Naan

Etymology

The term "naan" comes from Persian nân (نان), 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 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 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 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, a record of the third Mughal emperor’s reign, refers to naan being eaten with kebabs or kheema 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, Arabs, Malays, 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 is traditionally served at teahouses with tea or coffee as a breakfast item. It is round, soft, and blistered, often buttered, or with creamy my (boiled chickpeas) 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 饢 (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.

France

In France, the classical naan has been revisted with cheese, to create Cheese Naan in Paris in the 1970s. The most likely origin is attributed to André Risser, who, concerned about the French reception of Indian cuisine in 1967, decided to fill naan with cheese spread. Another hypothesis attributes the creation of the variant, in Paris in 1976, to an Indian family from Bombay.

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 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 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

References

1. (1987). "Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads By [[Bernard Clayton Jr.]], Donnie A Cameron". Simon and Schuster.
2. link. (24 April 2023 by Anil Ashokan, Greg Elms)
3. 978-3-540-67466-5. p. 118.
4. link. (24 April 2023 by Beth Hensperger)
5. "Naan | Description, History, Ingredients, Preparation, & Varieties | Britannica".
6. ''Russia, or a Complete Historical Account of all the Nations which compose that Empire'', London, p. 168: "The most common dishes are ''onoschi'', or vermicelli; ''plav'', or boiled rice; ''nan'', pancakes, and the meats which the law permits." (referring to the eating habits of the central Turks). Other attestations in English can be found in the [[Oxford English Dictionary]], ''s.v.'' naan.
7. "Home : Oxford English" Dictionary". oed.com.
8. Milton Glaser and Jerome Snyder. [https://books.google.com/books?id=IugCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA73 "Delhi Delights"], ''[[New York Magazine]]'', August 11, 1975, p. 73
9. (Jun 11, 2020). "History of Naan". Times of India.
10. (2015). "Breaking Bread". Forbes life india.
11. "Baking with Eda: 'Naan' Indonesian Flatbread".
12. "Eating in Burma".
13. "This 1,000-Year-Old Chinese 'Naan' Was Once Cooked in a Hat, and It's Yummy".
14. "Uighur Nan with Cumin and Onion Recipe".
15. (6 May 2021). "Have You Ever Seen Uyghur Bazaar Naan? It's So Fluffy and Delicious | TRP".
16. (27 July 2018). "【近ごろ都に流行るもの】「カレーにナン」本場インド以上に普及・巨大化".
17. (6 May 2019). "インド人が驚く日本の｢ナン｣独自すぎる進化 | 食べれば世界がわかる！カレー経済圏".
18. "日本のインド料理店のナンが大きい理由 | 雑学ネタ帳".
19. (2022-11-18). "La recette du cheese naan".
20. (2022-01-14). "La recette du cheese naan".
21. Nigella. "NAAN PIZZA - Recipes - Nigella Lawson". nigella.com.
22. "Recipes - Wegmans". wegmans.com.