What Is Naan? The Indian Flatbread Behind Every Order in Kastrup

Ask anyone what to order with an Indian curry and the answer is almost always the same: naan. So what is naan, exactly — and why does a simple piece of bread matter so much? At Inder'n in Kastrup we bake it fresh every evening, and after thousands of orders we have a clear view of what makes it good. Here is the short, honest answer, plus how we make ours and what to eat it with.

What is naan, exactly?

Naan is a soft, leavened flatbread from North India and the wider Punjabi region. Unlike a flat, unleavened bread such as roti or chapati, naan is made with a raising agent and yogurt, which gives it that pillowy, slightly chewy texture and a faint tang. The dough is rolled out, then slapped onto the searing-hot inner wall of a clay tandoor oven, where it puffs up and blisters in a couple of minutes.

That high, dry heat is the whole point. It is what gives naan its charred spots, its airy pockets and its soft centre — a result you simply cannot get from a normal home oven or a frying pan. Naan is built to be torn by hand and used to scoop up sauce, which is why it pairs so naturally with rich, creamy North Indian curries.

How we bake naan in our tandoor in Kastrup

In our kitchen we bake naan in a real clay tandoor that runs at roughly 400–500 °C. We make the dough fresh, rest it, then shape each piece by hand and press it against the oven wall, where it bakes in well under two minutes. The moment it comes out we brush it with butter — for garlic naan, we work fresh garlic into the surface so it toasts in the residual heat. Nothing is part-baked in advance and reheated; every naan is fired to order while your curry is finishing.

This is also why naan is best eaten soon after pickup or delivery. We pack it so it keeps its warmth on the short trip across Kastrup, Tårnby and Amager, but the texture is at its peak in the first 15–20 minutes. If you do need to hold it, a quick blast in a hot, dry pan brings the softness back far better than a microwave.

Plain naan vs garlic naan — which to order

At Inder'n we keep it simple with two tandoor-baked breads, both 17 kr:

• Plain naan — soft, buttered and neutral. The all-rounder that lets the curry do the talking.
• Garlic naan — the same soft base with fresh garlic baked into the top. Bolder, and our most recommended bread. We wrote more about it in our guide to garlic naan in Kastrup.

If you are ordering for two people, one of each is a good move. For a family or a group, plan on roughly one to two pieces per person — naan disappears faster than people expect. Curious how the tandoor itself works? We go deeper in our piece on the tandoor oven behind our kitchen.

What to eat with naan

Naan earns its place by being the perfect tool for scooping sauce, so it shines with our creamiest dishes. The classic pairing is Butter Chicken (119 kr) — the buttery tomato sauce was practically made for tearing bread through. Daal Makhani (109 kr), our slow-cooked black-lentil dish, is another natural match, as is Shahi Paneer (129 kr) if you want something vegetarian. You can see the full line-up on our menu.

A common question we get is whether you need rice as well as naan. You do not — but many people order both, using rice for the saucier curries and naan for scooping and mopping up the last of the sauce. If you are new to building an Indian order, our guide to paneer is a good companion read for the vegetarian side of the menu.

Where to get fresh naan in Kastrup

You will find our tandoor-baked naan at Inder'n, Sirgræsvej 4, 2770 Kastrup — a few minutes from Copenhagen Airport (CPH) and central to the Amager and Tårnby area. We are a family-run takeaway and delivery kitchen, so there is no dine-in; you order, we bake, and you collect or have it delivered hot. Inder'n is open Tuesday to Sunday, 16:00–20:30 (closed Mondays). Order online at indern.dk, on Wolt, or call us on +45 50 29 13 71.