The traditional food of India has been widely appreciated for its fabulous use of herbs and spices. Indian cuisine is known for its large assortment of dishes. The cooking style varies from region to region. India is quite famous for its diverse multi cuisine available in a large number of restaurants and hotel resorts, which is reminiscent of unity in diversity. The staple food in India includes wheat, rice and pulses with chana (Bengal Gram) being the most important one. To know more about the Indian traditional food, read on.
Gujarati Food
The traditional Gujarati food is primarily vegetarian and has a high nutritional value. The typical Gujarati thali consists of varied kinds of lip smacking dishes. Gujarati cuisine has so much to offer and each dish has an absolutely different cooking style.
The traditional Gujarati thali mostly encompasses rotli, dal or kadhi, sabzi also known as shaak and rice. People in Gujarat eat one or the other type of curry along with rice and roti in almost every meal Gujarati dishes usually have a very subtle taste that makes it truly distinct from other Indian cuisines. Lot of emphasis is laid on maintaining hygiene while cooking. Most of the Gujarati dishes are sweet, while others have a quite larger concentration of sugar as compared to salt and spices. Sometimes, jaggery is used as an alternative to sugar.
Bengali Food
Bengali cuisine is appreciated for its fabulous use of panchphoron, a term used to refer to the five essential spices, namely mustard, fenugreek seed, cumin seed, aniseed, and black cumin seed. The specialty of Bengali food lies in the perfect blend of sweet and spicy flavors.
The staple food of people in Bengal is rice and fish. A typical Bengali needs to have fish in every meal; otherwise there is a feeling that the meal is incomplete. There is an ample stock of fish in every household, because fish is cooked frequently, almost on a daily basis. Even the Brahmin Bengalis relish fish. Fish is a part of every festivity celebration. To lend a distinctive flavor to the fish, it is deep fried in mustard oil and then cooked in gravy.
Kashmiri Food
Kashmiri food that we have today in the restaurants has evolved over the years. Highly influenced by the traditional food of the Kashmiri pundits, it has now taken some of the features of the cooking style adopted in Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan.
In the making of Kashmiri dishes, garlic and onion are not used much as in the case of other Indian cuisines. Absolutely rich in taste and exotic in flavor, Kashmiri cuisine has become a popular choice. The strong influence of Kashmiri pandits, who are predominantly meat eaters, explains the reason why the cuisine of Kashmir has more of non vegetarian dishes. Kashmiri thali is preferred mainly for its non vegetarian dishes. However, there are some real mouthwatering vegetarian dishes too, which are relished by all.
Mughlai Cuisine
Mughlai cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines, whose origin can be traced back to the times of Mughal Empire. Mughlai cuisine consists of the dishes that were prepared in the kitchens of the royal Mughal Emperors. Indian cuisine is predominantly influenced by the cooking style practiced during the Mughal era.
Mughlai food is especially preferred in Northern parts of the country. Some of the Mughlai dishes have Muslim names such as biryani, pulao, kebabs, kofta. This is suggestive of the strong influence of Muslim cooking style. The Mughals have truly left a long lasting influence on India, which is also reflected in the cuisine of India. Mughlai food occupies a commanding position in the popular cuisines of India.
Punjabi Food
The cuisine of Punjab has an enormous variety of mouth-watering vegetarian as well as non vegetarian dishes. The spice content ranges from minimal to pleasant to high. Punjabi food is usually relished by people of all communities. In Punjab, home cooking differs from the restaurant cooking style.
Wheat is the staple food of Punjabis; however, they do enjoy eating rice on festivities and other special occasions. When it comes to food, each region in Punjab has an entirely different preference like people in Amritsar are particularly fond of stuffed paranthas and milk products. The philosophy of life for most of the Punjabis is to eat, drink and make merry. They are real lively people who are extremely fond of eating good food. In the preparation of Punjabi food, onion, ginger and garlic are used extensively to enhance the taste of the food.
Rajasthani Food
The cuisine of Rajasthan is primarily vegetarian and offers a fabulous variety of mouthwatering dishes. The spice content is quite high in comparison to other Indian cuisines, but the food is absolutely scrumptious. Rajasthanis use ghee for cooking most of the dishes. Rajasthani food is well known for its spicy curries and delicious sweets.
Out of all the Rajasthani dishes, dal bati churma is perhaps the best known. For those who are in a lookout for variety, Rajasthan has a lot to offer. Infact, as you travel from one part of the state to another, you'll find that every region has something unique, which reflects in its food as well. There is a popular sweet of each region like Mawa Kachori of Jodhpur, Rasogullas of Bikaner, Ghevar of Jaipur, Malpuas of Pushkar etc.
South Indian Cuisine
The cuisine of South India is known for its light, low calorie appetizing dishes. The traditional food of South India is mainly rice based. The cuisine is famous for its wonderful mixing of rice and lentils to prepare yummy lip smacking dosas, vadas, idlis and uttapams.
Sambhar is like a must in the main course. It is usually a companion to most of the food items then be it idli, vada or dosa. Most of the South Indian dishes consist of sambhar, rasam, vegetable curry and pachadi (yogurt). When it comes to rice preparations, South Indians are real experts. Their lemon rice is savored and appreciated by almost all the people. Other preparations of rice include coconut rice, carrot rice and fried rice made by using coconut, curry leaves, urad dal, tamarind, peanuts, chilies, and fenugreek seeds.
South Indian chutneys are well liked by people. Infact, chutney, especially the one made from coconut, is the major attraction for many people to visit a restaurant that specializes in South Indian cuisine. The main ingredients for preparing varied chutneys are coconut, peanuts, dal, tamarind, fenugreek seeds, and cilantro. Dals cooked in the South Indian style are also quite different from that of North Indian preparation. They are more soupy in comparison to the dals cooked in the North Indian style.
