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A Guide to the Breads of India
- skbohra123 10y agoInded, a very detailed descriptions of various types of breads of India. Even being an Indian, I didn't know about many of them. I would like to add another one in the list, `bajra roti`, which is eaten in state of Rajasthan. It's made by millet flour[0]. [0] http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/bajra-roti-bajra-bhakri/ http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/bajra-roti-bajra-bhakri/
- bluesmoon 10y agoIt is quite extensive, though there are still a few missing. Bajri Roti, Akki Roti, Ragi Roti, Missi Roti, Makki Roti, Rotti (the crisp ones eaten with Kori Rotti), phulka, tava chappati, poi, dhokli (in dal dhokli), puri, idlis (and all variations of it), sannas, fugiyas, and this is just what I can remember from the North & West.
- vram22 10y agoOh mentioning all those other varieties reminded me of methi thepla. Not sure what it is made of - I first used to think atta (whole wheat flour) but may have read later that it is of besan (chickpea flour) or a combo of besan and atta. Anyway, they are so tasty that you can eat them plain. Often buy them from the neighborhood kirana store and keep, sometimes to have as an after-dinner snack if working late.
- parthdesai 10y agoyeah you can thepla plain or along with tea. source : am gujju and grew up eating thepla.
- bluesmoon 10y agoYes, methi thepla is made of a mix of besan and atta. My wife's mom makes the best theplas and chundo.
- orky56 10y agoYou can add Uthapam & Kothu Paratha to the list.
- bluesmoon 10y agoWell, the article covers Uttapam under variations of either dosa or appam, which I kind of agree with. Kothu Paratha is just minced up regular parota, so I would put it in the category of dishes made with breads (though I guess dal dhokli and dal baati also fall into this category).
- berberous 10y agoI really wish this came with real pictures instead of fanciful illustrations.
- vehementi 10y agoYeah, I basically can't tell the difference between any of of them.
- fusiongyro 10y agoThey might be useful if you already know what they're supposed to look like, but if you've never seen them before they look like ink smudges. For me, it's a major detractor from something that could have been a great resource. I would love to know more about the breads of the world.
- halcyondaze 10y agoIt will never cease to amaze me how negative the overall comments are on HN.
- piyush_soni 10y agoDepending on one's perspective, it may be taken as negative or an honest feedback. I am from India and already know about all of these 'breads', but the first thought that came to my mind was the same - how useful this article would have been, had the pictures been real ones rather than their cartoon like representations.
- sumedh 10y agoIts not a negative comment, its a constructive feedback. If they had real pics of those items I guarantee you that your brain would tell you to go to the nearest Indian restaurant and get eat all that food.
- halcyondaze 10y agoIt didn't do that after I googled a few images
- jessaustin 10y agoPerhaps this would have undermined the overall snootiness of TFA, but it would have been nice to have an entry for naan, even if it was "only" introduced in the 12th century. I'll admit, though, that the best naan I've had (and I've had a lot...) was at an Afghan place I used to frequent in the basement of Sim Lim Square, rather than at any Indian restaurant.
- tptacek 10y agoIt's less that naan is "new" to Indian cuisine and more that it isn't indigenous.
- Rifu 10y agoIf this is the Sim Lim Square in Singapore, do share the name. I'm always interested in checking out new food spots.
- jessaustin 10y agoSurely there can only be one Sim Lim Square?! It has been about 15 years since I lived next door, but the hawker stand I'm thinking of was called something generic like "Afghan and Pakistan Foods". The naan was the highlight, but the curries and stews were great as well. They had this really big taciturn dude who would work the dough between his hand and fist before throwing it in the tandoor. So good!
- Rifu 10y agohahaha just wanted to make sure. Sounds like I know what I'm checking out this weekend. Thanks!
- geodel 10y agoI agree. At least in US naans in Indian restaurants are rather sad piece of bread. Pakistani/Afghani/Turkish places always make glorious naans.
- coldpie 10y ago
- wonks 10y agoThank God you posted this; my office ordered Indian food today.
- bandrami 10y agoMan I miss a good pav.
- geooooooooobox 10y agoMalabar Porotha for the win!!!!!!!!! Fellow hackers, malabar porotha + fried beef -> foodgasm
- harichinnan 10y agoMalabar Porotta and beef has become a symbol of resistance for us Keralites. The central governmemt has tried to enact beef bans across the country as cow is holy in North Indian version of Hinduism.
- ohstopitu 10y agoI find it funny that I've tried almost all of them (without giving it another thought) in Dubai when I was growing up, but I've been missing this ever since I moved to Canada.
- cthalupa 10y agoDo you have Indian supermarkets where you are in Canada? My freezer is often full of of various types of bread that the GF has brought home. Honestly pretty tasty if you throw them in a pan with a little ghee or butter. ... I actually sub a few types of them in if I'm making a quesadilla and don't have reasonably fresh tortillas.
- ohstopitu 10y agoThere are a few shops an hour away. However, like I've always said "it's not the same". As an example, try having Maggie noodles (or even indomie noodles) from India, Middle east and North America - all taste different.
- hashhar 10y agoWow, this managed to teach me a lot about my own country and now I can't wait for my exams to end and get a taste of some of them. I really like when someone puts in this much of effort in creating content.
- nojvek 10y agoIf you're around Seattle area, small Hindu temples sometimes have a festival event called annakut, usually in oct-nov where they make 100+ Indian dishes. Sometimes a 1000. A good time to explore the variety of different foods. I'm not religious but I absolutely adore the Indian rituals and festivals.
- contingencies 10y agoThough Sydney is pretty damn good and I lived right near Brick Lane in London (with a Sri Lankan boss), the overseas subcontinental community I've most enjoyed culinarily is that of Bangkok. There are some absolutely amazing restaurants there, and you can take your pick of country of origin, north or south, state or region, religious variant (Muslim, Jain, Hindu, etc.), etc. Typical thali prices are ~100-200THB (~3-6USD). There are even free meals at some of the temples. Leaves Singapore in the dust.
- 0xcafecafe 10y agoThat usually happens around oct-nov since the annakut is done the day after Diwali (which is the major festival for majority of Indians) which falls around that times. Actually if you are in any major US city, you should be able to experience annakut.
- sean_patel 10y agoNice writeup, but calling Dosa, Appam and Iddiappam "Breads" is more than a stretch. None of these 3 have the major ingredients of what makes a bread. And it's missing the most important Indian bread - the Naan (despite the tagline saying "go beyond the Naan"). 1) Dosa - Crepe made from fermented lentil & rice paste 2) Appam - Rice pancake 3) Iddiappam - Steamed rice noodles. None of these are anywhere close to the traditional Bread as we know them.
- redditmigrant 10y agoNaan is definitely the most famous Indian bread, but the one that most Indians, especially in the north consume regularly is the roti,chapatti etc.
- vertex-four 10y agoIt's not consumed often in the south either - in at least Tamil Nadu and Kerala, most common is chapatti or the "Malabar" parotta (but more common than that is just to skip the bread and eat rice). Naan is cooked in a tandoor, so it's only served at places which serve tandoori chicken, which is not many places.
- vram22 10y agoActually tandoors (for making both tandoori roti and naan and tandoori chicken, chicken tikka, etc.) became quite common in restaurants in medium to large Indian cities some years ago. In fact I used to regret that you could not get the regular plain chapatis and rotis in restaurants (except for cheaper messes or dining halls); it became so that tandoori roti or naan was the only option even in any average or hole-in-the-wall restaurant.
- vertex-four 10y agoHuh, interesting - I left India some years ago, so I must've missed out on that.
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- pritianka 10y agoHUGE Bhatoora and Rumali roti fan. I really wish more restaurants in the US served rumali roti. I haven't had much success finding. For those who love bhatooras, I've found that even if it it's not listed on the menu, if you ask for it they have it :-)
- fareesh 10y agoThere used to be this Pakistani run diner across the street from the rear entrance of Hotel Pennsylvania on 7th avenue in NYC. Their breads were delicious - better than most that I've eaten here in India. Gave me the impression that our long lost fellow countrymen across the border have an enviable time at the dinner table by comparison. Unfortunately, haven't had the chance to sample the "real thing" in its natural habitat. Maybe someday!
- ketpat 10y agoAs an Indian guy who grew up on curry, I tasted a Lahori Karahi dish a few years ago, best curry I ever had.
- frandroid 10y ago> is really a foreign dish, prepared using refined flour, which came across the Himalayas from central Asia in the twelfth century, along with Muslim settlers. It would be nice of Indians to stop considering the bread of settlers who came 9 centuries ago as _foreign_... Edit: The writer seems to be American, but it's an attitude that's pervasive of the Hindu Right anyway...
- clock_tower 10y agoAt least speaking for myself, I can't complain; an invader or conqueror can still feel foreign after centuries have passed. If the Irish can throw off the Saxon yoke after "Eight Hundred Years of Oppression" (roughly 1250-1950), I think the Indians can do the same. (EDIT: Not with the literal Saxon yoke, although they did have occasion to free themselves of England...) Islam in the Subcontinent is at least as much an invasive, alien presence as England in Celtic Britain (or England in all of Britain, when you consider Anglo-Saxon origins), or Germans in the Slavic world -- or the US in the US, for that matter. EDIT: But there are entries here about "Indian breads" that originate at the Mughal court, derived from Afghan or other Islamic traditions. Those aren't Indian breads if naan isn't!
- tptacek 10y agoThey're Indian in the same sense that New York City pizza is American and not Italian --- it would be silly to call NYC pizza "Italian", as it's an indigenous American dish that is merely inspired by an Italian predecessor. A good acid test is, did Indian culinary culture substantially alter the dish? In the case of naan, no, it probably didn't. In other cases, more so.
- ZenoArrow 10y ago> "it would be silly to call NYC pizza "Italian", as it's an indigenous American dish that is merely inspired by an Italian predecessor" What makes NYC pizza its own food type? There might be some minor differences like the type of dough commonly used, but I remember NYC pizza being fairly conventional (larger than average slices, not much else to distinguish it). If NYC pizza is American, you could use the same logic to state that curry was British. There are regional variations of curry that were popularised in Britain. However, it doesn't seem right to claim them as solely British, considering most of the culinary innovation that led up to these dishes happened elsewhere.
- gumby 10y agoThe comment about the "North-South/wheat-rice axis" really hit home (though I grew up, outside India, eating both). In 1984 I was in Sri Lanka as the civil war was gearing up. It was a rather exciting time, and not in the good sense of "exciting. From there I flew up to Delhi to stay with my auntie and uncle. Our entire dinner table conversation the night I arrived was the following: Uncle: "You were in Sri Lanka?" Me: "Yes" Uncle: "Sinhalese?" (the Buddhist majority in Sri Lanka) Me: "Yes" Uncle: "Huh. Rice eaters." (In the realms of exciting: a few weeks later I was in Delhi when the PM was assassinated. That whole summer and fall was crazy).
- bbgm 10y agoMy mom grew up in South India, so in our house rice has always had a more central role than in many other north Indian households (and other southern Indian dishes). Always kept things interested. Aside: I wasn't in India in 1984 but recall being glued to the BBC world service after it happened. Crazy times
- bluesmoon 10y agoThat was the day I left Delhi.
- chewxy 10y agoThis north=wheat/south=rice axis also exists in China. When I visited the southern parts of China this year, the cuisine was completely different from the baozi/bread/noodle heavy cuisine of the north. Very rice heavy. In fact I was entertained by a story about how Guilin rice noodles were invented because a governor from the north didn't like rice and ordered noodles to be made from rice about 1400 years ago. Spices used were different too - the southern cuisines had spices catered to warmer weather while in cities like Beijing the spices cater more to colder weather. I found that interesting.
- zeveb 10y ago> The comment about the "North-South/wheat-rice axis" Speaking of, does anyone else think that an axis is something things rotate around, and thus that a north-south axis would divide the country into East & West?
- mehulkar 10y agoShouldn't naan and generic "roti/chappati" be in the list also?
- whistlerbrk 10y agoA good paratha stuffed with something like peas dipped into a slightly sweetened yogurt is revelatory.
- vram22 10y agoAgreed. Any good paratha, with a stuffing and/or a side, actually. Some common stuffings I've had parathas with: radish (mooli), peas (matar), potato (alu), fenugreek leaf (methi), Indian cottage cheese (paneer), ... And a hot (aka spicy) chutney to go with it is even better.
- SippinLean 10y agoI mostly eat roti/chapatis and puris; are they in this article under a different name? Is uttapam just an appam variant?
- gopalv 10y ago> Is uttapam just an appam variant? Nope - the word, AFAIK means "cooked food" in this case, a pancake. Appam is made from fermented rice and no lentils in the mix. Also it is cooked crispy on the edges in a deep wok[1] like cooking vessel. Uthappam is made from batter similar to dosa batter (with lentils), but is never flipped while cooking (neither is the appam, but who cares). It's more of a thick open-sandwich style pancake with toppings - come to think of it, it's a griddle pizza with rice batter. Fermenting is perhaps common between them, but the ferment in an appam is usually sugary substances (Kallu in the morning) and the Uthappam has no added ingredients for the ferment, so is more sour. [1] - https://www.flickr.com/photos/t3rmin4t0r/88102227/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/t3rmin4t0r/88102227/
- vram22 10y ago>I mostly eat roti/chapatis and puris; are they in this article under a different name? They are mentioned in the first paragraph of the article: "Before that, North India’s unleavened wheat-based flatbreads—rotis, chapatis, and puris—would have been made from whole grains" but don't seem to have separate entries, on a quick search of it. >Is uttapam just an appam variant? No. Appam is a Kerala dish. Uttapam and dosa are in the whole of South India (and of course now a lot of the world, at least dosa is). The dough for appam might be the same or similar as dosa/dosai and uttapam, though they may add other things to it, like toddy or neera (fermented or unfermented palm juice), for the consistency and a bit of a sweet taste. But uttapam is a cousin of the dosa, just thicker and often with a good amount of finely chopped onion and a bit of chopped green chili sprinkled on top, and flipped over so the top side is fried too (same with dosa, (shallow) fried on both sides).
- SippinLean 10y ago>They are mentioned in the first paragraph of the article: I saw that, I more meant did they have a detailed description like the other ones, just under a different name? Thanks for the info on the uttapam!
- pixel05 10y agoWhere is my beloved uttapam?
- rvalue 10y agoThe website didn't do a good job at all with the images it used to describe all the items
- neeleshs 10y agoGreat article and introduced me to some interesting new ones! This is still scratching the surface. With such a broad view of what a bread is, some more south indian stuff : # Idly - steamed buns made of lentil/rice batter # Rava idli - Spiced semolina steamed buns # Paddu - small griddle fried buns made of spiced lentil/rice batter # Tellevu - crisp & thin dosa made of cucumber & rice batter # Todadev - sweet, crisp & thin layers of jaggery/sugar cane juice, cardamom and rice baked on top a hot inverted pot The last two are really a speciality from my community from the Western Ghats
- shripadk 10y agoJust a few corrections for fellow travelers: 1. Kulcha and Paratha is available in any North Indian restaurant in any part of India. It is not restricted to Kashmir / Punjab or North India as the article suggests. 2. Vade originated in South India and not Western India. It is available in any South Indian restaurant in any part of India. It is typically eaten with Idlies. If you pick any menu in a South Indian restaurant you'll find that it is written as "Idly-Vada" (not to be confused with Vada-Pav). 3. Thalipeth is also available in North Karnataka apart from Maharashtra. 4. Bhakri is also available in North Karnataka. 5. Pav is available in any North Indian restaurant in any part of India. Not restricted to Mumbai/Goa.
- bluesmoon 10y agoVade and Vada are different things. Vade is a very Maharashtrian thing (think daal vadi) and looks nothing like either medu vada or aloo bonda (vada pav) Also, if you're in the US, you can get most of these frozen in any medium sized Indian store.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- shripadk 10y agoAh ok I get what you are saying. The thing is, in Karnataka, we use Vade/Vada interchangeably for "Medu Vada" even though it is not the same as "Vada" in "Vada Pav". Hence the confusion. Thanks for the correction!
- bluesmoon 10y agoI hear you. I've lived in both states. I also think it's cool that the Medu Vada is different in Coastal Karnataka (Mangalore/Konkan region), Inner Karnataka, Goa & Tamil Nadu.
- arjn 10y agoSome comments including what some have already pointed out : - Naans are not usually made in Indian homes. They are much more common in restaurants. They are also not considered to be as healthy as rotis or phulkas. - Indians (mostly North Indians) eat rotis, chapatis , phulkas (basically an inflated chapati) or parathas. - A well made phulka or paratha can be absolutely delicious. - There are many kinds of parathas and the food has long ago spread south where they have their own kinds. - I don't think dosas or appams can be considered breads. I think they're closer to crepes. - There seems to be much missing from this list including some Goan breads (can't recall the names) and some other South Indian types.
- 24gttghh 10y agoNaan being less healthy is a bit confusing to me as it is a fermented wheat bread, unlike the rotis/chapatis. The fermentation breaks down the gluten and other carbohydrates, making the wheat more digestible...
- vram22 10y agoI think those saying so must mean it because it has less fiber (naan is from maida, refined wheat flour, while rotis/chapatis are from atta, which is whole-wheat flour).
- 24gttghh 10y agoAhhh I was unaware of this distinction. I make something very "naan-like" with unbleached bread flour and sourdough yeasts that is apparently less "traditional" than I had thought?
- vram22 10y agoYes, that would make it more like an Indian roti, except for the yeast, which is not used in roti. But atta - the whole-wheat flour used to make roti and chapati and also puri - is not just unbleached - in fact I don't know if it bleached or not - hope not - it is also unrefined wheat flour - meaning they do not remove the bran, or they remove the bran (or outer layers of the wheat grain) but remove less of it than for maida, which I've read is similar to US all-purpose flour. So atta has more dietary fiber and a more noticeable taste. In fact for Indian grain / flour products made from wheat, there is a sort of gradation - we have: - daliya - a very coarsely broken wheat grain product - cannot call it a flour, it is too coarse for that - pretty tasty when used to make upma / uppit, even without much spices added. I think couscous may be somewhere between daliya and rava or the same as daliya in granularity - never had it, so not sure. Daliya is so coarsely broken (not finely, I mean) that you can see individual pieces of it, and it looks medium brown and you can tell that it is from wheat, which you cannot for atta just by looking at it - atta just looks like a light brown (near white) flour which could be from any of a number of grains. - rava - I think this is like or the same as semolina - less coarse than daliya but still coarse, you can see the small individual pieces - used to make upma, also to make rava dosa (mentioned in the OP) - atta - the whole-wheat flour used to make chapati, roti, puri - finer [1] than rava, this one is a flour - maida - the refined wheat flour, finer than atta - this is used to make naan. [1] finer - meaning in diameter, not in taste or quality.
- pksadiq 10y agoAlso note that most of us usually eat by hand (though this is changing due to the influence of west). I find any food less tasty when eaten not using hand.
- ashayh 10y agoI had to do 10 google queries to find "Randnya roti" as there is no canonical English spelling. https://glutlust.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/nagpurs-native-bread/ https://glutlust.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/nagpurs-native-bre... There is another central Indian bread called "pahile" or some such, google cannot find it.
- aidenn0 10y agoI had a college roommate whose family was from Punjab (though he was born in the US). His mom would send Parathas regularly and it was delicious. He reserved the potato & onion ones for his own study food so I never got to try those though.
- myrandomcomment 10y agoThe Bhatoora should be a Puri. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puri_(food) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puri_(food) My favorite when done right. Keeping it from being oily is key.
- rv11 10y agoboth are different. poori is wheat and bhatoora is maida.