Tandoori Naan Bread

Naan Bread

Naan is a round flatbread made of wheat flour. Naan is a staple accompaniment to hot meals in Central and South Asia, including the Punjab, Gujarat, and Rajasthan regions in North-west India, as well as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan and the surrounding region..

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 is usually leavened using yeast, but unleavened dough (similar to that used for roti) is also used. Naan is generally cooked in a tandoor, or clay oven, and is distinguished from roti which is usually cooked on a flat or slightly concave iron griddle called a tawa .

Modern recipes sometimes substitute baking powder for the yeast. Milk or yogurt may also be used to give greater volume and make them thicker.

Serving

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, "peshwari naan" is filled with a mixture of nuts and raisins, and "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 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), and butter or ghee is melted upon them.

Traditionally the naan is cooked in a tandoor, the type of clay oven after which tandoori food is named. In homes without a tandoor, a cast-iron frying pan without oil can be used.

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 dhaal and goes well with sabzis (also known as Shaakh).

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