Naan Bread – Originally created from India but is today eaten in most types of South Asian restaurants and homes around the globe. It’s said that the Delhi Sultans introduced the use of the tandoor, naan, keema, and kebab cooking and food before the Mughals in India.
We do have some information on how you can add pumpkin into the Indian Naan.
For most part of the glorious Naan, due to its kneading technique and use of yeast, which at that time was limited to the richer section of the society, remained a delicacy that was made in royal households and those of nobles. And though there are sparing mentions of the naan reaching the common man by the end of the 1700s, Naan did remain, and still does, a specialised art that only a few were privy to, and fewer mastered it. What however the naan did was help develop yet another common yet lovable flatbread on the culinary table – the tandoori roti made of the dough of maida and atta in the common tandoor. And while it didn’t have that softness of the naan, it came out as a crunchy flatbread that complimented the succulence of a meat or vegetarian dishes.
Indian Naan
Ingredients
- 1.4 cup cup warm water
- 2 tbl instant yeast
- 1 ser egg
- 3 tbl olive oil
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbl ghee
- 1 ser garlic optional
Notes
Instructions
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Combine warm water, yeast, and sugar in a large bowl; let sit for five minutes or till bubbly. Add olive oil, yogurt, egg, salt and 2 cups of flour. Stir till smooth.
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Add enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead a few times on a floured counter until smooth.
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Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled.
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Preheat a skillet to medium heat.
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Cut dough into eight pieces. On a floured surface, roll out each piece into a 6" circle.
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Add a little oil or non-stick spray to the skillet. Cook each circle for 2-3 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown on the bottom. Flip over and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
However, in India, the breads were mostly chapattis and thick rotis that could survive for at least a week and were developed during the Harappan culture, when wheat was also cultivated. But it took the civilization another 100 odd years to come up with a tandoor-based fermented bread variation. Due to its pairing with Mughlai and North Frontier cuisine, many believe Naan, like kebabs that came from Persia, was developed by the Persians and the Mughals. However, the first recorded history of Naan found in the notes of the Indo-Persian poet Amir Kushrau, dates this unleavened bread to 1300 AD. Then Naan was cooked at the Imperial Court in Delhi as naan-e-tunuk (light bread) and naan-e-tanuri (cooked in a tandoor oven). During the Mughal era in India from around 1526, Naan accompanied by keema or kebab was a popular breakfast food of the royals.
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