Nan
"Nan" is a kind of bread. There are more
than 10 kinds of "Nan" in Xinjiang.
Most of them are baked with wheat-flour
dough with salt and without soda.
Baked "nan" has a golden crust,
comparatively dry but, crisp
and tasty. It does not mould or dry-up,
easy to carry around and preserve.
Besides flour, there are some additional
ingredients in the "nan" Baked by
Uygurs, such as oil, sugar, eggs, meat, milk
onion, sesame, ziyadan (seeds of a kind of grass) and table salt So one can have "nan" with oil, or "nan" with sugar, with lamb, or with sesame etc., each of them have its strong points of particular taste. Most hans are baked in an oven known as the 'tonnir", the fuel may be firewood or charco'al. When the tonnir is hot and the smoke is cleared, the dough of the nan is sprinkled with salt water, slapped on the inside wall of the tonnir for baking. Uygurs, Kazaks and other ethnic peoples in Xinjiang are fond of nan", especially the Uygurs. They have "nan" for their three meals a day. While out for a meeting, for a course of study, working or touring, they all bring "nan" with them. While attending a wedding or some joyous occasions, they usually carry "nan" as a gift to the host or the hostess.
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