Alternative names | Nan, Noon, Paan, Faan |
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Region or state | Iran, Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and the Caribbean |
Main ingredients | Flour, yeast, salt, sugar, ghee, water |
Naan is a leavened, oven-baked (usually using a tandoor) or tawa-fried flatbread. It is characterized by its light and slightly fluffy texture and golden-brown spots from the baking process. [1] Naan is found in the cuisines mainly of Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and the Caribbean. [2] [3] [4] .
Primarily composed of white or wheat flour combined with a leavening agent, typically yeast, naan dough develops air pockets that contribute to its fluffy and soft texture. Additional ingredients for crafting naan include warm water, salt, ghee (clarified butter), and yogurt, with optional additions like milk, egg, or honey. Sometimes, baking powder or baking soda is used instead of yeast to reduce the preparation time for the bread.
In the traditional baking process inside a tandoor, naan dough is rolled into balls, flattened, and then pressed against the tandoor's inner walls, which can reach temperatures up to 480 °C (900 °F). This method allows the bread to be baked within minutes, achieving a spotty browning due to the intense heat. Alternatively, naan can be prepared on a stovetop using a flat pan known as a tawa. The pan may be flipped upside down over the flame to achieve the characteristic browning of the bread's surface.
Once baked naan is typically coated with ghee or butter and served warm. This soft and pliable bread frequently accompanies meals, replacing utensils for scooping up dahls, sauces, stews, and curries, or is enjoyed with dryer dishes like tandoori chicken. [5]
The term "naan" comes from Persian nân (Persian : نان), a generic word for any kind of bread. This word was borrowed into a range of languages in the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia, where it came to refer to a specific type of bread. The term then spread around the globe along with the style of bread itself.[ citation needed ]
The earliest known English use of the term occurs in an 1803 travelogue written by William Tooke. [6] While Tooke and other early sources spell it "nan", the spelling naan has become predominant since the late 1970s. [7] [8] [9]
The most familiar and readily available varieties of naan in Western countries are those from South Asia. Naan spread to the Indian subcontinent during the Islamic Delhi Sultanate period. The earliest mention of naan in the region comes from the memoirs of Indo-Persian Sufi poet Amir Khusrau living in India during the 1300s AD. Amir Khusrau mentions two kinds of naan eaten by Muslim nobles; Naan-e-Tunuk and Naan-e-Tanuri. Naan-e-Tunuk was a light or thin bread, while Naan-e-Tanuri was a heavy bread and was baked in the tandoor. [10] . During India’s Mughal era in the 1520s, Naan was a delicacy that only nobles and royal families enjoyed because the art of making Naan was a revered skill, known by few and the lengthy process of making leavened bread. The Ain-i-Akbari, a written record of the third Mughal emperor’s reign, also mentions naan and it was eaten with kebabs or kheema (spiced minced meat) in it. By the 1700s naan had reached the masses in Mughal cultural centers in South Asia. [11]
In Indonesia, naan is popular in Indian Indonesian and Arab Indonesian communities as well as in Malay, Acehnese and Minangkabau communities–with other variants of roti like roti canai . This dish is usually locally known as roti naan or roti nan and cooked using Indonesian spices, such as garlic with a local taste. [12]
Naan bya (Burmese : နံပြား) in Myanmar is traditionally served at teahouses with tea or coffee as a breakfast item. [13] It is round, soft, and blistered, often buttered, or with creamy pè byouk (boiled chickpeas) cooked with onions spread on top, or dipped with Burmese curry. [13]
External image | |
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A slideshow of Hyderabadi Kulcha / Naan / Sheermaal preparation images. Published on Flickr, retrieved 2023-02-06 |
The Jingzhou style of guokui, a flatbread prepared inside a cylindrical charcoal oven much like a tandoor, has been described as "Chinese naan". [14] It is also an integral part of Uyghur cuisine and is known in Chinese as 馕 (náng). [15] [16]
After being promoted by Kandagawa Sekizai Shoukou in 1968, which is now the sole domestic manufacturer of tandoors, naan is now widely available in Indian-style curry restaurants in Japan, where naan is typically free-flow. Some restaurants bake ingredients such as cheese, garlic, onions, and potatoes into the naan, or cover it with toppings like a pizza. [17] [18] [19]
In 1799, the word naan was introduced into the English language by historian and clergyman William Tooke. Today, naan can be found worldwide in restaurants serving South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine, and it is available in many supermarkets. Fusion cuisine has introduced new dishes that incorporate naan, including naan pizza and naan tacos and even huevos rancheros (an egg dish) served over naan. Naan pizza is a type of pizza where naan is used as the crust instead of the traditional pizza dough. Chefs such as Nigella Lawson, [20] and supermarkets such as Wegmans [21] offer recipes for people to make their own naan pizza at home, though it is certainly not traditional.
Roti is a round flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent. It is commonly consumed in many South Asian, Southeast Asian, Caribbean, and Southeast African countries.
Pakistani cuisine can be characterized as a blend of regional cooking styles and flavours from across South, Central and Western Asia. Pakistani cuisine is influenced by Persian, Indian, and Arab cuisine. The cuisine of Pakistan also maintains certain Mughal influences within its recipes and cooking techniques. Pakistan's ethnic and cultural diversity, diverse climates, geographical environments, and availability of different produce lead to diverse regional cuisines.
Punjabi cuisine is a culinary style originating in the Punjab, a region in the northern part of South Asia, which is now divided in an Indian part to the east and a Pakistani part to the west. This cuisine has a rich tradition of many distinct and local ways of cooking.
Lavash is a thin flatbread usually leavened, traditionally baked in a tandoor or on a sajj, and common to the cuisines of South Caucasus, West Asia, and the areas surrounding the Caspian Sea. Lavash is one of the most widespread types of bread in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey. The traditional recipe can be adapted to the modern kitchen by using a griddle or wok instead of the tonir.
Barbari bread is a type of yeast leavened flatbread. It is one of the thickest flat breads and is commonly topped with sesame or black caraway seeds. A notable characteristic of the bread is its top skin that is similar to pretzels or lye roll's skin due to the Maillard reaction that occurs during baking. Before baking it is glazed with a mixture of baking soda, flour and water. It is widely known as Persian flatbread in United States and Canada.
A flatbread is bread made usually with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pita bread.
Indian breads are a wide variety of flatbreads and crêpes which are an integral part of Indian cuisine. Their variation reflects the diversity of Indian culture and food habits.
Taftan or taftoon is a leavened flour bread from Iran, introduced to Kuwaiti and South Asian cuisines. It is made with refined flour, milk, yoghurt, and eggs and baked in a clay oven. It is sometimes flavoured with saffron and a small amount of cardamom powder, and may be decorated with seeds such as poppy seeds.
Khubz, alternatively transliterated as khoubz, khobez, khubez, or khubooz, is the usual word for "bread" in Standard Arabic and in many of the vernaculars.
Bakarkhani or Baqarkhani or Bakorkhoni also known as bakarkhani roti, is a thick, spiced flat-bread that is part of the Mughlai cuisine. Bakarkhani is prepared on certain Muslim religious festivals in South Asia and is now popular as sweet bread.
Cuisine of Uttar Pradesh is from the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) located in Northern India. The cuisine of UP has a large variety of dishes. The cuisine consists of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes of different varieties. Being a large state, the cuisine of UP share lot of dishes and recipes with the neighboring states of Delhi, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana. Apart from native cuisine, Mughlai, Awadhi and Bhojpuri are famous subtypes of cuisine of the state.
Awadhi cuisine is a cuisine native to the Awadh region in Northern India and Southern Nepal. The cooking patterns of Lucknow are similar to those of Central Asia, the Middle East, and Northern India and western India with the cuisine comprising both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The Awadh region has been influenced by Mughal cooking techniques, and the cuisine of Lucknow bears similarities to those of Central Asia, Kashmir, Punjab and Hyderabad. The city is also known for its Nawabi foods.
Sheermal, also spelled shirmal, is a saffron-flavored traditional flatbread eaten in Iran and the Indian subcontinent. The word sheermal is derived from the Persian words شیر meaning milk, and مالیدن meaning to rub. In a literal translation, sheermal means milk-rubbed. Found by Persians in Old Dhaka, it was introduced to North India by the Mughal emperors during the medieval period. It became a delicacy of Lucknow, Hyderabad and Aurangabad. It is also part of the Awadhi cuisine and is enjoyed in Old Bhopal and Pakistan.
Tandoor bread refers to a bread baked in a clay oven called a tandoor.
A tandoor is a large urn-shaped oven, usually made of clay. Since antiquity, tandoors have been used to bake unleavened flatbreads, such as roti and naan, as well as to roast meat. The tandoor is predominantly used in Western Asian, Central Asian, South Asian, and Horn of African cuisines.
Tandyr nan is a type of Central Asian bread cooked in a vertical clay oven, the tandyr or tandoor. It is circular and leavened with yeast, and typically has a crisp golden surface. They are often decorated by stamping patterns on the dough, and can be topped with ingredients like sesame seeds, nigella seeds, or thinly sliced onion.
Muhajir cuisine refers to the food and culinary style of the Muhajir people in Pakistan, the descendants of Muslim migrants from India who migrated to Pakistan following the partition of India. Most Muhajirs have traditionally been based in Karachi, hence the city being known for Muhajir tastes in its cuisine. This cuisine has a rich tradition of many distinct and local ways of cooking. Muhajirs clung to their old established habits and tastes, including a numberless variety of dishes and beverages.
Paratha is a flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent, with earliest reference mentioned in early medieval Sanskrit, India; prevalent throughout the modern-day nations of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago where wheat is the traditional staple. It is one of the most popular flatbreads in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. Paratha is an amalgamation of the words parat and atta, which literally means layers of cooked dough. Alternative spellings and names include parantha, parauntha, prontha, parontay, paronthi (Punjabi), porota, paratha, palata, porotha, forota, farata, prata, paratha, buss-up shut, oil roti and roti canai in Malaysia and Indonesia.
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