After much kvetching about it, I will cave and put up a post so you aren’t tormented by South Indian perfection everytime you hit F5.
I find it wickedly hilarious that the only thing I had “ready-made” was also about…food. 🙂 Don’t worry– these Naan looked a lot better than they tasted, which was not very good. How do you cook something with ghee in a tandoor and STILL have it taste like a pita?
::
I keep it fobulous, y’all.
No, really. I’m going to. By my conservative estimate, we have people from twelve different countries working on my project; several of them bring food from home every day, which they nuke in the microwave, which means the fragrance/reeking odor permeates the entire office suite.
When my Pakistani colleague heats something up, it smells vaguely familiar. Same for the Turkish food. But everything else…seriously, someone needs to pass a law which prohibits the reheating of SEAFOOD in microwaves. Vomitacious. That’s what that is. So, I am no longer going to be considerate to the point of paranoia about eating brown food at work, especially not when the Pakistani food comes here in big plastic dabas to facilitate multiple servings– people love desi food, so the man sweetly brings extra. That’s how I got some unexpected halwa a week or so ago. He was walking around the same way my Mom does at home, at the end of lunch, looking for someone to finish the last portion (whether they want to or not), so he could wash the dish. I was already full and in no mood for sooji halwa, but I got a big ass serving of it and you best believe I cleaned my plate in time to pass his inspection 20 mins later. 🙂
So. This is naan I found at Whole Paycheck on Sunday. I had absolutely no hope of it being good, especially since it has “BEST New Food Product in America” stickered upon it. I mean, it’s at Whole Foods. How authentic could it be? Still, stupidity springs eternal, innit?
Well, it is not the real deal or even remotely close, despite the fact that it is made (allegedly) in a tandoor, with ghee no less. But after the first two disappointing bites, I found myself going back for more. It tastes like really soft pita bread. Or a cross between pita and naan. As long as it doesn’t taste like Bisquick (I’m looking at you, lazy desi restaurants!!!), I’m open to destroying something pickled with it. I’m surprised to report that the “regular/white” type tasted much better than the whole-grain-loaded version pictured above left. Too bad, too. The wheatish ones looked somewhat like my mom’s puris…but they taste even more like pita bread than the “white” naan do.
Since I was already in an experimental mood, I tried a DIFFERENT brand of Kaduku Manga pickle: “Nirapara”. Verdict? Not bad at all. Tastes more home-made than my belowed Grandma’s brand, but that is because it has an edge I can’t quite determine the origin of– and imperfection feels homely. No matter. It’s my “work” kaduku manga. I’ve got half a case of the real deal safely squirreled away at home, where it belongs.
They do look like puris…….. hmmm, thickky puri and masala chai!!!!
Crappy naan smothered with English butter always does the trick. Need a napkin, mouths watering!
sigh. i’ve stopped even trying to buy ready-made anything. my non-desi friends think i’m being too ‘authentic,’ but i tell them that’s just not possible when it comes to desi food – it’s pretty black and white. and seriously – palak paneer in a metal bag that i boil? though, i do find swad frozen stuffed parathas quite passable – and with some pickle and yoghurt, a good version of a readymade desi meal.
sacrilegious.
umm halwa ummmm. My friend’s mom made the best sevvayiaan during ramzaan
Desi audience like you and me: is exactly why desi Ready To Eat industry is booming…check out the local desi grocer.
That looks like a cross between the usual preservative-laden chewy naan you get in the fridge compartment at desi stores in the US and Arab baladi bread (wholewheat pita). Meh.
The only decent store-bought desi bread I ever found was this pack of frozen chapatis called Golden Temple or something and they were pretty darn close to real chapatis. Otherwise, I run to stores that stock Afghan or Persian lavash bread, closest thing to actual desi bread you can find in the US.
Trader Joe’s do a great frozen naan. I think they are imported from desh so its no wonder they’re yummy. Reasonably priced too.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – this is weak sauce compared to the Naans at your friendly neighborhood Trader Joe’s!
They have a bunch of other interesting (brown) items as well – including frozen samosas that I tried on a (non-desi!) friend’s recommendation – and they absolutely blew me away! Their curries & dishes are, however, quite weak.
My favorite means of getting “ready-made” desi food is my local auntie who cooks meals in-home. Almost as good as momma’s food, and alot tastier than anything in any store (and most restaurants). Readily available in any metro area! I’ve never tried them for naan, but for chapati, curries, sweets, hots, catering small events…they are fabulous!
Otherwise…Swad parathas really are delicious.
Yechhh… well that photo cured me of my cravings right quick. It looks more like a tissue sample than a treat… Another tip for the Houston folks… Sheikh Chilli’s for uber naan… a meal all by itself…
This may be sacrilege — but I would buy a wheat-free naan from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. Even if it tasted crappy I’d be happy. (I’m allergic to wheat).
AH! My teenager found this in our local grocery store. I run it throught tap water quickly and then toss it in the toaster oven for about a minute or so at 450F. It comes out nice and soft. We actually like the white ones. We have never seen the whole grain one. It costs about 2:49 for a packet of 2. Last weekend we picked up garlic naan packets from Edison. The Laxmi brand has 4 smaller ones. They were pretty good too. We live in Penn State so any and all Indian food available in the regular grocery store is picked off pretty quickly 🙂
Desi restaurants have been passing off maida breads as roti and naan for years – and it all started in India. So how do I tell my North-Western hemisphere friends that their favourite naan bread ain’t the real thing?
I will chime in with others on this and say that I am so sorry for folks who don’t have Trader Joe’s in their geographic area. In addition to the frozen ones, the tandoori naan in the bread section is pretty good too — especially heated in the oven and then slathered in ghee. It comes in white, wheat, and “masala” — the masala one doesn’t sound so good to me though so I haven’t tried it (overtones of “sprinkle anything with generic ‘curry’ powder and … voila… authentic ‘Indian’ style”…. no thanks).
Serious, you have not had naan made with Bisquick in lazy desi restaurants, have you???!
Wait… so are we agreeing that all brown people talk about is food and marriage?
New genre memoir title: “Why My Arranged Marriage Tanked: A Story of Frozen Mango & Prepackaged Roti”
i once had a boss that would snear that the smell of taco bell that the receptionist brought in. i did not dare bring in my leftovers. she heated up seafood (ew) once. i thought i was going to suffocate because the place had no window that opened. i quit shortly thereafter.
Ha, kusala, that’s funny. Arranged marriage, love marriage, food marriage… when will it stop?
I wonder how much being able to cook South Asian food raises one’s attractiveness factor. Heck, I know I was a disappointment to a few due to my lack of skill… in the kitchen.
I will have you people know I make a mean Channa Masala. Currently for one. That’s all.
All right, then. Keep your spicy cheese to yourself. 😉
I once made fun of a co-worker for his super-smelly Cajun fish dish that stank up the whole office. He retorted with, “well, those curries you bring here don’t smell too rosy either.” I should have known better than to speak up. Instead, I should have just heated up some meen podi (salted fish powder) and left it on his desk.
I like the new genre title 🙂 kusala – I don’t know about the Masala Naans, but my local TJ’s had (what I think I remember were) Garlic (frozen) Naans. Mmm mmm Mmmmm! No ghee needed, but they did tend to dry out within minutes if not consumed after a quick introduction to the inside of a preheated toaster oven. Works perfectly for me – my cooking ‘skill’ level precludes the preparation of breads in any form, and most of my home-cooking only bears a semblance, at best, to any ‘officially recognized’ desi dishes!
window – You don’t expect that a strategically ellipsis like that would go by without a request for clarification, now, didja? 🙂
Frozen naans at Trader Joes are very similar to the frozen variety in most indian grocers so I am guessing there is some rebranding going on. It probably all comes from one central supplier in India.
All of their Indian stuff is from Trader Joginder.
I would have married him even if he’d never fried an egg, but the fact that my husband routinely cooks delicious South Asian food definitely earned him some points.
Ha! I can make raita… with sugar.
runs away
(Ashoe–another dangerous ellipsis!)
chuckle i get my naan at our local farmers market. they have it there too. farmer mohinder.
The best nan on the market is from Toronto, MOGHULAI NAN (green bag). There is fake sold by Konto’s called Alexander’s Moghulai Nan. The fact that someone copied it means its gotta have some reputation. They also make a great Samosa by the name of Asian Delight (asiandelight.ca) which is available in the US. Asian Delight also makes Rolls, Empanada’s and Paratha’s. You gotta try these, they’re great and not made in a shady back kitchen – they apparently have a HACCP approved faciltiy in Dallas and Toronto. No chance of finding hairs etc in there stuff.
God, its 5.30 EST and I still have some more work to do before I head off. I am starving, the Dr Pepper in my stomach is not really doing anything for my hunger and the junk in the vending machine is not too delightful. Right now even that pita tasting naan sounds delicious and all this talk about food is getting on my
nervesgastric juices. Sigh! And don’t ask me why but I am craving a dust infused salt, lemony, spicy dust infused Kathi RollHa, window!
I think your (sweet) raita would be a good (meal) match with Rahul’s (mean) Chana Masala! You know what Paula Abdul once said about Opposites 😉
They have opened the mother of whole foods near to me (its as big as a small airport). I have no time to graze- so tell me what to head for, please. I did buy thier Indian by-the-pound stuff – it was generic in a creamy way. For now, i will stick to the dusty samosas from India sweets and spices.
Indian by-the-pound stuff at Whole Foods sucks. I tried the Channa Masala and it was all cream and tomatoes, no flavor. The Veg Pulav looked like it was made last century. I prefer their freshly made Italian stuff and the fresh seafood.
yesss!!! a turkish friend of mine i am very fond of agrees with the reverse as well. it is as we say “not necessarily something we have seen, but very tasty and comforting in a very familiar way” :).
ANNA, thank you!!! i try explaining this, and my chums never get it.
to me, the ranking of mysteries of stink: (3) how could such a cute and tiny baby create something so vile in its chuddies (2) how can you buy something from a fish market (been to lake market in calcutta?) that smells so bad and make it smell even worse (1) how can’t you not notice the stink from (2)???
🙂
Thanks for the matchmaking, ashoe. Will it be love at first bite? Will the union of the fair raita and the dusky channa be as eagerly awaited as Abhiwarya? Or will it have the stigma of a smackeroo from Gere to Shetty.
I started laughing like crazy about your comment on Bisquick anf lazy desi restaurant. I just found one such restaurant last week in SF Bay Area. Their tandoori chicken was chicken baked in a oven with liquid hickory smoke under the chicken. Yeech!!!!
Oh ANNA, please, put the crappy non-naan down! No one should punish herself (or her stomach and taste buds!) that way. 😉
I vote for TJ’s (Or Trader Joginder’s?) naan as well. I really don’t think you can get amazing ready-made naan anywhere, but there’s is super similar to what you get in the desi market.
Rahul, but do you make puris? You can’t have channas without puris!
Yesterday: Naan
Today: Whole Grain Naan
Tomorrow: Whole Grain Naan with Omega-3
Day After Tomorrow: Free Range Whole Grain Naan with Omega-3.
Maida, maida, maida!
Hey hey hey! Whole Grain Naan with Omega-3 spares us the fish stink! No more large yellow capsules the size of suppositories. No more tuna sandwich burps.
Can we set up some sort of certification authority for desi foods? I’ve seen a lot of breads labeled as naan but usually it’s just pita.
If you’re looking for good ready-made naan, try Deep. It’s the only ready-made naan that would qualify for the naan label from my desi foods certification authority.
Eh, I’ve never ben a fan of naan. Paratha and dosai… bring it on. Sure, I could make those from scratch, but in a non-air-conditioned house in San Antonio? I learned the hard way to fuggedaboudit! The dough just stuck to everything in a matter of seconds. So I unashamedly stock up on the frozen stuff at the Indian grocey stores. There’s a brand called Kawan that makes whole-wheat and multi-grain parathas. Pretty decent stuff with a home-made veggie curry and some pickles.Mmm. I’ll be right back…
i hate to be the dark cloud hanging over you gourmands, but you worry me… please get screened so that you don’t succumb to gastric cancer… as did my second maternal aunt, who loved pickled things and passed away within two weeks of diagnosis. as did my bangladeshi co-worker’s father one week after diagnosis. as do a higher-than-average number of the korean and japanese populations. often once detected, it’s too late.
i am not a doctor, so here is some information copied and pasted below:
Upper GI Series: The patient swallows a barium mixture and a series of x-rays of the digestive tract are taken. The barium makes abnormal tissues, ulcers, and tumors more visible on the screen.
Upper Endoscopy: The patient is sedated. A lighted probe is sent down through the esophagus and into the stomach. The doctor can examine the stomach and its lining for abnormal tissue. A sample of stomach tissue is usually taken and sent to a lab, where it is examined under a microscope by a pathologist for the presence of Cancer cells. This is called a biopsy.
CT Scan: A computer image of the abdomen, pelvis, or chest that can be used to determine if Cancer has spread to other organs.
Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS): The patient is sedated. A probe is inserted through the esophagus that uses sound waves to make a screen image of the stomach that can be used to detect tumors or abnormal tissues. The EUS, unlike the CT scan or Upper GI Series, allows the doctor to see how deep the tumor is and how many layers of the stomach it has invaded.
Laparoscopic Ultrasound (LUS): The patient is given a local anesthetic. A small incision is made near the belly button, and a probe is inserted directly into the abdomen. An ultrasound is done from inside the body to create a screen image, which can then be used to locate tumors and abnormal tissue.
Fecal Occult Blood Test: A stool sample is analyzed to determine if there are microscopic amounts of blood present.
-from the RI Cancer Council
Pickled things? As in mango pickle? That’s supposed to be dangerous?
I dont think naans can be packaged well, its like trying to package baguettes or croissants. Best time and place to eat fresh naans in Chicago: 3 am at Delhi Darbar on Devon and California (or Baba’s Palace downtown).
Bring back Unsuitablegal!!!! Hypocrite…
What the fuck are you talking about? Enough already, indeed. As powerful as you seem to assume I am, I don’t control vicious trolls. And I don’t see how my reviewing a whole grain naan makes me a hypocrite with regards to that.
Its reall eye-opening to see a social phenonemon play out right before your eyes; textbook case of ANNA getting shit because she’s a woman and writes. Half the time bending over backwards to give the other side of the story, and yet, still, the negative reaction disproportionate to any wrong that could have been committed. The ironic thing is, of all the bloggers, it would be hard to say any writer is more welcoming and open-minded.
huh. Who woulda thunk it. Sexism.
Wait, this is about sexism?
I thought it was about naan.
The out-of-nowhere negativity toward ANNA happens regularly enough that its a pattern one can reasonably assume. Just as a random commentator it would be unpleasent to have 1/10 of the number of comments she has had to read so I can imagine it might be somewhat difficult to read these stuff as often as it occurs. ANNA hats off to you, you’ve written some wonderful posts