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breakfast naan skillet pizza with mustard greens and paneer

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Nik Sharma

Hey Friends, I’m a multi-award-winning and best-selling cookbook author and photographer.

breakfast naan skillet pizza with mustard greens and paneer | A Brown Table

I’m had a great time with the class audits at the culinary school. Though, I was a silent observer, it was a great opportunity to see how the classes at the school are taught, talk to students in the program and get to know the instructors a little bit. It gave me good food for thought on what culinary school might entail. An extra bonus was to watch some fun and interesting pastry techniques in action. One class was busy preparing laminated doughs for an upcoming test and the students work so fast while keeping the butter cold to get those flaky layers. The advanced class had students making entrements with apples. Making laminated doughs from scratch intimidates me, something I need to tackle at some point!

breakfast naan skillet pizza with mustard greens and paneer | A Brown Tablebreakfast naan skillet pizza with mustard greens and paneer | A Brown Table

One of my favorite dishes to order at an Indian restaurant and even make at home occasionally, is saag paneer. That along with a couple of buttered naans becomes be a tasty combination. Typically in Hindi the word “saag” translates to any type of leafy green, in most restaurants unless it says “sarson ka saag” or mustard greens, it will in most situations be spinach. In today’s post, I’m using the naan dough as a base for my skillet pizza and then topping it off with the ingredients 

I blistered the naan to give it that characteristic charred flavored in the pan before loading it with fresh mustard greens and spices. Paneer is a different from the regular kind of cheese, it holds it shape rather well and does not melt but in this pizza-style dish, you want a little bit of a hot and melty cheese dripping all over in every slice. I added a little mozzarella to get that much desired melt that my taste buds were craving and seasoned the pizza with a few spices, cracked a couple of eggs and stuck it into the oven to bake for a few minutes. Greens, eggs and cheese with a few spices and naan, this makes a good breakfast, lunch or dinner! 

breakfast naan skillet pizza with mustard greens and paneer | A Brown Tablebreakfast naan skillet pizza with mustard greens and paneer | A Brown Table

Here are some of my tips while preparing this breakfast naan,

  • I let the naan dough rise in an oven that was preheated for 10 minutes at 200F. I shut the oven once I place the dough inside. 
  • You can use any type of green here, kale, spinach, fenugreek etc. By tossing the greens in oil, the leaves will hold their texture and not dry out as much during baking. 
  • Don’t expect the rich creamy gravy from saag paneer here, I’ve skipped all of that heaviness to make this pizza lighter.
  • I’ve tried mozzarella and gruyere here but feel free to play around with the cheeses. 
  • You could also use the entire dough and fill a pan up to get a deep and thick crust. I find half the dough per 10 inch pizza to be just enough.

breakfast naan skillet pizza with mustard greens and paneer | A Brown Table

breakfast naan skillet pizza with mustard greens and paneer

yields: 2 X 10 inch naans

ingredients

2 cups (10 ounces) all purpose flour + extra for dusting

1 teaspoon yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher sea salt 

2 tablespoons plain greek yogurt (full fat 0r 2%)

1 large egg, at room temperature

200mL full fat milk at 100F

2 tablespoons vegetable oil + a little extra for cooking the naans

2 cups mustard greens, cleaned, chopped and mid ribs removed

1 inch piece ginger root, peeled and julienned 

2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 cup shredded paneer or 8 thick slices of paneer (if you’re using a block of paneer)

1/2 cup part-skim mozzarella/gruyere 

1 teaspoon garam masala 

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds, ground

1 teaspoon kosher sea salt 

4-6 large eggs (you can play around with the number of eggs you want per naan)

1. Place the flour, yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Dry whisk with a fork to mix the ingredients lightly. Attach the dough blade to the stand mixer. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl along with the two tablespoons of oil. Mix the dough on low speed for about 3-4 minutes until the ingredients just come together and then increase speed to medium-high to form one large sticky ball. Place the dough in a large well oiled bowl. Cover the lid with cling film and place it in a warm place to rise for 2-4 hours. 

2. Once the dough has doubled in size, remove and transfer the dough to a clean surface (pastry board). Dust the dough with a little flour and using your hands shape it into one large ball. Divide the ball into half. Then take one half and roll it out into a rough 10 inch circle dusting with a little flour. Repeat the same with the remaining half of dough and keep aside. 

3. In a large mixing bowl, mix the greens with ginger and garlic along with the olive oil. Keep aside until ready to use.

4. Place a wire rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. While the oven is heating up, add a little oil in a large 10 inch skillet pan with a lid on the stove on medium-high. Slap one naan on the hot skillet and cover the pan with a lid for 2 minute. Then flip the bread over and cook for 2 minutes covered with the lid. Remove the skillet from the stove. Layer the naan with half of the mustard greens mixture. Layer with paneer and mozzarella. Crack 2-3 eggs in the center of the naan and add half of the garam masala, coriander and half of the salt. Place the skillet in the preheated oven and bake the naan for another 5-8 minutes depending on how you like your eggs cooked. I like the egg whites to be just set and the yolks runny. Check the oven while the bread is baking. Prepare the second naan similarly. Serve hot.

15 Responses

  1. love this dish so much, nik! there’s nothing i love more than eggs for breakfast, and to top some slightly charred bread with them is just that much better! and i am so looking forward to seeing all the beautiful pastry creations you tackle in the future! xo!

  2. This is HEAVEN!!! I love saag paneer already, but on a naan pizza with eggs and mozzarella?! Oh my goodness. Just too wonderful. And love your stories about auditing culinary school — so fascinating! Thanks so much for sharing, Nik!

  3. These photos are incredible, Nik. And what a delicious looking recipe!

    Culinary school sounds fascinating. I’m always amazed by people who can make complicated pastries from scratch… it’s so much harder than one would think 🙂

  4. This is genius!! I’ve always wanted to try making naan from scratch, but I felt unprepared. You lay it out so easily that I’m tempted to try. Love hearing the stories about culinary school – so excited for you!

  5. My family had a garden a few years ago and I fell in love with mustard greens by growing them. I can’t think of a better way to use use them. I bet this is amazing!

  6. Nik, my mouth is watering! I can’t wait to try this. I’m up to my ears with greens right now for Nowruz preparations. Beautiful as usual.

  7. this is breakfast at its best…i have tried making pizza with eggs, it was a little messy process but delightful. im so glad you are enjoying your pre culinary school experience.

  8. Naan pizza sounds absolutely amazing. I grew up around the Bay Area and was spoiled with not only good Indian food, but also awesome Indian fusion food. Indian food in the Bay Area is reason enough for me to move back to my beloved state (I’m currently in Boston, where Indian food is a hit or miss). One of my fav things to eat is Indian pizza, and your recipe totally reminds me of it!! I am going to try your recipe when I’m feeling homesick again (probably tonight).

  9. Saag paneer is my favorite as well with a steamy cup of chai! I could go for some now…as for naan…it’s such a tasty and fun bread…what other food out there can be made by tossing it into a tandoori oven and let the magic happen. Oh if I had a tandoori oven…the possibilities that could happen in my nest! Happy Nesting!

  10. Laminated doughs intimidate the hell out of me too — was that class an intro or intermediate class? I’m curious to see where laminated doughs fall in the official scale of a culinary curriculum; to me they always seemed like extremely advanced technique, but maybe there’s something out there that’s even scarier and intense (ehem, macarons, cough… or is that just me???).

    This recipe looks fantastic as usual, Nik. I just showed my boyfriend your blog and he’s been looking over your recipes for the last hour, pointing things out that he wants me to make, lol. I think I’ve created a monster.

    1. I suck at macarons, I tried a few times failed, had some minor success once. I gave up.
      Aww, you and your boyfriend are too sweet. I might just have to plan a trip to see y’all soon!

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