India is renowned for its delectable cuisine, rich spices, and distinctive flavors. There is a lot of emphasis on hot meals and dishes, as well as baked items like bread.
Visitors to India may attest to the quality of the country’s bread, particularly the flatbreads naan, paratha, chapati, and roti.
Naan is a leavened flatbread made from wheat flour, all-purpose flour, or a combination of the two. While roti and chapati are common foods in North India, it is traditionally prepared in a tandoor. Unleavened bread made with whole wheat flour is cooked on a griddle or tawa.
A flaky, layered flatbread called a paratha is a staple in North Indian households. Breakfast parathas with paneer and veggies including potatoes, cauliflower, and cabbage are well known.
Indian bread is used for almost every dish, sometimes as a main course with additional fillings inside, or as sidelines with liquid-based salad, and curry.
Let’s explore the vast world of Indian bread. Read on to learn more.
Indian Bread
In India, bread is the primary eating implement and is used to scoop up anything from exquisite chicken or paneer to sauce.
They can be baked, fried, steamed, or slapped over the tandoor’s imposing walls in numerous ways, whether they are leavened or not.
Indian bread comes in around 30 different varieties as of now. Every city adds its own twist to the type of flour used and the cooking technique utilized. Therefore, they vary from region to region.
However, the ability to sop up an excellent gravied curry or house a variety of toppings and stuffings is what these bread tend to have in common.
The good news is that while there are numerous varieties of bread, or roti, in India, which one you choose to eat mostly depends on your particular preferences and the area you are visiting.
Indian bread comes in a variety of popular types, including:
- Naan
- Chapati/Roti
- Paratha
- Thepla
- Appam
- Dosa
- Puri
- Idli
What Is A Roti/Chapati?
Chapatti is a sort of round flatbread that is thinner than naan and is occasionally referred to as roti.
Chapat, which translates to “slap” in Hindi, is the name given to the bread because it is stretched and slapped by hand before being cooked in a frying pan.
Chapatti is an unleavened bread that can be produced using a variety of flour types; however, it is typically made with stone-ground whole wheat flour.
The chapatti’s thinness prevents it from making you feel full or heavy after eating. This is the reason why many Indians and foreigners like having it as a sideline with the main course.
Chapatti is a versatile food that mixes well with both wet and dry dishes. Chapattis can also be consumed for breakfast with just a chutney or dipping sauce.
What Is A Naan?
Indian flatbread known as naan is distinguished by its dense, chewy texture, which is almost identical to focaccia bread. It is typically kept in a refrigerator and served hot to increase shelf life.
It is prepared with maida, a delicate and powdery form of white flour found in India. To get the exterior crispness, naan must be cooked in a tandoori oven.
Typically, nigella seeds—often confused for black cumin or onion seeds because of their pungent flavor—are used to season this bread.
The dough is thrown on the oven wall in bakeries, where it adheres. After that, the bread is baked until crisp and golden. There are many naan variants available, including plain, buttered, filled, and garlic varieties.
What Is A Paratha?
A common flatbread in India, paratha is perhaps second to chapatti in terms of popularity among households.
As parathas are repeatedly folded after being coated with a layer of butter or oil, they are flaky and thicker than other Indian flatbreads.
The terms “layered bread” (parat and atta) and “paratha,” respectively, are the origins of the word paratha. The flakiness of well-made parathas should make you think of a croissant or puff pastry.
In North India, parathas are frequently consumed for breakfast and occasionally loaded with contents like spicy potatoes or onions.
This kind of bread is typically available at hotel buffets and restaurants and goes well with curries or gravy meals for lunch and dinner.
Difference Between Roti, Naan, Paratha, And Chapati
All three of these Indian bread—Roti, Paratha, and Naan—are remarkably distinct from one another in terms of preparation, texture, and flavor. These are the primary distinctions between these three varieties of bread.
The most well-known Indian bread is arguably naan, which is praised for its thickness, crispy exterior, and soft interior. In North India, this bread is frequently consumed with Mughlai cuisine and is either plain, with butter, or with butter and garlic.
Roti or chapati is another well-known flatbread in India. It is produced from wholemeal stoneground flour, also known as atta. Roti is typically consumed as a main meal with meat and veggies. Roti, in contrast to Naan, is made without yeast and fried on a flat griddle.
Paratha is a flatbread from North India that can be filled or not. It is frequently thicker and has numerous layers (8–10) that are generously ghee-oiled.
The Mughlai paratha is believed to have been invented by Jahangir’s cook, Adil Hafiz Usman, during his rule (1569–1627) over the Mughal Empire.
Let’s have a nutrient comparison between the three Indian bread categories.
| Nutrients | Roti | Naan | Paratha |
| Protein | 7.85g | 10.2g | 6.36g |
| Fat | 9.2g | 6.7g | 10g |
| Carb | 46.13g | 46.21g | 17.2g |
| Water | 35.43g | 34.9g | 33.5g |
How To Make A Naan At Home?
Authentically fluffy, chewy, bubbling naan has long been elusive to many. There are several recipes available for making the ideal naan, but I’ll be sharing my personal favorite here.
Our naan dough needs the yeast to be activated and prepared to do its magic. It is a great method for softening and fluffing up the naan.
When the liquid starts to froth after being left to sit for ten minutes, the yeast is still active. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, and salt) in a large basin, then stir in the frothy yeast, butter or ghee, milk, and eggs;
The dough should first be brought together by combining it with a sturdy rubber spatula or a wooden spoon.
Change to using your hands once the mixture becomes too stiff to practically stir with a spatula. The dough should readily form a ball as it comes together and should be soft and sticky.
Form the dough into a ball after the butter or ghee has been included. Cling-wrap the bowl and place it somewhere warm to prove for 1 to 1.5 hours, or until the volume has doubled.
On a surface that has been lightly dusted with flour, lift the dough out of the bowl. Makes six equal pieces. Pick up a piece, lightly press it down on a lightly dusted surface, and then roll it out.
Alternatives to Roti, Chapati, Naan, and Paratha
Appam
A common Indian dish, the appam is a bowl-shaped pancake cooked with rice flour and coconut milk.
Nasranis, a sect of Syrian Christians who bake appam on a stone, is traditionally connected to Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, and Kerala, where appam is especially well-liked; appam is typically eaten for breakfast or dinner.
It is usually served with hot sauces and curries made with coconut milk. Steamed eggs, chutneys, fish, meat, and vegetables are just a few of the things that can be used to fill the pancakes.
Thepla
Throughout the day, Thepla, which are savory flatbreads, provides a delightful snack. These are prepared with yogurt, whole wheat flour, millet flour, herbs, and spices, with or without the addition of vegetables or greens.
Fresh fenugreek (methi) leaves and whole-grain flour are used to make it. These leaves smell amazing both raw and cooked, and they have a mildly bitter flavor with a tinge of maple.
In addition to being quite healthy, fenugreek is well known for its ability to lower blood sugar and inflammation.
Conclusion
- Some of India’s most well-known flatbreads are roti, chapati, paratha, and naan. Some of these can be used interchangeably, but they also have unique properties. Both the ingredients and the cooking technique are to blame for these variations.
- There are not many ingredients used to make roti or chapati. In fact, it might be one of the world’s earliest varieties of bread. Water and wheat flour are used to make it.
- The typical method followed by the majority of Indian households is to quickly fry the food on a Tawa, a specific frying pan used in India.
- Due to its versatility, parathas are one of the most popular unleavened flatbreads in India. They are flaky, chewy, and denser than chapatis. Ghee is repeatedly layered and folded to give the paratha its flaky, chewy texture; this process is similar to that used to make puff pastry.
- The most well-known Indian bread is called naan, and it tastes best when it is served hot from the tandoor alongside foods like tandoori chicken and kebab.