Awadhi Cuisine - Bread Preparations

Bread Preparations

Tea with Paratha Puri with accompaniments.

As wheat is the staple food of the state, breads are very significant. Breads are generally flat breads; only a few varieties are raised breads. Tawa roti is bread made on crude iron pans. Improvisations of the roti (or bread) are of different types and made in various ways and include the rumaali roti, tandoori roti, naan (baked in a tandoor), kulcha, lachha paratha, sheermaal and baqarkhani.

Breads made of other grains have descriptive names only, thus we have Makai ki roti, Jowar ki roti (barley flour roti), Bajre ki roti (bajra is a grain only grown in India), chawal-ki-Roti (roti of rice flour).

• Chapati is the most popular roti in India, eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

• Puri are small and deep fried so they puff up.

• Paratha is a common roti variant stuffed with fillings of vegetables, pulses, cottage cheese, and even mince meat and fried in ghee or clarified butter. This heavy and scrumptious round bread finds its way to the breakfast tables of millions.

• Rumali Roti is an elaborately prepared ultra thin bread made on a large, convex metal pan from finely ground wheat flour. The Urdu word rumaali literally means a kerchief.

• Tandoori Roti is a relatively thick bread that ranges from elastic to crispy consistency, baked in a cylindrical earthen oven. The Urdu word tandoor means an oven.

• Naan is a thick bread, softer and richer in texture and consistency than the tandoori roti. It is made from finely ground wheat flour kneaded into a very elastic mass. This bread is prepared with a rich mixture of cream, sugar, wheat flour, butter, and essence.

• Sheermaal is a sweetened Naan made out of Maida (All-purpose flour), leavened with yeast, baked in a Tandoor or oven. It typically accompanies aromatic quorma (gravied chicken or mutton). Originally, it was made just like Roti. The warm water in the recipe for Roti was replaced with warm milk sweetened with sugar and flavoured with saffron. Today, restaurants make it like a Naan and the final product resembles Danish pastry.

• Baqarkhani is an elaborate variation of the sheer-maal that is fried on a griddle rather than baked in a tandoor.