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What's the one bread that comes to your mind when you think of India? Many people would say it's naan.
Everyone loves it, and I find something incredibly reassuring about it. I love how the spongy, soft, unleavened bread soaks up the flavour of anything you dunk it into.
The earliest reference to naan was found in 1300 AD in the literary works of the renowned poet, Amir Khusrau, where he talked about naan being served in the imperial courts of Delhi. Over the years, naan has taken India and the world by storm and has become one of the most popular breads around the globe.
Nearly every Indian restaurant serves it; in fact, the best naan I've ever eaten was at a tiny Indian restaurant tucked away in the lanes of Tauranga in New Zealand when we traveled a few years ago. Perfectly baked, spongy and soft, and slathered generously with ghee, it was just poetic.
Now that I've written an ode to naan, let me share a secret. Most Indians eat naan at restaurants. Yes, you read that right. The signature taste and teardrop shape that it's known for comes from a clay oven or tandoor (a clay jar dug into the soil). The baking temperature can reach about 900° F (480° C). Imagine having that oven in your home.
Many Indians eat naan at restaurants. Source: Far Flung with Gary Mehigan
Perfectly baked, spongy and soft, and slathered generously with ghee, it was just poetic.
Also, it's made using plain flour, but the daily bread eaten in most homes uses wholewheat or rice flour. So, while naan is a treat that one can indulge in occasionally, here are some Indian breads that can be made in your home every day.
Roti or chapati
The everyday staple made with wholewheat flour, water and salt is cooked on a tawa or griddle. The dough is kneaded fresh for lunch and dinner to make the softest roti.
My mother-in-law makes the softest chapatis. They are paper-thin and delicate. They are perfect even the next day to eat with leftovers or for breakfast, dunked in a cup of tea.
Paratha
Paratha is a staple North Indian breakfast and involves the same dough as roti. However, it gets stuffed to its gills with various savoury vegetable fillings. Then it goes on a hot grill with an overzealous helping of ghee or butter. My favourite is mashed potato paratha served hot with butter, Indian pickles, yogurt and a cup of tea.
Akki roti
Akki roti is a gluten-free bread from the state of Karnataka. It's made with rice flour mixed with chopped onions and green chillies.
It's delightfully chewy and addictive.
Puri
Puri is an unleavened bread that's made nearly everywhere in India. It features wholewheat flour.
Fried until it puffs up, it's usually eaten with potato or chickpea curry.
Puran poli
Puri is known to puff up while it's being fried.
Also known as holige, obbattu and bobbattu, puran poli is an Indian sweet bread.
Lentils cooked with jaggery and cardamom are ground into a dry powder, which is known as puran. It gets stuffed in a dough called poli and then cooked until done. You must have it slathered generously with ghee.
Bakarkhani
The state of Kashmir is known for its love of bread.
Kashmiris start their day by going to the local bakery, known as a kandur, to get a loaf of fresh bread. It's a big part of their tradition.
Bakarkhani is a puff pastry cooked in layers. You stretch a sheet of dough repeatedly with ghee and then bake it.
Czot
Also called roti, czot is an everyday Kashmiri bread. However, it's very different from the soft, paper-thin roti found in other parts of India.
Czot is thick, doughy and golden. It's best slathered with butter or jam and enjoyed with a cup of tea.
Pao
A bread from the state of Goa, pao is the Portuguese word for bread.
A close cousin of the dinner roll, it is soft and spongy, making it a perfect accompaniment to mop up those delicious curries that Goa is also known for.
Sheermal
Sheermal is a famous bread from the state of Lucknow that's very indulgent. It was traditionally made with saffron, ghee, cardamom and milk. It also contains the essence of screw pine, which is known as a luxurious ingredient.
However, over a period, milk was replaced with water and it now contains a synthetic colour to give it the trademark yellow hue that it's known for.
So, as you would've figured out by now, there's more than naan in the Indian breadbasket. The next time you go to an Indian restaurant, be adventurous and order a different bread. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
Bhavna Kalra is a passionate Indian cook based out of Sydney. She missed Indian food after moving to Australia over a decade ago and started to cook, write, and document the traditional recipes that she grew up eating back home. follow her on Instagram
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