Cuisines of India

India is the gourmand’s delight, boasting not one or two but about as many cuisines as the number of communities.

Jammu and Kashmir
The food of Jammu and Kashmir differs from region to region. The Hindu Dogras of Jammu being predominantly vegetarian, eat a staple diet of rice, wheat and beans. The Ladakhis eat rice, wheat, millet, locally produced vegetables and fruits, goat meat and dairy products made from yak milk.There is a variation in the different eating habits of the Hindu and Muslim Kashmiris that determines which spices are used and which meats too since beef is prohibited for Hindus. The highlight of Kashmiri cuisine is the formal banquet called "wazawan", which includes a spread of over 36 courses cooked all night long by a team of chefs called ‘wazas’ under the supervision of a ‘Vasta waza’ or master chef, descendants of the cooks of Samarkand. The food is characterised by thick gravies which use liberal quantities of yoghurt, spices and dried fruits, and is usually cooked in ghee (clarified butter) or mustard oil. Saffron, the most expensive spice in the world, is grown locally. It is used extensively to flavour pulaos (rice dish) and sweets. The popular dishes include the starter yakhni, tabaq naat made of fried ribs, dum aloo (steam cooked potato curry), rogan josh made with mutton, gushtaba, a meatball curry, and haleem made from meat and pounded wheat. A Kashmiri meal must end with a cup of ‘Kahva’, green tea flavoured with cardamom and almonds.

Punjabi
The food of Punjab is meant for the strong-hearted. It is rich in flavours and has a liberal dose of ghee (clarified butter) and spices. Punjab has an abundance of milk and therefore milk products are an important part of daily diet. No meal is complete without large glassfuls of butter milk or lassi (yoghurt drink). The people of this region are largely wheat eaters and have developed variations of breads including the stuffed aloo paratha (potato bread) and the makke ki roti (maize bread). Vegetarian delights such as sarson saag (mustard leaf curry), rajma-chawal (kidney beans with steamed rice) and kadhi (gram flour and yoghurt curry) are the most popular Punjabi dishes. Punjabis have also created a combination of the northwest frontier cuisine and Mughlai recipes to present rich poultry and mutton dishes. The ubiquitous ‘tandoori chicken’ is a great favourite!

Uttar Pradesh
The cuisine of Uttar Pradesh is just as diverse as its geography. Ranging from simple every day fare to rich, elaborate banquets, the cuisine of Uttar Pradesh has absorbed and adapted a variety of cuisines to create an entire smorgasbord of wonderful dishes. The people of Uttar Pradesh love to cook, to eat and to feed! Difference in communities notwithstanding, as a people, they are very warm and hospitable. For most of them, the ultimate in hospitality means you feed your guests till they beg for mercy.

Rajasthani
India’s best known cuisine came from the Mughals and along with European cooking, influenced the royal kitchens. However, the common man’s kitchen in Rajasthan remained unaffected and the simplest ingredients go into preparing most dishes. The food owes much to the demands and ingenuity of the lifestyle of the people. For example, the universal favourites Dal-baati (lentil curry with wheat dough balls roasted in hot coals) and choorma (dry, flaky, wheatbread crumb pudding garnished with raisins and almonds) were food items that could be carried for days in the hot desert climate by warriors. Baatis could be buried in the hot desert sands and slowly baked till required. Non-vegetarian dishes include ‘soola’ or barbecued meats marinated to succulent tenderness and grilled on open coal fires. Its origins lie in the yesteryear hunting expeditions of the nobility.

Gujarati
Almost always strictly vegetarian, Gujarati cuisine is unlike any other Indian cuisine. The difference lies in the unusual blending of the sweet with the savoury into a harmonious whole. Even though the state of Gujarat has absorbed many outside influences down the ages, the cuisine has remained much the same. The grand spread of Gujarati cuisine can be glimpsed and savoured in the very popular "Gujarati Thali" a large silver platter consisting of innumerable bowls full of vegetable curries, dals or lentil based gravies, a variety of breads, savories - crisp spicy fried farsans, sweetmeats and an amazing range of sweet and sour chutneys and pickles. The entire meal including the vegetables and dals (curried lentils) achieves a delicate balance of flavours – sweet and sour, salty and spicy, crisp and soft, low fat and deep-fried!

Bengali
Bengali food consists of a lot of fish, lentils and rice. Breakfast could be milk and rice flakes eaten with gur (jaggery) or luchi (fluffy wheat pancake) with aloo dum (a dry spicy potato dish not to be mistaken for the Kashmiri dum aloo). Lunch and dinner are elaborate affairs. The first course is rice and daal (lentil curry) with vegetables, pickled mangoes and fresh salad. It is followed by rice and meat and yet another course of rice and fish. Great fish eaters, the true blue Bengali is the one who can crunch fish bones without letting them stick in the throat! The 'hilsa’ fish is a speciality when cooked in mustard sauce.

Bengalis love sweets. A vast array of milk based ‘mithai’ (sweetmeats) originated in Bengal. The light and spongy Rosogulla, the mouth-watering Sandesh are available all over India, but nowhere do they taste as they do in Kolkata. Sweetshops in other parts of the country just have to call themselves "Bengali Sweet House" and their reputation is established. If you're ever in Kolkata do try the delectable Mishti Doi (rich sweet yoghurt).

Goan
Goan cuisine is the end result of the blending of local Konkani and Portuguese food styles. This culinary amalgamation and adaptation has created fiery coconut based curries and stews using pork and beef and rich cakes and pastries, as well as an interesting range of port and red and white wines.

Andhra
Andhra food is deliciously hot and tangy. The everyday favourite is pulihara, tamarind rice spiced up with sliced green chillies. Telugu people love their side dishes, pickles that’ll have you red in the face, crisp poppadums and yoghurt. The dosa, a rice pancake is special in Andhra. Called the pessaratu, it is filled with a savoury semolina preparation called uppama.

Tamil Nadu
The food of Tamil Nadu is what passes for “south Indian cuisine” everywhere else in the country. Idli, dosa, vada, sambar, uppama! As with all Indian food, a meal centres on a base of rice or semolina preparation. Eaten alongside is the sambar, sour hot dal souped-up with vegetables. The Brahmins are vegetarian, but others consume sour-hot fish, mutton and chicken with gusto.

Of the Tamilian cuisines it is Chettinad food that is on the ascendance on the popularity charts. The cuisine belongs to the money-lending community of Chettiars who were originally from the deep south of the state but whose trade links took them far and wide into South East Asia. The wealth of the community is reflected in its food, which is liberal in its use of oils, meats and spices. Of course they cook the usual chicken and fish, but they also have dishes for such exotica as Japanese quail. They do a variety of vegetarian dishes. The basic terms are varuval, poriyal and kuzambu. A varuval is a dry preparation where meats or vegetables are lightly fried with onions and spices, the poriyal is a rich hot curry, and kuzambu is a stew of meat or vegetables in spiced up coconut milk.

Kerala
Rice is the staple of the Kerala diet. Various preparations form the base of the meal; curries of fish, meat and vegetable accompany it. Most dishes bear the flavour of coconut, curry leaves and mustard seeds, and the tastes of coconut milk and tamarind. All communities except the Namboodiris, a community of orthodox Brahmins, consume meat.