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Nan Khatai – sweet food of the sub
continent
The brittle Nan-Khatai
is the sub continent’s most acclaimed confection. The lineage came into
existence since the Mughal Era, whereas, some say its origin was from China as
the literal meaning of Nan is ‘bread’ and Khatai is considered to come
from 'Catai' or 'Cathay', the older name for China.
Some historian
says Surat, a large port city of Gujrat in India, is considered the birthplace
of Nan Khatai.
Near the end of the 16th century, two Dutch explorers started to make trading posts in India for trade in spices. For this, these traders settled in Surat and structured a bakery to produce bread for their own consumption. Later, when these traders left India, they handed over the bakery to one of their workers named Dotivala. Dotivala continued baking bread for the Dutch being left behind and the bakery became 'Dotivala Bakery'. But with the passage of time the demand for bread declined as more and more Dutch started leaving India.
Near the end of the 16th century, two Dutch explorers started to make trading posts in India for trade in spices. For this, these traders settled in Surat and structured a bakery to produce bread for their own consumption. Later, when these traders left India, they handed over the bakery to one of their workers named Dotivala. Dotivala continued baking bread for the Dutch being left behind and the bakery became 'Dotivala Bakery'. But with the passage of time the demand for bread declined as more and more Dutch started leaving India.
Hindus would not
eat this bread because of its prohibited ingredients. So, the left over bread
would become dry and crispy and sold to the underserved at discounted prices.
The locals liked the taste of this inexpensive dried out crispy bread and this led
Dotivala to change the shape of the bread and dry the slices in the oven.
Hence, for financial survival, Dotivala accidently became the master of fusion
cooking and with alteration in Dutch bread, he created the local sweet called
“Nan Khatai”.
The fame of Nan Khatai spread all over India; they were transported to markets in Bombay where it became a famous teatime snack. The traditional delicacy was also quite famous amongst the Mughal emperors and it was cooked and served on many occasions for the Royal family and their workers to rejoice moments of cheerfulness.
The fame of Nan Khatai spread all over India; they were transported to markets in Bombay where it became a famous teatime snack. The traditional delicacy was also quite famous amongst the Mughal emperors and it was cooked and served on many occasions for the Royal family and their workers to rejoice moments of cheerfulness.
In Pakistan, Nan
Khatai has its roots in the city of Lahore, famous for its cultural heritage
and centre of Mughal history in Pakistan. Lahore’s well-known Khalifa Bakers
are famous for their Nan Khatai and people from all over the world visit their
bakery to attain pleasure of this traditional sweet.
The tradition is
now reviving and being replaced by the likes of the commercially available
cookies at every big and small store in all major cities of Pakistan. The
humble Nan Khatai is now gracing tea times at both work and home.
The pioneers of
this being LU with their Bakeri Nan Khatai have transformed the conventional
cuisine into biscuits of the modern era. With the launch of Nan Khatai, LU has
become the first manufacturer of Nan Khatai in the confectionary industry of
Pakistan.
By playing a key role in reviving this product, it has been able to transcend
the geographical limitations. Nan Khatai is now available nationwide in
packaged form. The packaging of Bakeri Nan Khatai itself is a tribute to its
origins and history and has been appreciated both nationally and
internationally. Bakeri Nan
Khatai is also the first Pakistan brand featured in the Packaging of the World (an international website that
showcases the most creative packaging from all over the world). Following
the footsteps of LU other industry players have also entered the market sensing
the enormous potential of this product.
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7 comments
What would you put on this or eat it with?
ReplyDeleteSounds good :)
ReplyDeleteLaura
Pink Frenzy
interesting - I like pretty much all bread-based food!
ReplyDeleteAh my family have this with tea when we have it in!
ReplyDeleteI personally do not like them but they are pretty big here too! xxx
Very interesting xxx
ReplyDeleteooh not heard of these!x
ReplyDeleteLu naan khatai is my most fav these days .. thanks to em for such a sweet treat .. thnks for the details dear ♡♡
ReplyDeleteMakeupoholics
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