Saturday, January 10, 2009

Non-Naan


Indian food and playing with words are on my list of favorite things, right between Indian words and playing with food.  For years the word 'Naan', describing a round flatbread from South Asia, has been tumbling around my brain desperately wanting me to use it in a clever way.  Naan is pronounced like 'NON' as in not or against.  Who knew that my revelation would come when, of all times, I made Naan for the first time this evening?

The Naan did not have a great beginning.  After mixing all of the ingredients and kneading the dough, it didn't look quite right.  My neighbor, who would ultimately be eating the Naan with us for dinner, suggested more milk and yogurt which we promptly added.  It looked much better.  A glance at the recipe said to preheat the oven to 200 degrees and, once the bread had risen as much as a flatbread would, we placed it in the oven for the recommended 10-12 minutes.

After several minutes, which included a brief discussion about how ten minutes at 200 degrees didn't sound right, I looked at the recipe again.  200 degrees Celsius. 400 degrees Fahrenheit!  We turned up the oven and peered through the window.  Ten minutes later, it didn't look baked yet.  Eventually, the Naan looked a little brown and we pulled it out only to discover that it was much browner than we expected.

After tasting the Naan, I commented that I was disappointed that it didn't turn out very well.  Naan is soft and spongy, whereas what I made was fairly crusty on the outside and bready on the inside.  In fact, I had made Non-Naan.

My neighbor kindly remarked that it wasn't Naan, but was still very good.  I agreed.  In fact, I decided that it was terrible Naan but really amazing Focaccia!

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