Tadka Focaccia Bread
Love focaccia? Love a bit of spice? Then you will love this Tadka Focaccia Bread. It is such a great classic Italian no-knead bread paired with the most aromatic Indian spices that add so much flavor. I especially love serving this fluffy tadka focaccia with a refreshing cucumber raita. The warm spices nestled into the bread complement the cooling yogurt dip perfectly. I hope you enjoy this one!
This one was an extra exciting project for me! Tadka adds sooo much flavor to Indian dishes. I mean, when you temper whole spices in piping hot oil and ladle it over a cozy bowl of rice, what else do you expect to happen?
Tadka Focaccia Inspiration
I use chili oil/crisp liberally on just about anything: eggs, dumplings, toasted croissant with cream cheese. So I thought, why not use tadka in the same way? For years, I was so conditioned to only see it in and around Indian cuisine. But since I’m usually tinkering with some sort of a fusion dish in my kitchen, it was a light bulb moment when I thought, “What else can this punchy infusion do?”
What is Tadka?
Tadka is known as chhonk, bagar, phodni, vagarne, and more depending on the region of South Asia. It is a core technique in south asian cooking. When done correctly, it brings out all the aromatic notes in a dish. Typically, whole spices are “tempered” or “bloomed” in hot oil to release their flavors. That temper is used either as garnish or well incorporated into a recipe, usually a savory one.
Kitchen Tools
Ingredients
In this section, I’m talking about the hero ingredients for this recipe. Meaning, these ingredients make this recipe special and where the flavors come from. For a complete list of ingredients, see the recipe card below.
- Cumin seeds: Toasted in olive oil for the tadka, this spice adds a warm earthy flavor. Can be substituted with cumin powder.
- Asafoetida: A coarse pale yellow powder that has a pungent smell, this spice is essential to Indian cuisine. It has a certain umami you just understand when you taste. And only a small pinch of it brings together all the other spices and balances out a dish despite its punchy profile. It is typically hard to find at grocery stores but sometimes you’re able to catch it in the ethnic aisles. If not, head to your local South Asian grocery store or check the Vandevi brand from Amazon.
- Dried red chilies: You can find these in most grocery stores in the spices aisle. However, my favorite ones are from Diaspora because I find they have the most fresh flavor that really adds a nice kick to the bread. The Guntur Sannam chillies have a great smokey punch to them.
- Red onions: You can use white or red onions but I really enjoy using red because they add a fun pop of color to the top of the focaccia.
- Garlic cloves: Again, if you don’t have fresh garlic cloves on hand you can use garlic powder, but using fresh clove slices will add a little more interest to the top and give you a really nice texture in every bite!
The Focaccia Recipe
A little disclaimer, the focaccia recipe credit needs to go to Bon Appetite’s Sarah Jampel. She published the recipe back in 2020, and I’ve been obsessed ever since! I use this recipe whenever I feel like playing around with some squishy dough! Seriously though, try it. Sarah’s fluffy focaccia recipe is super easy to follow. And please go support her!
I hope you enjoyed learning about the my Tadka Focaccia Bread! If you try this recipe out, I would love to see your creation – tag me on Instagram @cherrycreekbakes. And don’t forget to let me know your thoughts in the comments below and give it a star rating.
Tadka Focaccia Bread
Ingredients
Tadka
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp asafetida
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp red chili powder
- 5 garlic cloves
- ¼ of a red onion You can use white or yellow onions but the red ones look prettier on the bread
- 2-3 dried red chilies
Cucumber Raita
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- ½ cucumber
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- ¼ tsp salt or to taste
- 5-7 sprigs of cilantro
Instructions
Sarah Jampel's Focaccia
- Follow all the instructions in this recipe but DO NOT bake the focaccia yet. We will be assembling it with the tadka before baking it up.
Tadka
- Slice the garlic cloves so you have little garlic disks. You can really chop the garlic however you want but the disks look prettier on the bread and also burn less quickly in the oil. Set aside.
- Thinly slice the red onions. Again, either way is fine but I like the look of the rings once laid onto the bread. Set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a small sauce pan. You can test if the oil is well heated by dropping a cumin seed in and seeing if it starts to bubble right around it.
- If cumin seed is sputtering, add in the rest of the whole spices. Let them temper for just about a minute. Turn the heat off and set aside.
Focaccia Assembly
- Once you have the focaccia dough prepped in your baking pan, meaning you have created dimples or deep depressions, spoon the tadka all over the dough, making sure to coat everything.
- Gently place the chopped garlic and red onions all over the dough. You can place them in any pattern, I just like to distribute them evenly all over.
- Now bake the focaccia. If you start to see that the garlic and onions are starting to burn towards the end of the bake time, gently cover the pan with foil and continue baking until completed according to Sarah's recipe.
Cucumber Raita
- Ideally, make this right before serving, because the cucumber releases water so you don't want your yogurt mixture to go too runny.
- Chop cucumber into small 1/4th inch pieces.
- Combine the plain yogurt, cumin and salt and mix until combined.
- Wash and chop the cilantro sprigs and mix into yogurt mixture.
- Add in the chopped cucumber and mix until just incorporated.
