Naan () is a leavened, oven-baked or tawa-fried

flatbread A flatbread is a bread made 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 pizza and pita bread. Flatbreads ran ...

, that can also be baked in a tandoor. It is characterized by a light and fluffy texture and golden-brown spots from the baking process. Naan is found in the cuisines of Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. Composed of white or wheat flour and 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 Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from India. It is commonly used in India for cooking, as a traditional medicine, and for religious rituals. Description Ghee is typically prepared by simmering butter, which is churned from c ...

and yogurt, with optional additions like milk, egg, or honey. Baking powder or baking soda can be used instead of yeast to reduce the preparation time for the bread. In the baking process using a tandoor, naan dough is rolled into balls, flattened and pressed against the 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 intense heat. Naan can be prepared on a stovetop using a tava. The pan may be flipped upside down over the flame to achieve browning on the bread's surface. Once baked, naan is coated with

or butter and served warm. This soft and pliable bread accompanies meals, replacing utensils for scooping up sauces, stews, and curries, or with dryer dishes like tandoori chicken.

Etymology

Naan Bakery, Iran, Qajar era (circa 1850)

The term "naan" comes from Persian ''nân'' (), a generic word for any kind of bread. The earliest known English use of the term occurs in an 1803 travelogue written by William Tooke. While Tooke and other early sources spelled it "nan", the spelling "naan" has become predominant since the 1970s.

Varieties

Indian subcontinent

Naan spread to the Indian subcontinent during the Islamic

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526).

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. Khusrau mentions two kinds of naan eaten by

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

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. During India’s

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

era in the 1520s, naan was a delicacy that only nobles and royal families enjoyed because of the lengthy process of making leavened bread and because the art of making naan was a revered skill known by few. The

Ain-i-Akbari The ''Ain-i-Akbari'' ( fa, ) or the "Administration of Akbar", is a 16th-century detailed document recording the administration of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, written by his court historian, Abu'l Fazl in the Persian language. It for ...

, a record of the third Mughal emperor’s reign, refers to naan being eaten with

kebab Kebab (, ; ar, كباب, link=no, Latn, ar, kabāb, ; tr, kebap, link=no, ) or kabob (North American) is a type of cooked meat dish that originates from cuisines of the Middle East. Many variants of the category are popular around the wor ...

s or

kheema Ground meat, called mince or minced meat outside North America, is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. A common type of ground meat is ground beef, but many other types of meats are prepared in a similar fashion, includ ...

in it. By the 1700s, naan had reached the masses in Mughal cultural centers in South Asia.

Indonesia

In Indonesia, naan is a popular alternative to rice among the

Indians Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

, Arabs,

Malays Malays may refer to: * Malay race, a racial category encompassing peoples of Southeast Asia and sometimes the Pacific Islands ** Overseas Malays, people of Malay race ancestry living outside Malay archipelago home areas ** Cape Malays, a communit ...

, Acehnese and the Minangkabaus, similar though not the same as roti or roti canai which was introduced from Tamils. This dish is known as roti naan or roti nan, and is cooked using Indonesian spices such as garlic.

Myanmar

''Naan bya'' () in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

is traditionally served at teahouses with tea or coffee as a breakfast item. It is round, soft, and blistered, often buttered, or with creamy (boiled

chickpea The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Its different types are variously known as gram" or Bengal gram, garbanzo or garbanzo bean, or Egyptian pea. Chickpea seeds are high ...

s) cooked with onions spread on top, or dipped with Burmese curry.

China

The Jingzhou style of guokui, a flatbread prepared inside a cylindrical charcoal oven much like a tandoor, has been described as "Chinese naan". It is also an integral part of Uyghur cuisine and is known in Chinese as 馕 (''náng'').

Japan

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.

Georgia

Shotis puri is a popular flat bread eaten in Georgia and cooked by sticking dough to the sides of a tandoor-like clay oven called a ''tone''.

Elsewhere

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 Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...

where naan is used as the crust instead of the traditional pizza dough. Chefs such as Nigella Lawson, and supermarkets such as Wegmans offer recipes for people to make their own naan pizza at home, though it is certainly not traditional.

Gallery

File:Bread of Afghanistan in 2010.jpg, Nan in Afghanistan File:Naan in Afghanistan.jpg, Nan in Kabul, Afghanistan File:نان مزاری.jpg, Nan in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan File:Indian naan bread.jpg, Indian naan baked in the tandoor File:Peshawari Roti, Pakistan.jpg, Tandoor-baked naan in Karachi File:二道桥馕店2.jpg, A Uyghur naan store in Ürümqi, China File:Baking bread by nomad women in Lar National Park.jpg, Nan in Iran File:Iranian Bread 1.JPG, Nân-e barbari in Iran File:Naan Sangak.jpg,

Nân-e sangak ''Sangak'' ( fa, سنگک, az, səngək, ku, sengek) or ''nân-e sangak'' ( fa, نان سنگک) is a plain, rectangular, or triangular Iranian whole wheat leavened flatbread. History In Persian 'sangak' means little stone. The bread is b ...

in Iran File:Taftan nan 01.jpg, Nân-e tâftun in Iran File:Butter Garlic Naan.jpg, Butter garlic naan File:Cheese Naan.jpg, Paneer (cheese) naan File:Nanbya.jpg, Burmese nan bya

References

External links

* * {{Bread Afghan cuisine South Asian breads Yeast breads Flatbreads Persian words and phrases Bangladeshi cuisine Bengali cuisine Pakistani breads Indian cuisine Indian breads Indonesian breads Iranian cuisine Iranian breads Kurdish cuisine Burmese cuisine Uyghur cuisine Caribbean cuisine