NAAN BEST TO NONE

The fluffy naan with kheemah and kebab

The RM 2 kebab - though cheap is worth a try

One generous size is enough for me

Get six pieces of naan ready now, bayah!

Kneading the dough once order is made

Cooking naan in the tandoor

Using a long hook to take out the naan from

the hot tandoor

Relishing every bite and mouthful is Haikal

Finishing the mee rebus of Hj Wahid

Thanks Kak Long for bringing us here!

I thought of bringing this back to Singapore

but chicken out

But we did bring home all of these red bags -

real glutton and greedy!

The famed Hj Wahid Mee rebus

Nasi Lemak Berkukus (Steam Nasi Lemak) stall

Side dishes to go with the nasi lemak - sambal cockles,

fried chicken, rendang, tomato prawn

All types of soup to choose from

Murtabak Tomok is popular here

Hot plate to burn no I mean to tickle your tastebud

Caught you in the act Lat!

NAAN BEST TO NONE -

WHERE DATUK SHARUKH KHAN MAY COME SERVING YOU

Any one who drops by at Pandan City should head for the best naan and chapati sold in town. It’s run by Nasseb Khan, the ever smiling chap, and his family members who hailed from Pakistan. Even if you don’t love naan, just pop in at his stall because you may find Sharuk Khan, Abishek Bachchan, John Abraham or Hrithik Roshan look-a-like who assist Naseeb at the stall. My husband’s face and mine form a permanent image in his mind and he never fails to smile at us when we drop by at Pandan City for our healthy choice of dinner.

Naan resembling pita bread, is usually leavened with yeast to achieve the fluffiness in texture. Modern recipes sometimes substitute baking powder for the yeast. Milk or yoghurt may also be used to give greater volume and thickness to the naan. Typically, the naan will be served hot and brushed with ghee or butter. Ours came uncoated with none of these oil.The naan soft and voluminous in texture is fired in a round stone oven or a tandoor. Unfortunately, due to overwhelming demand, they had turned to gas to fire it rather than using charcoal or wood, which, takes a longer time to prepare. Nevertheless, you can’t detect much difference in the way the garlic or plain naan is cooked as the result in tasting and eating is similar.

According to my brother-in-law, Latiff, the chapatti he tried that evening was the softest and thinnest that had even gone into his cavernous mouth. Fizah commented on the naan being as soft as cotton and pliable to your tear. Little wrestle is needed to break the portion into bite peices for scooping with the mince meat kheemah cooked with some black pepper.

The naan and chapatti are freshly rolled, kneaded and toasted once an order is received. The prepared naan dough is smooth and elastic. The dough is kneaded for a few minutes, then set aside to rise for a few hours. Once risen, the dough is divided into small balls which are flattened and cooked. You can have a choice of beef kheemah or chicken curry to dip and soak the bread in. For side order, try the beef kebab which has a tinge of green chilly, egg, diced onions and tomatoes. My brother-in-law from Sydney, Bakar fell in love with this the last time we brought him here. He easily finished three pieces of it sold at RM2 each.

You can find two naan stalls run by Nasseb, one in the newly renovated hawker centre and the other alongside the carpark area. Both are within walking distance. Our dinner and ‘taupo’ came to RM35. Latiff and Fizah nearly went into convulsion on hearing the price. It was cheap yet you got good food and quality service. I only wish they could add some vegetables or legumes like chick peas to come with the naan for those who are keeping red meat away from their diet. i brought home some pieces of the kebab to be stuffed into the pockets of the pita bread. Just add some lettuce, tomatoes, ring onion and voila another version of the roti family is done!

There are other stalls you can visit while there too. The famed Tomok Murtabak of Kampung Melayu and Haji Wahid Mee Rebus are also available. How about trying the porridge that comes along with sambal kangkung, peanuts, salted fish and egg and sambal? Steamed nasi lemak is another option you may want to try. Seafood, satay, otak-otak, western food and varieties of mee and rice could also be found here.

The Pasar Borong Pandan City or the wholesale wet market (along Kota Tinggi Road, before Carrefour) and pasar malam are situated behind this eating area. I will kill four birds with one stone every time I visit here – do my marketing, grab dry items from two supermarkets there, scan for some pasar malam stuff and gorge on the food as a closure of the trip. This place is also a haven for CDs and DVDs lovers. Name your titles and the runners will give personal service in getting them for you. However I’m not advocating this as you are infringing on copyright issues.

Pandan City is opened from 5pm till the wee hours of the morning. A favourite port for Singaporeans during the weekends.

Watch how to cook naan at home: