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Naan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Naan (Hindi: नान, Urdu: نان, IPA: ['næn] or [nan]) is a round flatbread made of wheat flour. Naan is a staple accompaniment to hot meals in Central and South Asia, including the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Gujarat, and Rajasthan regions in North-west India and in Pakistan, as well as Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan and the surrounding region. In Turkic languages (such as Uzbek and Uyghur) the bread is known as nan. In Burmese, naan is known as nan bya. It bears a resemblance to pita bread, but is softer in texture. The first recorded history of Naan/Roti can be found in the notes of Amir Khusrau (1300 AD) as naan-e-tanuk (light bread) and naan-e-tanuri (cooked in a tandoor oven) at the imperial court in Delhi. Naan was in Mughal times a popular breakfast food, accompanied by kheema or kabab, of the royals.
Naan resembles pita bread and, like pita bread, is usually leavened with yeast; unleavened dough (similar to that used for roti) is also used. Naan cooks in a tandoor, or clay oven, from which tandoori cooking takes its name. This distinguishes it from roti which is usually cooked on a flat or slightly concave iron griddle called a tava. Modern recipes sometimes substitute baking powder for the yeast. Milk or yogurt may also be used to give greater volume and thickness to the naan. Typically, the naan will be served hot and brushed with ghee or butter. It can be used to scoop other foods, or served stuffed with a filling: for example, keema naan is stuffed with a minced meat mixture (usually lamb or mutton); peshwari naan and Kashmiri naan are filled with a mixture of nuts and raisins; aloo naan is stuffed with potatoes. Possible seasonings in the dough include cumin and nigella.
A typical naan recipe involves mixing white flour with salt, a yeast culture, and enough yogurt to make a smooth, elastic dough. The dough is kneaded for a few minutes, then set aside to rise for a few hours. Once risen, the dough is divided into balls (about 100 grams or 3½ oz each), which are flattened and cooked. In Indian cuisine, naans are typically graced with fragrant essences, such as rose, khus (vetiver), and kevra (a pine essence native to Southern India), with butter or ghee melted on them.
Starting in the 1970s, the popularity of Indian cuisine increased rapidly in Western culture, starting in Britain with the emergence of curry restaurants. Many of the earliest such restaurants based their food on the cuisines of north and west India and Pakistan, such as the spicy and filling Punjabi and the sweet and colourful Gujarati cuisines. These restaurants have typically provided a basket of bread at the table in the same manner that European restaurants set out a basket of rolls. Thus breads like the naan soon became familiar outside their areas of origin.
Naan can also be covered with various toppings of meat, vegetables, and/or cheese. This version is sometimes prepared as fast food. It can also be dipped into such "soups" as dal and goes well with sabzis (also known as Shaakh). Nan bya in Burma is a popular breakfast choice served usually with tea or coffee. It is round, soft, and blistered, often buttered, or with pè byouk (boiled peas) on top, or dipped in hseiksoup (mutton soup).
- The largest ever Naan was baked at the Bengal Brassiere Curry House in Hither Green, London according to the Guiness Book of Records.
