Tandoori, Naan and Roti

Courtesy to the Turks and Afghan introducing the Tandoori oven in northern India, Indian bread enjoys a worldwide popularity today. Bread is favoured in the north because of the drier and cooler climate, and the three main breads that are consumed with any meal are roti, naan and chapati.

They are excellent sidekicks to any Indian curry, paneer or gravy dish, although certainly not on the ‘light’ side of any diet.

Naan is soft and fluffy, traditionally cooked in a tandoor or clay oven, and is made from plain flour with a little bit of yeast and sprinkled with Nigella seeds.

A sweet version of naan is sheermaal particularly in Mughal-Muslim restaurants, made with saffron.

Chapati and roti are both unleavened wheat-flour breads rolled out much thinner than a naan and resembling more of a tortilla, technically a chapati is a type of roti but roti has a few varieties including the tandoori roti cooked in the tandoor, and the roomali roti rolled out extra thin and used as a wrap in kebab rolls.