Dishoom's Bacon Naan Roll recipe

There is life before Dishoom’s bacon naan roll, and after. I had one of those slow-mo moments when I bit into it (this also happened with M&S’s Best Ever Burgers and a tin of ventresca tuna). It wasn’t just that the naan was light and fluffy or that the chunky Ginger Pig bacon was crisped to perfection - it was the combination of fresh herbs, tomato-chilli jam and cream cheese. Some people question the cream cheese; it’s unexpected and I get slightly high-pitched trying to convince them of its necessity and brilliance. It ends with an exasperated “Look, you just need to try it!” except that we’re nowhere near a Dishoom in Norwich. But now, thankfully, we have the cookbook and I can almost recreate it because breakfast truly doesn’t get any better than this.

I say “almost” because I don’t make the naan bread. It’s a big ask to make bread for breakfast, especially when it involves 10 minute/2 hour/30 minute proves. For a while all the supermarkets were selling thin, folded naans, which were perfect, but eventually they disappeared. Occasionally I can find a four pack of flatbreads and the ones in the picture came from M&S but I wish the folded naans would come back. I’ve listed the Dishoom naan ingredients and recipe but even Dishoom admits that “making naan at home will not be easy”, unless you have a tandoor oven that can reach 500°C.

I did make a half portion of tomato-chilli jam and it’s absolutely worth doing. We often use a shop bought chilli sauce or sriracha but the sweetness of the jam goes perfectly with the salty bacon. It lasts for up to a month in the fridge.

If I don’t have fresh coriander I’ll use frozen. I can’t be without coriander in the kitchen but the fresh stuff wilts quickly so I keep a stash in my freezer that I’ve washed and patted dry. Whenever I need it I break a bit off, finely chop the stalks and leaves, then add it to my dish. I have all kinds of frozen herbs; they can’t be used to finish a dish as they aren’t pretty once defrosted but if you just want flavour then they do the job. For the bacon naan I chop up a tablespoon of frozen coriander and mix it with the cream cheese.

Col has an egg with his bacon naan and I have mine plain. We made the sausage naan, which is almost as delicious and tofu bacon is next on my list. I’ve even bought liquid smoke in preparation. To create the full Dishoom experience we make a batch of masala chai to drink with our naans and put on the Dishoom CD (yes, we bought the CD, it’s really good and don’t get me started on Col’s CD collection). It’s the best we can do until they finally get around to opening Dishoom Norwich.