planet Before Profits is a compact, dynamic tool kit for a fresh approach to entrepreneurial thinking, blending passion for protecting and preserving the planet with small business pragmatics. As a W.K. Kellogg Food & Society Policy Fellow and Director of the Rural Women's Project, Lisa champions a voice for women farmers and rural ecopreneurs through media, speaking and advocacy work. Lisa runs the award-winning Inn Serendipity Bed and Breakfast in southwest Wisconsin, completely powered by renewable energy and considered amongst the “Top Ten Eco-Destinations in North America.” Her culinary focus on local and seasonal cuisine – with most ingredients traveling less than 100 feet from her organic gardens to B&B plates – earned recognition in publications from Vegetarian Times to Country Woman and inspired her cookbook, Edible Earth: Savoring the Good Life with Vegetarian Recipes from Inn Serendipity. In addition to feature writing for publications such as Hobby Farm Home, Mother Earth News and Wisconsin Trails, Lisa is the lead writer for Renewing the Countryside, a non-profit organization showcasing rural entrepreneurial and agricultural success stories. Lisa also penned Kiss Off Corporate America: A Young Professional’s Guide to Independence. Lisa shares her farm with her husband, their young son, a 10kw wind turbine and a colony of honeybees.
6 Responses to Ethnic Eating in Rural America: Make Your Own Naan Bread
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[...] rolled up in a soft tortilla or use as a filling inside your favorite dinner roll recipe. A cool green salad on the side or even on top adds to the meal. [...]
Haven’t tried it with wild yeast — do share your experiences!
This is awesome! Do you know if there’s a way to do it using wild yeast instead of packaged? (Wild yeast is my new obsession.)
The naan looks yummy, but I wonder if you have ideas for using whole grain flour, and why the egg?
Thank you!
I’m sure you can use an egg substitute. One I use most often is:
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 Tbsp. flour
3 Tbsp. water
Add together and whip until foamy.
Equivilent to two whole eggs.
Oh dear. Does all naan contain eggs? This really puts a damper on my Indian food adventures!