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Comment by jessaustin | Hacker News Reader

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.

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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.

It's less that naan is "new" to Indian cuisine and more that it isn't indigenous.

As an Indian self proclaimed connoisseur of naans and other breads, I can't agree with you more. Afghan/Pakistani bread is amazing by comparison.

I agree. At least in US naans in Indian restaurants are rather sad piece of bread. Pakistani/Afghani/Turkish places always make glorious naans.

If you like to cook, making naan at home is pretty easy and delicious. I fry it in a cast iron skillet for a couple minutes per side. Then top with whatever thick stew you like, Indian or otherwise.

Spouse made it the way you describe sometime back and result was not too bad. Though I love a massive round naan with their spicy karahi from near by pakistani place.

recipe? I've never tried Indian at home, mainly because its intimidating and seems time consuming to learn what each of the cooking words means (for this very limited american palate at least). I dont necessarily have time to remember when atta or maida should be used (or what they are again), and what my convenient american-kitchen equivalent of a tava or tandoor could be...

Now... "put some yogurt, milk, water, AP flour and X,Y,Z in a cast-iron pan and fry it"? Yes that I can handle...and will probably come back to.

I guess I've never found the right "bridge" to Indian cooking... any links would be helpful.

From Googling "translate Indian recipe": http://www.indianfoodforever.com/glossary.html , which says that, for example, 'maida' is 'refined flour', and 'atta' appears to be an umbrella name for various kinds of wheat flours.

I might have the quantities off, but I use something like, 14 oz of AP flour, 1/2 cup of yogurt, 3/4 cup of water, 1 tsp of yeast, 1/8 tsp of baking powder, 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tsp of salt. Activate the yeast in water, mix all the ingredients until combined, but don't need to knead. It should be quite wet. Let rise for 2-4 hours. Then split into 6-8 balls, flatten by hand and/or with a rolling pin, around 9" wide and 1/4" deep, and fry in a skillet on medium.

As for curries, they're a little tricky to do traditionally (ask me about burning whole spices in oil!), but you can make plenty delicious "American-style" Indian food in a crock pot. One of our favorites is crock pot chicken tikka, google it.

A trick I was taught in an Indian cooking class is to turn off the heat while frying the spices. Then turn it back on again when you add more stuff.

Kenji Alt has a recipe at Serious Eats, but naan is really simple: it's a yeast-leavened 65% (water/flour) dough where the liquid is some kind of acidic dairy (milk, buttermilk, yogurt) --- about 4% fat.

A trick my wife showed me that has sort of changed my life is that you can roll it out between two silpats to get it very thin without having it stick to the roller.

Huh, never heard of a silpat. Rolling out is always the biggest pain, I'll have to pick some up and try that.

They're like infinitely reusable silicone parchment paper sheets that you bake directly on. They're incredibly useful.

You make a yeast dough with lots of butter or yogurt and milk, wait for it to expand, then flatten it and grill it. Works well on a barbecue grill, or of course a tandoor if you have it.

If this is the Sim Lim Square in Singapore, do share the name. I'm always interested in checking out new food spots.

Surely 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!

hahaha just wanted to make sure. Sounds like I know what I'm checking out this weekend. Thanks!

I agree. A few common breads (at least from my time in bangalore) are omitted: naan, puri, vada.

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