Nice 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.
Only if you believe that there is a canonical definition of bread, which refers to the things made out of wheat flour, whose only acceptable meaning is what the western hemisphere thinks of as bread.
Dosa, Appam, and Idiappam are breads, even though even in South India, if you ask for "bread" from your local grocer, they'd give you sliced loaves. We use the word bread to refer to these other staple breakfast dishes in an anglicized context, because it maps better than any other word to the meaning we want to convey. Which is why restaurant menus categorizes them under "Indian Breads", and if you accept that language is mutable and responds to how people use it, this is as good an alternative meaning as it can get.
>it's missing the most important Indian bread - the Naan
That description is at least somewhat subjective. I would say Indians in India tend to eat roti (tandoori roti) as much as naan, and plain roti and chapati even more (the latter two are considered home foods, so not seen much at restaurants). Naan tends to have a slightly higher-end image (IMO/IME) and I've seen foreigners in India tending to order naan more often than rotis (particularly garlic naan, which seems to be a favorite of many). My guess it that it has been marketed to them more than tandoori rotis in the glossy magazines. on planes, etc., plus it might be/look more close to some Western breads (e.g. garlic bread like garlic naan, also the shape of naan is a bit like a French bread, maybe), so a bit more familiar to them.
But in India plenty of people eat and relish tandoori rotis, plain rotis (which are roasted on a tava in the house, not an outdoor tandoor), and chapatis (thinner version of plain rotis, but also allowed to quickly puff up on the open flame after roasting on tava). IMO tandoori roti tastes better than naan, which is made of maida (refined wheat flour).
And all of the above taste pretty good in slightly differing ways (though all except naan are made of whole-wheat flour).
What are the three major ingredients of a "bread"? Isn't a dough any hard-set culinary foam created by somehow cooking a relatively homogenous, ultimately water-based dough?
Were you thinking of "flour, water, and leavening"? Flour is any grain processed so as to make breadmaking easier. All these recipes include water. There are hundreds of different unleavened breads, and many of these breads are yeast-leavened.
Crepes and pancakes are (usually) quickbreads. A Chinese scallion pancake might not fit that bill (and might not be a quickbread), but Dosas clearly do.
The article carefully explains why naan isn't included: it's not an Indian bread. Naan is a staple throughout central Asia, which is where India imported it from.
Naan is not the most important bread. About the only time I've eaten naan (growing up mostly in India) is at restaurants. At home it's always roti, parathas, or poori.
Naan while being common in restaurants, is not common in households. It requires a specialized oven and isn't easy to make at home. Roti/Chappati/Parathas are the common ones. There are regional differences too - Naans are uncommon in South Indian restaurants. The staple one in this category in Kerala is a Barotta which is a flaky bread similar to the Thai rotis.
The 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).
This 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.
My 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
> 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?
Perhaps 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.
Ah Sim Lim Square...glorious memories of time spent wandering all the floors. It used to be my pilgrimage site while in Singapore. Even took my son there a few years back after several decades so he can see what his old man used to waste his spare time on.
After visiting Shenzhen and Huaqiang Bei this year I have to reconsider my future pilgrimage site.
I wish I had spent some time in the food courts though.
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.
Malabar 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.
HUGE 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 :-)
There 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!
> 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...
At 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!
> but it's an attitude that's pervasive of the Hindu Right anyway
I haven't seen that attitude at all. Even the worst among Shiv Sainiks seem to consider vada pau their traditional dish. As for naan, the Indians I know consider it Punjabi, and traditionally made in a tandoor oven. Looking at it from another point of view, potato, tomato and chili are now considered inseparable from Indian cuisine. And yet, naan apparently came to India long before these vegetables did.
I think they mean "foreign" in the sense that a food writer would, for instance, refer to pasta as foreign to French food, and roux-thickened mother sauces foreign to Italian food. I don't think it's a political distinction.
The issue is that naan is basically one of the defining staples of Central Asian food, so it's weird to refer to it as an Indian bread.
If 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.
Though 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.
Some 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.
Great 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
I 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.
>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).
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.
Appam is the good stuff from Kerala. The batter is usually mixed with coconut Toddy, a popular alcoholic beverage.
Uttapam is made when dosa batter doesn't get over for 4-5 days. The bread tastes sour due to the amount of time it gets fermented. It's garnished with onions and cilantro.
Dosa batter has a life cycle of it's own.
1. Overnight after the batter is ground and left to ferment -> Idly. Steamed buns(Something that's missing in the original article)
2. Evening of day one to day 3 - Dosa
3. beyond day 3 - Uttapam
They also make a thing called Paniyaram after day 3 in the south which looks like cup capes, but tastes sour and is best eaten with chicken curry.
Agreed. 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.
I 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.
[+] [-] sean_patel|9 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] jasim|9 years ago|reply
Dosa, Appam, and Idiappam are breads, even though even in South India, if you ask for "bread" from your local grocer, they'd give you sliced loaves. We use the word bread to refer to these other staple breakfast dishes in an anglicized context, because it maps better than any other word to the meaning we want to convey. Which is why restaurant menus categorizes them under "Indian Breads", and if you accept that language is mutable and responds to how people use it, this is as good an alternative meaning as it can get.
[+] [-] vram22|9 years ago|reply
That description is at least somewhat subjective. I would say Indians in India tend to eat roti (tandoori roti) as much as naan, and plain roti and chapati even more (the latter two are considered home foods, so not seen much at restaurants). Naan tends to have a slightly higher-end image (IMO/IME) and I've seen foreigners in India tending to order naan more often than rotis (particularly garlic naan, which seems to be a favorite of many). My guess it that it has been marketed to them more than tandoori rotis in the glossy magazines. on planes, etc., plus it might be/look more close to some Western breads (e.g. garlic bread like garlic naan, also the shape of naan is a bit like a French bread, maybe), so a bit more familiar to them.
But in India plenty of people eat and relish tandoori rotis, plain rotis (which are roasted on a tava in the house, not an outdoor tandoor), and chapatis (thinner version of plain rotis, but also allowed to quickly puff up on the open flame after roasting on tava). IMO tandoori roti tastes better than naan, which is made of maida (refined wheat flour).
And all of the above taste pretty good in slightly differing ways (though all except naan are made of whole-wheat flour).
[+] [-] tptacek|9 years ago|reply
Were you thinking of "flour, water, and leavening"? Flour is any grain processed so as to make breadmaking easier. All these recipes include water. There are hundreds of different unleavened breads, and many of these breads are yeast-leavened.
Crepes and pancakes are (usually) quickbreads. A Chinese scallion pancake might not fit that bill (and might not be a quickbread), but Dosas clearly do.
The article carefully explains why naan isn't included: it's not an Indian bread. Naan is a staple throughout central Asia, which is where India imported it from.
[+] [-] bbgm|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] redditmigrant|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alphakappa|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] perseusprime11|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] berberous|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fusiongyro|9 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] vehementi|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] halcyondaze|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gumby|9 years ago|reply
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:
(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).[+] [-] chewxy|9 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] bbgm|9 years ago|reply
Aside: I wasn't in India in 1984 but recall being glued to the BBC world service after it happened. Crazy times
[+] [-] bluesmoon|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zeveb|9 years ago|reply
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?
[+] [-] jessaustin|9 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] gjkood|9 years ago|reply
After visiting Shenzhen and Huaqiang Bei this year I have to reconsider my future pilgrimage site.
I wish I had spent some time in the food courts though.
[+] [-] tptacek|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fareesh|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] geodel|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Rifu|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] clay_to_n|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skbohra123|9 years ago|reply
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/
[+] [-] shripadk|9 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] geooooooooobox|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] harichinnan|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pritianka|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fareesh|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frandroid|9 years ago|reply
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|9 years ago|reply
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!
[+] [-] lake99|9 years ago|reply
I haven't seen that attitude at all. Even the worst among Shiv Sainiks seem to consider vada pau their traditional dish. As for naan, the Indians I know consider it Punjabi, and traditionally made in a tandoor oven. Looking at it from another point of view, potato, tomato and chili are now considered inseparable from Indian cuisine. And yet, naan apparently came to India long before these vegetables did.
[+] [-] tptacek|9 years ago|reply
The issue is that naan is basically one of the defining staples of Central Asian food, so it's weird to refer to it as an Indian bread.
[+] [-] nojvek|9 years ago|reply
I'm not religious but I absolutely adore the Indian rituals and festivals.
[+] [-] contingencies|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] arjn|9 years ago|reply
- 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.
[+] [-] hashhar|9 years ago|reply
I really like when someone puts in this much of effort in creating content.
[+] [-] neeleshs|9 years ago|reply
# 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
[+] [-] ashayh|9 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] bandrami|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ohstopitu|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cthalupa|9 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] SippinLean|9 years ago|reply
Is uttapam just an appam variant?
[+] [-] vram22|9 years ago|reply
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).
[+] [-] gopalv|9 years ago|reply
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/
[+] [-] harichinnan|9 years ago|reply
Uttapam is made when dosa batter doesn't get over for 4-5 days. The bread tastes sour due to the amount of time it gets fermented. It's garnished with onions and cilantro.
Dosa batter has a life cycle of it's own. 1. Overnight after the batter is ground and left to ferment -> Idly. Steamed buns(Something that's missing in the original article) 2. Evening of day one to day 3 - Dosa 3. beyond day 3 - Uttapam They also make a thing called Paniyaram after day 3 in the south which looks like cup capes, but tastes sour and is best eaten with chicken curry.
[+] [-] whistlerbrk|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vram22|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aidenn0|9 years ago|reply