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What To Eat ?
The general impression about Indian food habits among foreigners continues
to be curry and chilli hot spices. The truth is there is nothing like
Indian curry. The term is applied to anything that has a gravy or sauce.
But of course here one can taste various kinds. Each region in India has
different variety and ingredients making cuisines from each region
different and unique. The rich Mughlai with its assortment of condiments
and dry fruits, rich in fat or its more delicate Lucknavi counterpart or
its more distinctive Hyderabadi are any gourmet's delight. Perhaps the
hearty curries of Punjab or the fiery version from Tamil Nadu or think of
sweet 'n sour curries from Maharastra or Gujarat.
Many Indians are vegetarians, but there is a substantial percentage that
eats meat, and so in India you will never want for it. The reasons for
abstaining meat are usually religious. It is important to remember that
Hindus do not eat beef while Muslims observe a pork taboo. Alcohol is
served before meals and never accompanies the meals.
Cereal is the basis of all Indian food--wheat in the North and rice in
South India. A range of bread is an essential part of most North Indian
meals. Chapattis, which are round wheat dough cooked on a flat griddle,
are eaten with hot curry. Richer variations, parathas and puris, fried in
oil are delicious as are the varieties of leavened bread- naans, shirmai,
bhatura and kulcha that are either baked or fried. South India has a
repertoire based on rice--the fluffy white idlis, steamed cakes of ground
rice and lentils and crisp dosas fried pancakes of the same mixture, often
served with a filling of vegetable to make a delicious breakfast food.
There are also appams and idiappams or string hoppers of the west coast,
which are interesting variations based on rice.
Curries either of meat, fish or vegetable are cooked in a sauce of spices
and thickened with onions and tomatoes, yoghurt or coconut milk. They vary
greatly and depend upon local tastes. Recipes call for subtle variations
of a range of spices that include cardamom, pepper, cinnamon, turmeric,
red chilli, saffron, coriander, fenugreek and asafoetida. Spices are
freshly ground as garlic, ginger, onion and red chilli. Ancient treatises
on food prescribed spices and types of food, as being necessary to
digestion and health. The time of year and the classification of food as
heating and cooling were all considerations in the kind of food that was
served in any particular season. Today, turmeric is still used as
preservative of food, ginger as an acid to digestion and condiments
considered to be heating, used in cooking during winters.
Some of the famous cuisines from India originated in the royal kitchens.
The Mughals had the greatest influence on the festive food of North India.
With their love for good living, the Mughals transformed local food with
superb curries and kormas with their luscious sauces of cream, curd and
ground nuts and raisins. The 'tandoor' or the clay oven-- the origin of
tandoor cooking was major contribution. Varieties of delectable
kebabs--seek, boti, reshmi and barra kababs, tandoori chicken--spicy
chicken roasted in a marinade of curd and spices and a range of baked
breads--naans and rotis are a part of this royal heritage.
Another royal cuisine that evolved in North--the 'wazwan' from Kashmir in
an entire banquet--a variety of dishes slowly cooked in its own special
mix of spices. 'Roghan Josh', a curried lamb and 'gustaba', spiced meat
balls cooked in a creamy sauce are popular Kashmiri specialties.
The Dum Pukt cuisine of Oudh is noted for its delicately flavored food. It
developed from the vast quantities of food that was steam cooked for the
starving population of Lucknow during a famine. Hyderabad's contribution
includes rich pulavas and biryani - a spicy mutton and rice dish that is a
universal favorite.
The coastal states of Goa, Kerala and Bengal are also areas with splendid
non vegetarian food. Sea and fresh water fish and varieties of shell fish,
crab, prawn mussel and other sea food form the basis of their cuisine.
There are mustard flavored curries from Bengal, shell fish specialties
from Goa and coconut based stews and spicy curries from Kerala and
Maharashtra. The superb Goan cuisine influenced by 400 years of Portuguese
domination also includes luscious pork vindalus and sorpotels, spicy Goan
sausages and cafrael all cooked in base of vinegar.
State with a vegetarian basis to food includes Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh. Lentils and vegetables cooked in a variety of ways, with
contaties of Yoghurt, delicious pickles and crisp papadams make a range of
food that is delicious.
Dals or split lentils are common vegetarian fare in most part of the
country -- but availability and preferences differ and dals range from the
spicy tamarind flavored 'sambhar' of the south to the rich 'maa ki dal' of
the north India -- laced with dollops of cream or butter. Dals in Gujarat
are slightly sweet as is the rest of their food.
Accompanying the dal and roti or rice are varieties of vegetables cooked
according to local taste. In south India, vegetables are diced, lightly
cooked and garnished with grated coconut. In northern India, cream cheese
or paneer is often cooked with vegetables and palak paneer, cheese cooked
with spinach, paneer matar, cheese with peas and paneer koftas are steady
favorites. Sarson ka Saag and makki ki roti -- a mustard leaf mash and
maize bread served with fresh butter is a truly superb meal from Punjab.
The extensive range of snack food is also vary from state to state and
there are samosas (a vegetable filled puff), murukkus, vadas and bhajis
from the south, dhoklas from Gujarat and endless varieties of crisp
snacks.
Indian sweets which are largely based on milk include kulfis (an Indian
ice-cream), gulab jamun and rasgullas, cream cheese and flour preparations
served in sugar syrup, crisp golden jalebis and varieties of sandesh -- a
condensed milk sweet from Bengal. Halwa, another favorite sweet is created
out of a variety of ingredients. All over India, kheer or payasam, a rice
pudding served on festive occasions.
Finale to any meal is pan -- that concoction of betel leaf, areca-nut,
cardamom and whole range of exotic spices -- considered a digestive and an
appropriate ending to a fine meal.
Speciality restaurants all over the country offer fine regional fare --
but the best food is often to be had in Indian homes where spices are
blended in the right proportions and are cooked to perfection.
