Naan

Naan is a leavened flatbread that can be baked in a tandoor, an oven, or fried on a tawa. Its defining traits are a light, fluffy interior and golden-brown spots that develop during baking. The dough is made from white or wheat flour combined with a leavening agent, typically yeast, which creates air pockets for the soft texture. Warm water, salt, ghee, and yogurt are also standard ingredients, with milk, egg, or honey sometimes added. To speed up preparation, baking powder or baking soda can replace yeast. In a tandoor, the dough is rolled into balls, flattened, and pressed against the inner walls, which can reach 480 °C (900 °F), baking the bread in minutes and producing spotty browning from the intense heat. On a stovetop, a tava is used, and the pan may be flipped upside down over the flame to brown the surface. Once baked, naan is coated with ghee or butter and served warm, used to scoop up sauces, stews, curries, or drier dishes like tandoori chicken. The term "naan" derives from the Persian word *nân*, a general word for bread. The earliest known English use was in an 1803 travelogue by William Tooke, who spelled it "nan"; the spelling "naan" became predominant in the 1970s. Naan spread to the Indian subcontinent during the Islamic Delhi Sultanate period. The earliest mention in the region comes from the memoirs of Sufi poet Amir Khusrau in the 1300s AD, who described two kinds eaten by Muslim nobles: Naan-e-Tunuk, a light or thin bread, and Naan-e-Tanuri, a heavy bread baked in a tandoor. During the Mughal era in the 1520s, naan was a delicacy for nobles and royalty due to the lengthy leavening process and the specialized skill required. The *Ain-i-Akbari* records naan being eaten with kebabs or kheema. By the 1700s, it had reached the masses in Mughal cultural centers. Today, naan is found worldwide in South Asian and Middle Eastern restaurants and supermarkets, and appears in fusion dishes like naan pizza and naan tacos.