Sheermal is a sweet, rich flatbread made with all-purpose flour, milk, saffron, eggs, sugar, and butter. It is believed to have originated in Persia and is now popular in Middle Eastern and Indian cuisine. It is traditionally baked in a tandoor oven or on a tawa.
Sheermal, or shirmal, is a kind of flatbread, or “naan” usually found in Middle Eastern countries such as Iran and Pakistan. It is also a part of Indian cuisine especially in the northern region as people are in close proximity to Pakistan and Iran. This flatbread mainly consists of “maida” or all-purpose flour mixed with yeast for leavening. The preparation for sheermal is similar to that of an Indian flatbread called “roti”, but what distinguishes the latter is its inclusion of milk in the dough and the obvious taste of saffron. Shirmal is served hot, along with kebab sticks, meat dishes or soups.
The literal meaning of the word sheermal is “milk bread”, as it is the milk that gives the bread some sweetness. This flatbread is believed to have owed its roots to Persia, present-day Iran, during the time when Persians traveled to Pakistan and India. It was probably invented in a city called Lucknow located in northern India by a man named Muhammadan. Not long after, bread became a staple in Lucknow and was soon introduced to the canons during banquets and festivals. Shirmal was served alongside meats, curry sauces, and even desserts, as the bread was ideal for picking up traces of sauces and meats on the plate.
Sheermal can have a very rich texture, as the water normally used for bread dough is completely replaced by milk. The saffron is initially soaked in the milk to give the bread its flavour, before the milk is incorporated into the flour. Other sheermal ingredients include eggs, sugar and some fat, usually butter, which makes the bread so rich that it is sometimes nicknamed “doodh ka khazana”, translated as “milk treasure”. For more sweetness, dried fruits and cardamom can be added. After all the ingredients have been mixed and kneaded, the dough is left to rest for a while to rise, before being rolled thinly for baking.
The traditional method of cooking shirmal is baking the bread in a tandoor, a concrete and clay oven that is hollowed vertically, like a tall urn. The fire is placed in the center and the flatbread is cooked by sticking it to the heated sides of the oven without touching the fire. Sheermal can also be cooked in a tawa, a flat pan usually used for cooking roti, only the tawa should be covered and heated on both sides to cook shirmal properly. If tandoor or tawa is not available, the contemporary oven can also be used to cook sheermal.
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