E40: Nimzo, what is blacks best plan?

In the nimzo-indian 4.e3 Ne4 5.Nge2 variation black has the opportunity to play an interesting series of moves:

Emms calls this "enticing, but it's not obvious if white's move are weakening, or simply space gaining".

I think this presents a good opportunity to take the opponent into a unique position, however I am struggling to come up with a good plan for black.

The first thing that comes to mind is throwing the h pawn up the board to attack, but I'm not sure if there's any realitic way to do this while behind in development, suggestions?

I'm always a little suspicious of these early forays in the opening.

Maybe something like this is possible?

Naturally, but most white players are out of book after 4..Ne4. I feel that in these cases, if all other things are equal the more ferociously you can press your opponent the better. In the least having someone probe your kingside then throw their h pawn at you is uncomfortable, especially if it proves to be a sound method of equalising.

I prefer White from the first position.  That's a classic Stonewall Attack position, up several tempi, except that the king knight is a bit misplaced on e2.  I'd take it anyway, though, because Black is behind on development and has a misplaced queen himself.

If I were Black, I would proceed with d5, O-O, and simple development to try to catch up.  If you could reinforce the strong Ne4, that would be nice, but I don't think Black has the time because of the unfortunately position of the Qf6, which blocks both f5 and Nd7-f6.  So you will likely need to exchange or retreat your best piece, the Ne4 (to d6), because after Bg2 an exchanged pawn on e4 would be difficult to defend.  At this time, attacking with h5 etc. is not justified because White hasn't castled, can defend his rook on h1 easily with Bg2, is ahead on development, and has better control of the center.

Yeah, trying to support the knight was one of the first things I tired, since e4 had been weakened so much, but as you noted black seems to slow.

I think an improvement for black is to start with Nc6 and b6 and then begin h5 once white castles, or it otherwise seems disruptive. Despite your accurate observations about the dynamics of the position, it's not as easy for white to make progress as it would initially seem.

4...Ne4 is playable, but the 5...Qh4 follow-up is plain stupid: Black does not create any serious weaknesses in white's camp- he just helps white to build a safe space advantage at his own cost.

Black should employ the typical ...0-0, ...f5, ...b6, ...Bb7 setup with a reasonable game. I think move order is not terribly important, but I may be wrong- I never analysed this in depth.

Thanks for your post, I would definately agree now. I've been playing around with it on the engine a bit. While it can be difficult for white to make progress, black's position can seemingly become devoid of any counterplay, which gives white plenty of time to make headway into blacks position.
So long as white doesn't try to rush and refute blacks play he probably has a large advantage.