Incredibly flavourful, fragrant, and diverse, Indian cuisine is one of the most popular global cuisines. In 2022 Indian food even ranked fifth among the best world cuisines according to Taste Atlas. At the same time, extremely popular Indian food is as unique and somehow magical as the Indian culture itself. 5000-year-old Indian culinary traditions were mainly formed under the influence of two religions, Hinduism and Islam.
In the period of India’s formation, when its territory began to be actively settled by settlers, the locals also borrowed culinary traditions from the French (starting to bake their bread) and the Portuguese (thanks to them, paprika took an honorable place among the abundance of spices. For those new to Indian food, we would like to introduce you to fragrant and delightful Indian food, its main ingredients, and dishes.
Indian Cuisine: Local Diversity And Common Culinary Threads
Indian delicacies vary by region and state. As in any other country, in India, the locals most often cook with the foods that grow in their region. Thus, the north is a meat-eater’s paradise. The southern regions of India are famous for their spicy vegetarian dishes. Gems of South Indian cuisine are biryani (flavourful rice dish cooked with meat and spices) and idlis (steamed rice cakes). However, despite the differences, all authentic Indian foods have some important similarities. Staple ingredients of global Indian cuisine are rice, lentils, chickpeas, potatoes, tomatoes, and unions. Cooking traditional dishes is unthinkable without the use of spices. Indians put them not only in the dishes but also in desserts and even drinks.
The most popular Indian spices include cardamom, coriander, turmeric, cumin, chili, nutmeg, garlic, pepper, and saffron. As for drinks, Indians brew tea, usually with milk, and one of the most popular authentic drinks is masala tea with milk, cardamom, ginger, and black pepper. Other popular Indian beverages are the refreshing yogurt-based drink lassi and authentic Indian lemonade Nimbu Panim.
As diverse as Indian cooking might be, the best way to embark on the Indian culinary journey is to try authentic Indian delicacies. Here is a selection of some popular Indian dishes, and their recipes. Prepare them for a dinner party, but remember that Indian food is traditionally eaten socially. So instead of grabbing cold paneer dumplings to take a break after play poker online with live dealer, make enjoying Indian food a ritual.
Malai Kofta (Paneer Dumplings With Gravy)
A lot of oil and spices are the hallmarks of the local Indian cuisine. Famous North Indian comfort food is Malai Kofta – fried cheese (paneer) and potato dumplings, served with curry. To prepare it, mix paneer with the mashed potatoes and flour, knead well, and form small balls. Roll each one in rice flour and fry each of them for a few minutes in hot oil. For the sauce, place masala spices in a pan, add water and allow to boil for a few minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients for the sauce, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Place the balls in the sauce, turn off the heat and cool them. Enjoy!
Chicken Curry (Indian One-Pot With Chicken Meat And Spices)
Cut the chicken breast into small pieces and fry, leave to cool. Fry mustard seeds with curry, put grated ginger, and finely chopped onion, and simmer for a few minutes. Add chopped chili, turmeric, and tomatoes. Simmer a little longer and pour in the water and coconut milk. After that, the sauce should cook for 10 minutes. After the time has elapsed, put in the chicken breasts and cook it for another 20 minutes.
Kulfi (Indian Ice Cream)
There are many recipes for kulfi. At its core, it is a flavored ice cream with almonds, saffron, and cardamom. According to one of the recipes, you need to bring a mixture of milk and milk powder with cardamom and saffron to a boil. Then, you need to add roasted almonds to the mixture and put it in the fridge.
