Naan 馕

Overview

Chinese Name: 馕
English Name: Naan; Nang
Category: Staple主食
Main Ingredients: Flour

Naan馕 is a Persian phonetic translation, which means bread. It is a traditional staple food of Uygur维吾尔族, Kazak哈萨克族, Uzbek乌孜别克族, Tatar塔塔尔族, and other ethnic groups. It is popular in Xinjiang新疆 and other places. The outer skin of Nang is golden yellow, with flour as the main raw material. It is mostly fermented noodles, but without alkali, put a little salt.

Naan in Xinjiang新疆 has a reputation for being “better without meat for three days than without Nang for one day宁可三日无肉，不可一日无馕”. In history, the Jiashi伽师 people were famous for making a living by fighting Nang.

The largest Nang is called “Aimanke艾曼克”. It is thin in the middle, thick on the edge, with patterns in the center and a diameter of 40-50 cm. It is known as the king of Nang. The smallest Nang is called “Tokasi托喀西”. It is 1cm thick and the workmanship is the most exquisite. There is also a “Gejide格吉德” Nang with a diameter of about 10 cm, a thickness of about 5-6 cm, and a hole in the middle. Nang also has many patterns and uses rich raw materials.

Generally, only one or two of the most basic varieties of Nang are seen. In fact, there are many varieties of Nang. 11 kinds of Nang are mentioned in the Turkic Dictionary突厥语大词典, and the production methods of 20 kinds of Nang are introduced in detail in the Uygur Recipe维吾尔族食谱 published in 1984.

Although there are many varieties of Naan, the main raw materials and basic methods of making Nang in ancient and modern times remain the same. Its main raw materials are flour (wheat flour or corn flour), sesame, onion, egg, clear oil, butter, milk, sugar, and salt. Made from fermented or unfermented flour.

There are many kinds of Nang, and Kashgar people love “Wowo Nang窝窝馕”. The birth of “Wowo Nang” is full of stories and folk wisdom. The first generation of Nang beating people first spread the dough on a stone heated with firewood.

Later, it was found that the paste dough flows to the ground and tastes better after being scalded by the high-temperature loess. So they began to build Nang pits with loess and burn firewood in the pits to bake Nang. The dough with a slightly thicker periphery and thinner center makes Wowo Nang keep a soft and crisp taste at the same time.

Nang is very resistant to storage and is the main food for Uighur families. Other ethnic groups in Xinjiang also like to eat Nang. Therefore, towns have small workshops (commonly known as Nang houses馕房) for baking and selling Nang. Uygur families can make baked Nang. Nang is usually served with Fu tea茯茶, milk tea, or broth.

The technology of making Nang is almost universal among Uyghur people. Both men and women can make Nang. Especially when entertaining guests, they will take out all kinds of Nang to entertain you. If you visit the Uighur family in Kuqa County库车县, they tend to pile up the largest Nang to the smallest Nang, put it in the shape of a tower, and put it in the center of the table, which not only makes you eat but also makes you “open your eyes开眼界”.

Uygur people have many taboos on Nang, such as not allowing counting; Naan dregs cannot be discarded to the place where your feet step on; Don’t waste it. Pick up the Nang dregs that fall on the ground and put them high for birds to eat. In the eyes of Uighurs, Nang is life. They have a famous saying: “Nang is faith馕是信仰, and no Nang will suffer无馕遭殃”.

How to make Naan?

Ingredients：

250 flour
20 grams of sugar
100ml milk
4g yeast

Instruction:

Step 1, Knead the fermented dough for a while.
Step 2, Flatten the dough into a circle and roll up the concave edge in the middle.
Step 3, Put it on baking paper for secondary fermentation.
Step 4, Prick an eye on a pastry with a fork.
Step 5, Preheat the oven to 150 degrees, and then put the baking pan into the oven.
Step 6, Bake until the dough becomes golden and crisp.