If you go on a north India tour, you must try Kadi, which is made from dahi and gram with spices. Gur or jaggery (unrefined sugar) adds a hint of sweetness to piquant sauces. Am rasa, the pureed pulp of mangoes eaten with puris, is a special treat on summer days.
Although Bengali food is never actually sweetened, it is customary to serve a sweet along with the other food as a foil to the hot chillies, or for a change in flavor. In keeping with religious mandates, Gujarati (especially Jain) and Bengali vegetarian food is often cooked without the garlic, ginger, onions, and the “heating” or stimulating spices.
Possibly the “purest” form of North Indian vegetarian food is the Banarsi. Lightly spiced, many specialities are based on panir (soft cheese). A good source of protein, it is cooked in innumerable ways, with spinach (palak panir), in a gravy with peas (matter panir) or lotus seeds (panir phulmakhana).
Then there are the deep-fried or stuffed breads, made of combinations of refined and wholemeal flour; the golden puffs called puris, the parathas, baturas and so on. Most widely eaten is the simple chapatti, baked on a griddle.
Meat and fish delicacies
Muslim influence is most evident in the cooking of meats. The major contribution was the tandoor, the conical earthen oven from which, emerged a delectable array of kababs and rotis This was the origin of the famous tandoori cooking, brought from the Northwest Frontier but available all over the country - the tandoori chicken, seekh, boti and barra kababs, and tan doori fish. Among the rods are the elongated naan, the tandoori rod, or its richer equivalent the tandoori paratha. All are delicious breads.
The fastidious Mughals transformed local recipes, developing what has become known as Mughlai cuisine, with its luscious sauces of dahi, cream and crushed nuts. An amazing variety is on offer, including: the rich kormas and nargisi koftas (meatballs shaped around a hard-boiled egg) of Lucknow; the pasandas or mutton steaks cooked in an almond sauce; the biriyani, a layered rice and meat concoctior. famous in Hyderabad; and a variety of kababs that literally melt in the mouth.
Laden with nuts, dried fruits and saffron. Kashmiri Muslim food is a gourmet’s joy and bears much in common with Persian food. Haleem, mutton pounded with wheat; gaustaba, incredibly light meatballs; and rogan josh are well-known Kashmiri specialities.
Fish too, is prepared in many ways: the mustard-flavoured macher jhol and malai or cream prawns of Bengal, the chilli-hot curries of Andhra, the coconut and curry-leaf flavored specialties of the south and the memorable fish and shellfish curries of Goa. Hilsa, a Bengali specialty, has spiky bones that support melt-ingly delicate flesh and requires careful chewing. Dried fish, misleadingly known as Bombay Duck, is cooked with vegetables or dais and adds interest to the simpler fare of Maharashtra.
The Parsis also contributed interesting dishes. Dhansak, meat cooked with five different dais and an unusual blend of spices, and patrani machi, lightly spiced fish steamed in banana leaves, are just two examples.
Chutneys and pickles, sweet, sour, hot, or all three, stimulate the appetite and add relish to a meal. Many ingredients can be used: mint, coriander, mango, ginger, lime and vegetables with extravagant spices or just salt.
Papads (or papadams), roasted or fried savoury crisps, add crunch. They are made from a previously prepared dough of dal, rice, or vegetable flour.
