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Kashmiri |
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Kashmiri cuisine is essentially meat-based.
Lamb, goat's meat and chicken form the basis
of many a famous dish. It is flavored
delicately with saffron and kashmiri
chillies which are not too spicy but impart
a rich red colour to the food.
The abundance of
dry fruit like walnuts, dried dates, and
apricots also inspire the Kashmiri
connoisseur to use them lavishly in
puddings, curries and snacks.
Cottage cheese
or chaman as it is called, is also a popular
accompaniment to many meats and vegetables.
Fresh water fish like trout found in the
numerous fresh water streams flowing down
from the Himalayas is also a delicacy. |
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Food is generally followed by a generous
serving of fresh fruits like strawberries,
plums, cherries and apples which grow here
and not all over India due to the cool
climate. |
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Punjabi |
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Punjabi people are robust people with robust
appetites and their food is like the
Punjabis themselves, simple, sizeable and
hearty with no unnecessary frills or exotic
accompaniments. The Punjabi tandoori cooking
is celebrated as one of the most popular
cuisines throughout the world. Huge earthen
ovens are half buried in the ground and
heated with a coal fire lit below it.
Marinated meat, chicken, fish, paneer, rotis
and naans of many types are cooked in this
novel oven and the results are absolutely
scrumptious! |
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Punjab has imbibed some aspects of its
cuisine from external influences.
Connoisseurs of the cuisine say that the
gravy component of Punjabi cuisine came from
the Mughals. The most popular example is the
murg makhani. It served the state well to
combine this influence in its cooking since
it had a lot of pure ghee and butter. Murg
makhani also provided a balance to tandoori
chicken, which was dry because it was
charcoal cooked. Nans and parathas, rotis
made of maize flour are typical Punjabi
breads. Of course, over the years the roti
has been modified to add more variety, so
there is the rumali roti, the naan and the
laccha parathas, all cooked in the tandoor.
Winter, in Punjab, brings in the season of
the famous makki ki roti(maize flour bread)
and sarson ka saag(mustard leaf gravy). No
meal is complete without a serving of lassi(
sweet or salted drink made with curd) or
fresh curd and white butter which is
consumed in large quantities. The other
popular dishes, which belong exclusively to
Punjab, are ma ki dal, rajma (kidney beans)
and stuffed parathas. |
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Mughlai |
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Having reigned over India for so long, the
Moghuls left a deep and long lasting
influence on Delhi's cuisine. The Mughlai
cuisine is literally 'fit for royalty'. With
it's rich sauces, butter-based curries,
ginger flavoured roast meats, and
mind-blowing sweets, it has captured the
fancy of food lovers all over the world.
From a tangy shorba or soup to the rose
petal strewn kulfi, Mughlai food offers a
rich fare that is irresistible. Although
available throughout the country, the best
place to try this royal cuisine is in Delhi. |
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Bengali |
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Bengal's greatest contribution to the food
heritage of India is a magnificent spectrum
of sweets made from burnt milk and curd. 'Rasogullas',
'gulab jamuns', 'cham cham', 'malai
sandwich', 'chena murki', 'anarkali', 'rajbhog'
- the list of mouth-watering delicacies is
endless. 'Mishti dhoi' or yoghurt sweetened
with jaggery is a must in every Bengali
home. Guests are always welcomed with 'sandesh'
or sweets made from burnt milk and 'singadas'
or crisp samosas. |
Besides sweets, the Bengalis eat fish with
great relish and most of the popular Bengali
dishes are made from fish. A variety of
styles are adopted to cook fish. They are at
times marinated in spices, at other times
cooked in curd. The cuisine of West Bengal
differs from that of Bangladesh in that the
use of coconut in this cuisine is much
lesser and mustard oil is cooking medium
instead of coconut oil. The spices differ
from those used in the heartland of India,
but are similar to those used in the
interiors of the East Coast.
The specialty of Bengali cooking is the use
of panchphoron i.e. five basic spices which
include zeera, kalaunji, saunf, fenugreek
and mustard seeds. Generally, Bengali food
is a mixture of sweet and spicy flavors and
dining with these gentle people is a
definate treat. |
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Maharashtrian |
Maharashtrians are by and large, meat
eaters. The cuisine includes subtly
flavoured vegetarian delicacies and hot,
aromatic meat and fish curries. Their
crunchy, crisp sweets are made mostly from
rice and jaggery. The exotic 'Konkani' and 'Malwani'
cuisines also have their origins in the
coastal parts of this region and are
sea-food based.
As in most of the other states of India,
rice is the staple food grain in Maharashtra
too. Like the other coastal states, there is
an enormous variety of vegetables in the
regular diet and lots of fish and coconuts
are used. |
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Grated coconuts
spice many kinds of dishes, but coconut oil
is not very widely used as a cooking medium.
Peanuts and cashewnuts are widely used in vegetables and
peanut oil is the main cooking medium.
Another feature is the use of kokum, a
deep purple berry that has a pleasing sweet
and sour taste. Kokum, most commonly used in
an appetizer-digestive called the sol kadhi,
is served chilled. All non-vegetarian and
vegetarian dishes are eaten with boiled rice
or with bhakris, which are soft rotis made
of rice flour. Special rice puris called
vada and amboli, which is a pancake made of
fermented rice, urad dal, and semolina, are
also eaten as a part of the main meal.
The most popular dessert of Maharashtra is
the puran poli, which is roti stuffed with a
sweet mixture of jaggery and gram flour and
is made at the time of the Maharashtrian New
Year. Other popular sweets are the ukdiche
modak (these are served during the Ganesh
festival), the panpole ras, and the
shreekhand. Shreekhand, a sort of thick
yogurt sweet dish, is a great favorite at
weddings and the Dussehra festival. Flavored
with cardamom powder and saffron, this
aromatic dish is served with piping hot
puris. |
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Goan |
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Famous for it's distinctive cuisine, Goa can
boast of delicacies like the tangy pork 'vindaloo',
spicy 'sorpotel' and the ever popular Goan
fish curry with rice. Goa's luscious coconut
and fish based dishes draw in people from
all over the world. Goans often accompany
their meal with one of their innumerable
local wines or the local liqueur called 'Feni'.
Goan food is simple but one has to bear in
mind that most, though not all, of it
is chili hot, spicy, and pungent. Rice,
fish, and coconut are the basic components
of the typical Goan food platter. |
Delicacies
made from these three items can be expected
in nearly every Goan meal. Besotted with
seafood, the Goans find truly world-class
prawns, lobsters, crabs, and jumbo pomfrets
along the coastline and use them to make a
variety of soups, salads, pickles, curries,
and fries. An essential ingredient in Goan
cooking is coconut milk made by grating the
white flesh of a coconut and soaking it in a
cup of warm water. Equally important is the
‘kokum’, a sour, deep red colored fruit that
gives it a sharp and sour flavor. The famous
red Goan chilies are also a must for most
dishes, as is tamarind. Goans make their own
version of vinegar from toddy. Then there
are innumerable chutneys that are typical of
the state.
Goa is not particularly known for its
vegetarian dishes. While Hindus like lamb
and chicken, Christians prefer pork.
However, both prefer fish and seafood to any
other meat. Pork is a must for any festive
occasion in Goa and the most famous
preparation is the vindaloo. It is a spicy
concoction, lots of red chilies, garlic,
cooked with chunks of pork, Goa vinegar, and
hard palm jaggery and is best enjoyed with
plain boiled rice. Another mouth-watering
delicacy made of pork is the sarpotel. A
curry with a thick gravy to the layman, this
exotic concoction comprises boneless pork,
liver, heart, kidneys, red chilies,
cinnamon, cloves bathed in tangy toddy
vinegar, which is needed to balance the
strong taste of pig’s blood: another
traditional ingredient of this revered dish.
For those with a sweet tooth, Goan cuisine
offers the famous bebinca. The extract of
coconut milk is added to flour, sugar, and
other delectable ingredients are used to
make this delicacy. Each scrumptious layer
has to be baked before the next one is
added, though not many people nowadays have
the time to make the traditional 16 layers.
Even so, a good bebinca is a mouth-melting
dream. Other sweets include a soft jaggery
flavored fudge called dodol made from
finger-licking palm-sap jaggery, rice flour
and coconut; the crispy delicate
rose-a-coque that are flower-like waffles
and can be eaten alone or drenched with
cream or honey; the curled and sugared
kulkuls spiraled around the tines of forks
and deep-fried as Christmas goodies and
Easter eggs known as ovos da pascoa.
Similarly, during the Hindu festival of
Ganesh Chaturthi, cone-shaped dumplings
called modaks are a favourite fare. |
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Gujarati |
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Gujaratis have truly perfected the art of
vegetarian cooking. From the simplest
lentils and vegetables, they create a
mouth-watering variety of food. Gujarat is
known as the land of milk and butter.
Predictably so, yoghurt and buttermilk are a
part of the Gujarati's daily diet. While in
Gujarat, a 'thali' dinner - literally
meaning a meal served on a silver platter-
is a delight you must not miss. An endless
procession of fresh vegetables cooked in
aromatic spices, a variety of crisp, fried
snacks and an array of delectable
confections typically appear in the 'thali'.
In Gujarat, during winter when green
vegetables are available in plenty, a
delicious vegetable concoction called
undhyoo is made using potato, brinjal, and
green beans amongst several other
vegetables.
The main dish of gujarati cuisine is the
khichdi, a simple lentil and rice mixture.
It is eaten with kadhi, a savory curry made
with yogurt using bay leaves, ginger,
chilies and finely chopped vegetables as
garnishing, onions and pickle.
Using the same lentils and rice, Kutchi
kitchens produce delectable items like the
khaman dhokla, a salty steamed cake made
from chickpea flour; doodha pak, sweet,
thickened milk confectioned with nuts, and
srikhand, a dessert made of yogurt, flavored
with saffron, cardamom, nuts and candied
fruit which is eaten with hot, fluffy
pooris. These three delicacies have made
their way into the favorites list of the
rest of India too and can be found in
restaurants all over the country. |
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Rajasthani |
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The ancient princely state of Rajasthan gave
rise to a royal cuisine. The Rajas who went
on hunting expeditions ate the meat or the
fowl that they brought back. Even today,
Rajasthani princely feasts flaunt meat
delicacies that are incomparable.In contrast are the vegetarian Rajasthanis.
Their food cooked in pure ghee is famous for
it's mouth- watering aroma.
Rajasthani cooking was also influenced by
both the war-like lifestyles of its
inhabitants and the availability of
ingredients in the desert region. |
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Food that
could last for several days and could be
eaten without heating was preferred, more
out of necessity than choice. Scarcity of
water and lack of fresh green vegetables
also had their effect on Rajasthani cooking.
Dried lentils and beans from indigenous
plants like sangri, ker etc. are staples of
the Rajasthani diet, as wheat and rice do
not grow very well in the desert land. Gram
flour is an integral cooking ingredient and
is used to make delicacies and so are
powdered lentils. Bajra and corn are used
all over the state for making rotis and
other varieties of bread. In Rajasthan,
bajre ki roti (millet bread) and lahsun ki
chutney (hot garlic paste) combined with
spring onions are the staple diet of the
locals as these are believed to be
safeguards against the hot winds. In the
desert belt of Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bikaner,
cooks still use very little water and
instead use milk, buttermilk and clarified
butter as alternatives.
The balance to using these milk products is
provided by the appropriate use of
digestives, especially asafetida, black rock
salt, ginger and ajwain. The favored spices
are fenugreek seeds, kasuri methi (dried
fenugreek leaves) and aniseed. A distinct
feature of the Maheshwari cooking is the use
of mango powder, a suitable substitute for
tomatoes, scarce in the desert, and
asafetida, to enhance the taste in the
absence of garlic and onions. |
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Hyderabadi |
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The cuisine of Andhra Pradesh is reputedly
the spiciest and hottest of all Indian
cuisine. The cuisine includes both the
original Andhra cooking and the Hyderabadi
cuisine with its Mughlai influence. It is
the former which is red hot.
The vegetables and greens are prepared with
various different masalas giving the same
vegetable different flavours. Traditional
Andhra cuisine also has many non-vegetarian
dishes which are also spicy and unique in
taste.
Hyderabadi cuisine is rich and aromatic with
a liberal use of exotic spices and ghee, not
to speak of nuts and dry fruits. |
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Lamb is the
most widely used meat in the non-vegetarian
dishes. The biryanis (flavoured rice with
meat or vegetables) is one of the most
distinct Hyderabadi food. |
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