Afghan bread: naan, bolani, paratha and the other breads

Photo: Syed F Hashemi

Naan from the tandoor

Naan is the most widely eaten bread in Afghanistan. It is flat and baked in a tandoor, a vertical clay oven, where the dough is pressed against the hot wall. In Afghanistan a tandoor is often a big hole in the ground, its walls lined with stone, mud and brick.

The name of a naan follows the way the dough is handled:

• Panjirkash: the most common kind. It is long and oval, because the baker works the dough by hand on a cloth pad before putting it on the oven wall.
• Khamri: thinner, like pita, baked on a metal pan that covers the tandoor like a lid.
• Woito: made with butter (maska) and richer in nourishment. One report says wealthier families eat it.

Bakers mix the dough before dawn and let it rise, so the first naan is ready early in the morning.

Other breads

• Uzbek-style naan: in Kabul, dozens of stalls on the banks of the Kabul River sell it, the dough kneaded and swirled into patterns and sprinkled with black nigella seeds.
• Tabakhai: a flatbread cooked on an upside-down pan.
• Chapati: a paper-thin flatbread.
• Paasty: a bread of the southern and eastern plains, baked in mud ovens or fried in butter.
• Paratha: the South Asian style of bread, kneaded with butter and fried. It is a popular breakfast in the eastern districts of Kabul.

Bolani

Bolani is a flatbread folded around a filling, most often potato or green vegetables, and fried. Wikipedia notes that what is called bolani in the north and east is often called borogyen in the south and west. A Kabul bolani restaurateur told Anadolu in 2019 that his business had grown to a second branch and home delivery.

Photo: Ahmad Redai Hashmi

Photo: Miansari66 · CC0

Bread at the table and at breakfast

For many men the day starts at the tandoor: hot naan with sweet green tea. In 2019 a breakfast of naan, tea and a fried egg cost 30 afghanis in Kabul, according to Anadolu. Prices change, so treat that as a guide to the year, not today's price. Workers at the Kabul bazaar take morning tea and naan from sunrise until midday.

An Afghan proverb says Naan wa pyaz, peshani baaz, "bread and onion, a smiling brow": one can face hard times with a smile if there is bread.

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