# Indian bread and yogurt **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 31, 2004, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710 "2004-07-31T11:50:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/1 "2004-07-31T11:50:08Z")
I’ve been on an Indian food kick recently and I’ve been wanting to make some Na’an (sp?) and yogurt, but I don’t know how. Is the yogurt at Indian restuarants the same type of yogurt you can get at the grocery story? Also, does anyone have any good recipes for Indian bread? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/2 "2004-07-31T12:36:37Z")
According to my friend from Bangladesh, yogurt is what happens when you leave a glass of milk on the kitchen counter for five minutes in India. 🙂 He also told me (in a more serious vein) that most families have their own personal culture of yogurt-making bacteria that has been passed down for several generations. Homemade yogurt = milk, possibly nonfat dry milk added for more body, and yogurt culture (i.e. a spoonful of yogurt from the previous batch). (The NFDM shows up in the ingredients list as “milk solids” or something like that.) Most commercial brands have pectin and stuff in them, to make them more smooth and cohesive, but it doesn’t make a big difference as far as taste goes. And it may be that your favorite Indian restraurant just gets their yogurt in big tubs from their distributor, anway. 🙂 If you haven’t tried plain, _whole milk_ yogurt, DO! It’s so amazingly rich and delicious, and especially refreshing on a hot day. If you don’t like it plain, you can add just a little honey, perhaps, or a spoonful of jam . . . Er, but, I suppose that’s another thread. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/3 "2004-07-31T13:16:58Z")
I don’t want to violate any copyrights, so I’ll just recommend \*Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking \* as a good source. She keeps her instructions clear and easy to follow. [www.recipesource.com](http://www.recipesource.com) will also give you instructions for naan, poori and chapati, but I couldn’t find paratha. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/4 "2004-07-31T13:21:48Z")
Well I’ll be darned. So _that’s_ how to create a link. It even works. ---
**Author:** ![noname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@noname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noname)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/5 "2004-07-31T14:15:12Z")
The Indian yogurt, or _dahi_ , as it is called, is a full cream yogurt. there are no secrect bacterias passed down generations. Just boil full cream milk so that the cream settles on the top, and when the milk is colled down to room temperature, add a spoonful of the supermarket yogurt and leave overnight. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/6 "2004-07-31T14:46:07Z")
Naan - plain and simple to spell. Not so simple to make if you don’t have a tandoor. You could make 'em in the oven, but the taste just isn’t the same. Maybe if you have a wood-fired oven… As for the dahi, like **noname** said; boil the milk, let it cool, and then add a teaspoon of readymade yoghurt. Let it sit overnight, and voila - you’ve got dahi. The texture of the dahi depends on the fat content of the milk used - the lower the fat content, the less creamy the dahi will be. I love dahi. Having said that, I really really miss Onken orange yoghurt. We don’t get flavoured yoghurt in India - not enough of a market for the stuff ☹ ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/7 "2004-07-31T15:31:35Z")
Indian breads are tricky without a Tandoor. I have substituted Mexican flatbreads, like flour tortillas. A very quick fry in butter puffs them up slightly. I have suggested this to Indian and Pakistani friends who now do it. I was in a Turkish/Afghani store last week and some of their sfuff looks promising. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/8 "2004-07-31T18:20:23Z")
**Gouda** (or anyone else who knows) – are _dahi_ and _raita_ the same thing? _Raita_ is served as something of a palate-cleansing condiment at the Indian restaurants both here and in the New Orleans area (although AFAIK it’s A-OK to eat a small bowl of it by itself). It’s pretty much just plain yoghurt with minced cucumbers and some mild spices thown in. _Raita_ seems to have a lot in common with the tzatziki sauce of Greek cuisine. My wife makes _raita_ at home now and then. Regular ol’ plain yoghurt is the base. We’ve never tried making _naan_ here at home, but at our local Mediterranean grocery, we can buy large pieces of _naan_-like flat bread that do fine in a pinch. ---
**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/9 "2004-07-31T19:11:04Z")
> [@The King of Soup](#): > > I don’t want to violate any copyrights, so I’ll just recommend \*Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking \* as a good source. She keeps her instructions clear and easy to follow. [www.recipesource.com](http://www.recipesource.com) will also give you instructions for naan, poori and chapati, but I couldn’t find paratha. Good luck! AFAIK, recipes aern’t copyright. You can’t copy a site or a published book of recipes but there’s no problem to copy & paste one from the web. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/10 "2004-07-31T23:01:19Z")
> [@Ponster](#): > > AFAIK, recipes aern’t copyright. You can’t copy a site or a published book of recipes but there’s no problem to copy & paste one from the web. Thank you. I wasn’t sure, copyright law is a mystery to me. For example, jokes aren’t protected, but once they’re published in a book, they are. Sometimes. I thought recipes might be considered in the same category of intellectual property, because cookbooks always contain copyright notices and so do many recipe websites. I was probably being overcautious. ---
**Author:** ![noname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@noname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noname)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/11 "2004-08-01T14:16:01Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > **Gouda** (or anyone else who knows) – are _dahi_ and _raita_ the same thing? _raita_ is just _dahi_ + anything else you might want to add in it (cucumber, tomato, spices, little deep fried pellets called _boondi_ ) and made a thick paste of. And yes, it can be had had by itself as well. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/12 "2004-08-01T15:03:37Z")
Just to add to **noname’s** post, _raita_ need not only be made with cucumber and tomatoes. It takes literally anything you want. My favourite kind of _raita_ is with boiled potatoes, cut into small cubes, with chopped green coriander, ground cumin and salt to taste. If you like it spicy, add in finely chopped green chillies. _Boondi raita_ is awesome, if you can buy boondi from wherever you are. ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/13 "2004-08-01T21:38:14Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > We’ve never tried making _naan_ here at home, but at our local Mediterranean grocery, we can buy large pieces of _naan_-like flat bread that do fine in a pinch. If you’re buying, not making … can’t you buy _actual_ naan in the US? It’s available in all the supermarkets in the UK. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/14 "2004-08-02T09:43:16Z")
That’s true… I was pleasantly surprised to see naan on the shelves at the local Asda when I was studying in the UK. That said, eww!! Nothing like the real thing fresh out of a tandoor. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/15 "2004-08-02T10:36:55Z")
Actually, its not _that_ hard to make naan without a tandoor. You just need a tavi (flat cast iron skillet) instead. And I can even give a recipe: 1 cup plain flour 2 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 sachet bread yeast enough warm water to bind mix the four and yeast thoroughly, and add the oil, and rub in well. Add warm water slowly, so that the four binds together and makes a nice dough. The dough shouldn’t be too dry or too sticky, but malleable. Leave overnight in a warm place, kneeding a couple of times once its risen sufficiently. To cook: Heat the tavi on the stovetop. Break off spheres of dough, about 10cm in diameter, and roll out till about 0.5-1cm thick. Toast on the tavi, one side, then the other, till the naan goes to a golden brown colour. It will also rise a bit as well. Ta-da! Naan bread. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/16 "2004-08-02T11:38:55Z")
The thing I really like about naans is the flavour you get of the wood-fired tandoor. While you can make a naan on a tavi (or tava, as we call it at home), it just isn’t the same. Just like tandoori chicken or chicken tikka is just not the same when made in the oven. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/17 "2004-08-02T11:40:49Z")
> [@gouda](#): > > The thing I really like about naans is the flavour you get of the wood-fired tandoor. While you can make a naan on a tavi (or tava, as we call it at home), it just isn’t the same. Just like tandoori chicken or chicken tikka is just not the same when made in the oven. True. However, when your alternative is to build a tandoor in your back garden or something, you sometimes have to make do, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/18 "2004-08-02T12:03:17Z")
> [@Shrinking Violet](#): > > If you’re buying, not making … can’t you buy _actual_ naan in the US? It’s available in all the supermarkets in the UK. 😕 We can’t get _naan_ in the supermarkets here (I mean specifically “here” as in Central Mississippi). However, if we really hankered for true _naan_, we could just order a batch to go from our nearby Indian place. MMV in other parts of the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/19 "2004-08-02T12:18:45Z")
> [@gouda](#): > > The thing I really like about naans is the flavour you get of the wood-fired tandoor. While you can make a naan on a tavi (or tava, as we call it at home)… Odd. ‘Tava’ is ‘skillet’ in Croatian as well. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710/20 "2004-08-03T07:50:53Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > True. However, when your alternative is to build a tandoor in your back garden or something, you sometimes have to make do, unfortunately. Funny that you mention it - we actually did have a tandoor made for our backyard! We never did get the hang of it using it for naan - too many burnt hands! It was great for making kababs though - waay better than on the bbq. That is one of the few things I miss about living in a bungalow… you can’t do this stuff in an apartment ☹ **Brutus** , not all that odd in the sense that there are many similarities between Hindi/Sanskrit and Germanic languages. This was discussed briefly in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=180127&highlight=Deutsch) thread. [warning]It’s all in German[/warning]. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indian-bread-and-yogurt/257710.md?page=2)