Wednesday, 3 August 2011

Indian Food




Indian FoodThe 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Name↓Type↓Main ingredient(s)↓Vegetarian/Non-Vegetarian↓
1ChapatiBreadWhole Wheat flourVegetarian
2ricericericeVegetarian
3BiryaniMain/SideRice, optional spices, optional vegetables or meats
4NaanBreadRefined Wheat flourVegetarian
5ParathaBreadWheat flourVegetarian
6Tandoori chickenNon-VegChicken
7Chole bhatureMainChick peas, assorted spices, Wheat flour & Yeast for bhaturaVegetarian
8BaatiGhee(Clarified butter)Wheat flourVegetarian
9DalMainAssorted types of lentils, such as toor, urad, chana, masoor dalVegetarian
10BhaturaBreadWheat flour (it is fried)Vegetarian
11RajmaMainKidney beans & assorted spicesVegetarian
12Dal Makhani (Kali Dal)Maina typical type of lentil is usedVegetarian
13Dal fry with tadkatypical north Indian tadkaVegetarian
14Daal Baati Churmarajasthani specialVegetarian
15Daal PuriStuffed Dal in ParathasVegetarian
16Karela BhartaBitter Gourd / MelonUsually vegetarian
17Bhindi MasalaOkra sautéed with Onions and TomatoesVegetarian
18Sattu ki RotiDish from biharVegetarian
19Gajar ka HalwaUP DishA carrot puddingVegetarian
20Rajma ChavalBean Curry with RiceVegetarian
21PohaSpecialty from Madhya Pradesh. Common snack in Central part of India.Vegetarian
22Makke ki Roti, Sarso da saagPunjabi specialityVegetarian
23SamosaPotatoes, onions, peas, coriander, and lentilsVegetarian
24KachoriRajasthani /marwari specialVegetarian
25KheerRice Cooked with Milk and dry fruitsMilk and Rice, dry FruitsVegetarian
26Palak DaalSpinach with Toor DaalVegetarian
27Koftagram flour balls fried with vegetablesGram flour, Veggies. rolled into balls with gram flour and fried in oil and then cooked with curry.Vegetarian
28Methi Saag , Chaulai SaabVeggie leaves sauteed in oil and garlic with little masalasCooked mostly in Central part of India.Vegetarian
29KhichadiRice cooked with daal and veggies and sauteed.Vegetarian
30Sooji HalwaSamolina cooked with clarified butter and Dry fruits.Vegetarian
31Singhada HalwaLotus Fruit dried and powdered to make this fasting sweet meat.Vegetarian
32Palak PaneerCottage cheese cubes in Spinach gravy.Vegetarian
33Aloo MatarPotatoes and peas in curryVegetarian
34Dum AlooPotatoes cooked in Curry.Vegetarian
35Gobhi AlooCauliflower with potatoes sauteed with garam masala.Vegetarian
36Matar Patratha, Paneer Paratha, Aloo Paratha, gajar paratha, mooli ParathaAll stuffed parathas with different veggies.Vegetarian
37Aloo methiMethi leaves and potatoes nicely flavouredVegetarian
38Arbi masalaEdoes cooked in onion tomato masalaVegetarian
39Mushrrom do piazaVegetarian
40Mixed vegetableVegetarian
41Vegetable jalfreziVegetarian
42Ghiya ki subjiVegetarian
43Bharwein tindeVegetarian
44Aloo bainganVegetarian
45Bharwein baiganVegetarian
46Aloo simla mirchVegetarian
47Ghiye ke kofteVegetarian
48PattorVegetarian
49Ramatori subjiVegetarian
50baigan bhartaVegetarian
51Jeera alooVegetarian
52Kadai paneerVegetarian
53Paneer butter masalaVegetarian
54Butter Chicken
55Amritsari fish
56Amritsari kulchaVegetarian
57Chana masalaVegetarian
58Misi rotiVegetarian
59Navrattan korma
60RongiVegetarian
61Pindi chanaVegetarian
62French bean alooVegetarian
63Bharwein karelaVegetarian
64Shahi paneerVegetarian
65Mushroom matarVegetarian
66Moong dal ka halwaVegetarian
67PhirniVegetarian
68Amriti with RabdiVegetarian
69Mathura ke pdeVegetarian
70PinniVegetarian
71PanjeeriVegetarian
73katha meetha petha/halwakadooVegetarian
74Sweet Pethas/ kesar petha/ pista pethaVegetarian
75Gobhi matarVegetarian
76Gajar matar alooVegetarian
77Aloo baingan masalaVegetarian
78Aloo ki TikkiVegetarian
79Kulfi faloodaVegetarian
80Paneer Tikka MasalaVegetarian
81Kadhi PakodaGram Flour with Yogurt with gramflour fried ballsVegetarian