Indian cuisine

Indian Cuisine

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A collage of various Indian dishes representing the diversity of Indian cuisine.

Indian cuisine encompasses a rich and diverse culinary heritage that reflects the country's history, geography, and cultural diversity. It is renowned for its vibrant flavors, aromatic spices, and a wide range of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Indian cuisine is highly regarded worldwide and has influenced various global culinary traditions.

Regional Varieties

Indian cuisine is characterized by its regional variations, with each state and region having its own distinct culinary traditions and specialties. Some prominent regional cuisines include:

North Indian Cuisine

North Indian cuisine is known for its rich, creamy gravies, bread-based dishes, and abundant use of dairy products. Popular dishes include butter chicken, tandoori chicken, naan bread, and rajma (red kidney bean curry).

South Indian Cuisine

South Indian cuisine is primarily rice-based and known for its extensive use of spices and coconut. Dishes like dosa (fermented rice and lentil crepes), idli (steamed rice cakes), sambhar (lentil stew), and rasam (spiced tamarind soup) are popular in this region.

East Indian Cuisine

Eastern Indian cuisine features flavors influenced by Bengali, Odia, and Assamese cuisines. It is characterized by the use of mustard oil, fish, and various plant-based ingredients. Dishes like machher jhol (fish curry), rosogolla (spongy syrup-soaked sweets), and pitha (rice cakes) are typical of this region.

West Indian Cuisine

West Indian cuisine, including Gujarati, Maharashtrian, and Rajasthani cuisines, offers a mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Dal baati churma (lentils with baked wheat bread), thali (a complete meal with a variety of dishes), and vada pav (spicy potato fritters in a bun) are popular in this region.

Spices and Flavorings

Indian cuisine is renowned for its skillful use of spices and flavorings, which add depth and complexity to the dishes. Some commonly used spices and flavorings include:

Garam Masala

Garam masala is a blend of ground spices, typically including cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, cumin, and coriander. It is often added towards the end of cooking to enhance the flavor of dishes.

Turmeric

Turmeric is a vibrant yellow spice that not only adds color to Indian dishes but also offers numerous health benefits. It is used in curry powders, marinades, and rice preparations.

Mustard Seeds

Mustard seeds are commonly used in Eastern Indian cuisine, particularly in Bengali and Assamese dishes. They are typically fried in oil until they pop, releasing a nutty and pungent flavor.

Curry Leaves

Curry leaves are an integral part of South Indian cuisine. They have a distinct aroma and are used to flavor various curries, chutneys, and rice dishes.

Popular Dishes

Indian cuisine offers a plethora of mouthwatering dishes that cater to diverse tastes and preferences. Some popular Indian dishes include:

Biryani

Biryani is a fragrant rice dish cooked with aromatic spices, meat (such as chicken, mutton, or fish), and sometimes vegetables. It is a one-pot meal known for its rich flavors and tender meat.

Butter Chicken

Butter chicken is a North Indian dish that has gained immense popularity worldwide. It consists of succulent pieces of grilled or tandoori chicken cooked in a creamy tomato-based sauce. The dish is rich, flavorful, and often enjoyed with naan bread or rice.

Masala Dosa

Masala dosa is a popular South Indian dish that has become a breakfast staple in many parts of India. It is a crispy fermented crepe made from rice and lentils, filled with a spiced potato mixture. It is typically served with coconut chutney and sambar.

Paneer Tikka

Paneer tikka is a vegetarian delight made from cubes of paneer (Indian cottage cheese) marinated in a mixture of yogurt and spices, skewered, and grilled until charred and smoky. It is often served as an appetizer or as a part of the main course in Indian meals.

Rogan Josh

Rogan josh is a classic Kashmiri dish that features tender chunks of meat (usually lamb or goat) cooked in a rich and aromatic sauce made with onions, tomatoes, yogurt, and a blend of spices. The dish is known for its deep red color and robust flavors.

Influence and Adaptation

Indian cuisine has had a significant impact on culinary traditions around the world. Indian spices, cooking techniques, and flavor combinations have been adopted and adapted in various international cuisines. The popularity of dishes like curry, biryani, and tikka masala is a testament to the global influence of Indian cuisine.

Cuisine of India is know for it's rich spices, flavor and variety.

List of Indian food items

• Atta flour – (also know as a chapatti flour) - whole wheat flour widely used for making unleavened flat breads. 

• Banana leaves – is widely used for wrapping ingredients (particularly fish) before cooking. They should be soaked briefly in hot water to make them pliable. If banana  leaves are unavailable use alumininium foil.

• Basmati rice – the finest Indian long-grained rise grown in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is known as the prince of the rice because of its fine flavor and aroma. It should be rinsed and soaked for 10 minutes before using.

• Besan – also known as gram flour, this is made from chickpeas. It is used to flavor and thicken curries and for making Pakoras and bhajias, pancakes and teamed patties.

• Biriyani - a rice and vegetable, meat or seafood oven - cooked dish.

• Biriyani masala-This is a special sweet spice mix for biriyani dishes. Grind together the cardamom seeds from 8 pods, 25 g (1 oz) cinnamon stick, 6 cloves and 1 tsp fennel seeds.

• Bhoondi - tiny balls of fried besan or gram flour.

• Chana dal – with their sweet and nutty flavor, chana dal is the most popular dal in India. They're made from splitting a small relative of the chickpea in half. They're a dull yellow and are renown for causing flatulence, which Indians try to counter by adding asafoetida to the dish. Chana dal is delicious, nutritious and easily digested, but, aside from its usage both in dal dishes and savories, the legumes are also roasted and powdered into chickpea flour (besan or besin) another widely used ingredient in nearly every regional cuisine. Chana dal is used in variety of vegetable dishes. It can be cooked until soft for the dish called simply dal, or as in southern India, it can be used as a spice.

• Chapati - the bread  usually made on a circular cast iron griddle known as a tawa, which is slightly concave to give its distinctive shape. It is cooked without fat, over very high heat.

• Chawal- rice

• Chick peas - also called gram or, in America, garbanzo beans. As chickpeas often demand hours of cooking before they become tender. Buy igourmet 17.5-oz. Chick Peas (Garbanzo Beans)

• Coconut – (Nariel) is essential to many dishes. It is obtained from the white flesh of the nut and is both rich and smooth-testing. widely used in southern Indian cuisine, is used both savory and sweet dishes.  Buy a fresh coconut to extract the milk or use desiccated coconut to thicken sauces or garnish finished dishes.

• Coconut oil Coconut oil is very heat stable so it makes an excellent cooking and frying oil. It has a smoke point of about 360°F (180°C). Coconut oil has a high amount of saturated fatty acids it also has a relatively high melting point. Above 76°F (24°C) coconut oil is a colorless liquid. Below this temperature it solidifies into a pure white solid. It is used in Indian cooking, especially in Goa.

• Cocum - grows on trees along the Western coast of India. Has a deep purple flesh surrounding a large seed. It imparts a pale -purplish color to food as well as a sour taste. It is used by Sindhis in their gram flour curry, and by Hindu Goans in their fish curries. It is also made into sherbets (refreshing drink concentrates made from fruits) on the West coast of India. Cocum has anti-allergic action, and cocum infusion water drink for three days first thing in the mornings is said to cure urticaria or hives. 

• Colam rice - short-grain polished rice widely used in Western India. Most common varieties of shor and long-grain polished rice may be used for Dosas and Uttapams.

• Corn meal - flour made from pure maize (corn) which has been ground fine.

• Dals (pulses)- dried split peas, usually bought skinned. There about sixty  varieties of pulses available in India. THese are dreid seeds of plants such as beans and peas and those most popularly sued include chick peas (kabuli channa), split black chick peas (bengal gram or channa), black gram (urid daal), red lentils (arhar) and yellow lentils (moong). Pulses should be rinsed in several changes of water. Pre-soaking usually cuts their cooking time by half and salt tends to harden pulses it should not be added until the end of the cooking. As they take a long time to cook, a pressure cooker is a great aid to cooking most pulses. The more unusual pulses are sold in health food or Asian food stores.

• Dosa - is a flat bread made with flours, rice, wheat or legumes, cooked like a pancake. It may be filled with a spicy mixture.

• Food colorings- turmeric an saffron will color food yellow, but you can also buy coloring that has no taste.

• Garam masala- a blend of ground spices used in many savory dishes. Garam masala recipe>>

• Ghee - clarified butter made by melting butter and separating the fat from the solids. It can be made at home. From the best flavor ghee is made from unsalted butter. Cheaper blends of butter are most suitable to make ghee. Once prepared it will keep for up to three or four months in a cool place.

To make 175 g/6 oz ghee, melt 225 g/8 ox butter in a saucepan. lowly simmer the melted butter until it becomes clear and a whitish residue settles at the bottom. Remove from the heat, spoon off any foam, and allow to cool. Drain the clear oil from the top into a container, straining if preferred. Discard or add the residue to curries for flavoring.

The advantage of using it is that it can be heated to a very high temperature without burning (so is useful for browning onions in order to give a sauce a good rich color, and for sizzling spices before the main ingredients are added to the pan. It doesn't need to be refrigerated.

• Gram flour - made from chickpeas and also known as besan.

• Halva - a sweet dish

• Idli - is a bread from the South, almost like a cake, round and thick, made with fermented rice from the Kerala and legume flour (urad), shaped and then steamed (the legumes have a leavening effect).

• Jaggery- raw sugar, eaten as it is and used to flavor various dishes, even vegetable curries.

• Kalonji - (also known as nigella) small black tear-shaped onions seeds, used to add piquancy to vegetable curries and Indian breads.

• Kewra water - also sold in the stronger form of essence, kewra water is used for flavoring and has a delicate fragrance.

• Khoa- full fat milk powder

• Lassi - a yogurt drink

• Masala- spices

• Masoor dal - skinned split red lentils (they actually orange in color)

• Mint - widely used herb often paired with lamb. Indian mint has a stronger flavor and more pungent aroma than Western varieties.

• Moong dal - skinned split mung beans.

• Murghi - chicken

• Mustard oil- a yellow oil made from mustard seeds that is pungent when raw and sweet when heated. Much used in Kashmir and Bengal.

• Naan - a kind of bread popular in North India. It is made with leavened dough (chopped onion or cilantro can also be added to it), and is often made from buttermilk or yogurt. The dough is stretched by tossing the piece of dough quickly from one palm to the other to form a thin oval flatbread, slightly thicker around the edges than in the center. Traditionally is baked on the walls of a tandoor oven, brushed with a thin coating of oil or ghee and served hot.  It can also be stuffed with cheese, vegetable curry or meat. In this case, the filling is placed on part of the dough which is then folded over on itself before being rolled flat with a rolling pin.

• Panch phoran - mix of five spices - cumin seeds, onion seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and anise.

• Papaya - a fruit with good digestive properties

• Paratha - a bread; richer version of chapati, crispy and cooked in ghee on a griddle. They are very thin and are stacked up like crêpes.

• Poori- is a bread fried in hot oil, completed submerged so that it puffs up. Pooris are common to the

Bengal and Gujrat regions of India.

• Poppodums and pappads - the pre-made and precooked flat breads (made from legume flour (urad) and rice flour) that need only be immersed in hot oil to puff up instantly; they are turned with a skimmer so that they stiffen up slightly and then are drained and served while still crisp. Some are plain, others are spiced with mixtures of spices. They can also be prepared under the broiler, thus eliminating the chore of frying.

• Raita- a cooling side dish made with yogurt

• Rattam-jog - this is the dried bark of a reed like plant grown in India, used mainly to color food. When cooked with meat or vegetables a small piece imparts a deep red color to the dish.

• Rose water - available from chemists this is used like kewra water for flavoring many Indian dishes. The essence form is more expensive.

• Roti - The name is related to the French word "rôtie," meaning toasted bread. It is made from whole wheat (aata), millet (bajra) or sorghum (jowar)

• Rumali - Toasted bread, or handkerchief bread, which is also found in other eastern countries, is made up of numerous layers of dough like a folded handkerchief.

• Sambar powder - a southern Indian spice mix for vegetable curries.

• Silver leaf (varq) - editable silver leaf is used as a garnish over sweets. Silver foil is very thin. it is very fragile and often breaks up during use. It has no aroma or taste. 

• Tamarind - the most popular souring agent in Southern India. The pods are collected, de-seeded and dried. Before cooking the acid flesh is soaked in water, and the juice is squeezed out. It is this tamarind water that is used in the curry. In some Goan recipes, the tamarind flesh is ground with spices. Nowadays tamarind concentrate can be bought in any grocer's shop.

• Tava - a flat cast iron pan used for making bread.

• Thali - a large tray, often of wrought metal.

• Toor dal - a glassy dark yellow split pea, similar to chana dal.

• Toran- style of cooking where the dish remains dry.

• Uppama - a flat bread whose dough is made from semolina instead of flour. It can be quite rich and may include onions, chilies, ginger, mustard seed, nuts, various vegetables etc.

• Urid dal - polished split black lentils, often used as a spice in southern India. It takes quite a long time to cook.

• Varak - silver leaf used as a decoration for both sweet and savory dishes.

• Vindaloo- a highly spiced and hot curry, traditionally from Goa.

• Wheat flour (Gehun ka Atta) - flour made from whole wheat (usually a variety low in gluten), very finely ground for making bread. A fairly close substitute is whole wheat pastry flour. Regular whole wheat flour gives heavier results and is stiffer and more difficult to work with than chapati flour. If regular whole wheat flour must be used, sift is several times through a very fine sieve (to get a fine flour and to remove bran) and substitute refine flour for half the whole wheat flour in a recipe. 

• Aachar: Indian Pickles are mainly made with vegetables and fruits like mango, lime, green chilies etc. Made mostly during the summer in India, they are a spicy and delightful addition to the Indian meal. One has to get aquatinted with the strong flavors of most pickles, so do try one. Some of the brands of pickles to look for are "Bedekar Pickles" and "Nirav pickles".  

• Appam *: Wafer thin, round and flat. They are usually made out of rice, potato and/or various lentil flours.  

• Avial*: Vegetable curry from the south of India.  

• Baghar or Tadka or Chounk: Spices and herbs are added one at a time to hot oil and this tempering is either done as the first step in the cooking process, before adding the vegetables for example, or as the last, pouring the tempered oil over a cooked dish. The oil extracts and retains all the sharp flavours of the spices and flavors the entire dish.  

• Balchaoas in the goan recipe Prawn Balchao where the shrimp is marinated  in a brine sauce. A Goan speciality where vegetables like aubergines or seafood like prawns are "pickled" in sugar, vinegar and spices for a day or two before eating.  

• Bhunao or Bhuna is to saute or stir-fry.  Usually onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and green chillies are fried in oil, but to make sure that this doesn’t stick, burn or cook unevenly, a small amount of liquid is added, repeatedly. After the oil separates from the mixture, the main ingredient (meat or vegetable) is added and cooked.  

• Bukhara * Dum * Pukht cuisine in India is over 200 years old. When Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah was building the Bara Imambara during the famine of 1784 to provide work for his starving people, huge quantities of food was cooked in large vessels, degs, in massive double-walled ovens called bukharis. He tasted the food one night and loved it so much that bukhari cooking was incorporated into the royal court.  

• Barfi *: A dessert made from milk that has been cooked slowly and reduced to a fudge-like consistency. This sweet is flavored with either saffron, vanilla essence, cocoa, rose water, etc. Sometimes nuts and fresh coconut is added. Eaten and served in bite sized pieces "Barfi" is a very popular after dinner dessert. Just like bringing a bottle fine wine when you visit someone for the first time, a decorative box filled with different kinds of "Barfi" is a traditional gift in India.  

• Basmati rice: Basmati rice is authentic Indian long grained white rice, which has unique nutty flavor. Basmati rice is very popular in India and all over the world. A wide variety of rice dishes are made with Basmati rice. They are: plain steamed rice, pulaos, pilafs, biryanis or just different types of fried rice – which include meat, vegetables, nuts, and even fruits sometimes. Gourmet cooks prefer to use Basmati rice for its fragrant flavor. Special occasion rice dishes are mostly made with Basmati rice.    

• Bhel Puri: One of Bombay’s favorite snack’s. It is a mixture of puffed rice, "sev", "puri", lentils, finely chopped onions, chopped coriander topped with two kinds of chutneys; one is the sweet tamarind date chutney and the other is the spicy onion chili chutney.    

• Bhaaji or Sabji: : Any vegetable.    

• Bharta: A spicy vegetable dish, with a pulp like consistency. Originally a muslim dish which is served with a Khichadi or Pulao. A commonly made bharta is a "baingan (eggplant) bharta.  

• Bondas or * Vadas : Round deep fried savory snack made in different varieties usually from lentils, potatoes etc. eaten with a chutney.  

• Biryani: Elaborate dish made from spiced saffron rice cooked with pieces of lamb, chicken or vegetables. It is usually made on special occasions since it takes a long time to make a biryani, but it is surely worth the effort. It always tastes better the next day since the spices marinate and flavor the meat and rice.  

• Boti Kabab: Marinated boneless cubes of meat cooked in a tandoor.  

• Chappati: Unleavened Indian flat-bread made with wheat flour, water, oil and salt. Usually cooked on a "tava" or thick griddle and brushed with "ghee".  

• Chaat: Salty snacks served with an array of sweet and spicy chutneys.  

• Chai : Indian tea.  

• Chaval: Rice.  

• Chutney: Fresh relishes made with fruits, vegetables, and herbs.  

• Curry: To the Indians, the term curry means gravy or sauce, Curries are what made Indian cuisine famous all over the world, the most famous of all is the Chicken Curry. Residents of the rest of the world, however, have come to think of "curry" as simply a thick creamy yellow sauce or any dish seasoned with a curry-powder blend, whether it has a sauce or not. An authentic Indian curry is an intricate combination of a stir-fried wet masala (mixture of onion, garlic, ginger, and tomatoes), various spices and seasonings with which meat, poultry, vegetables or fish is prepared to produce a stew-type dish.

• Daal: Daal is an Indian word, which includes dried peas, beans, and lentils which are red, yellow orange, or pink, plus split peas and other legumes. Daal can also be used to describe a soup like dish prepared with lentils. Daals are the primary source of protein in a vegetarian diet. Daals are cooked whole or pureed, depending on the dish. Ground powdered daal is used in unleavened breads and crackers, and even in spice mixtures.

• Dum: A way to steam foods in a pot with a tightly covered lid or a sealed pot. A popular spiced vegetable dish is "Dum Aloo". In the olden days, the utensil was sealed with atta (dough) to capture the moisture within the food as it cooked slowly over a charcoal fire. Some coal was placed on the lid to ensure even cooking. The food continued to cook in its own steam, retaining all its flavour and aroma. Dum means, "to steam" or "mature" a dish.

• Do Pyaza: A mildly flavored creamy dish made with onions; usually twice cooked onions with meat. Do-Piaza Mullah Do-Piaza, all children in India are told, was the legendary cook at Akbar’s court. One of the navratnas , it is said he could conjour up culinary delights using only two onions. For example mutton cooked in that particular style is called Ghosht do piaza.

• Dosa*: A popular delicacy from southern India made from rice and "urad" daal. They are usually made very thin and pancake-like and sometimes filled with a spiced potato mixture. Served with chutney and "sambar".

• Ekuri *: Indian version of scrambled eggs, which obviously means the addition of onions and spices. Delicious with a hot Paratha.

• Feni *: The Goan drink made from cashews or coconut is the perfect beach drink. It was originally a very basic and local drink, much like toddy; recently it has been commercialized.

• Gulab Jamun: Deep-fried cake balls served with aromatic syrups.

• Halva: Indian sweet made from a variety of …….believe it or not… finely grated vegetables, milk, sugar and flavored with cardamom. The consistency is that of a thick pudding. Among the popular halvas are the "Gajar Halva" and "Doodhi Halva".

• Idli *: Steamed rice cakes. A very popular snack from the south of India. Generally eaten with "sambar" and "chutney".

• Jalebi: These orange sweet crisp round whirls, made from plain flour and water deep fried and then dipped in sugar syrup make a favorite Indian dessert.

• Kachumber: Indian salad usually made with cucumber, tomatoes, and onions flavored with salt, sugar and lemon juice. As it goes with any Indian dish the varieties can be endless.

• Karanji *: Pastries made out of whole-wheat flour and filled with a cooked mixture of freshly grated coconut and sugar. It is a Maharashtrian delicacy.  

• Kababs: Marinated and spiced small pieces of any meat, poultry, fish, ground meat, vegetables, skewered and grilled in a tandoor/oven or over a grill. Kebabs can also be shallow fried over a pan.  

• Kalvan *: Curry  in Marathi ( an Indian language from the state of Maharashtra)  

• Kheer: Essentially a rice pudding, made with rice, milk and sugar flavored with cardamom. Sometimes nuts are added. Served either hot or cold.  

• Khichadi: Mildly spiced rice and daal preparation. Popularly made when you want to eat a light meal, when suffering from a stomach disorder since it is not only nutritive but can be easily digested.

• Kheema: Ground meat, raw or cooked.  

• Koftas: Spiced meat or vegetable balls.  

• Khoya: Also known as "mawa" is made by bringing milk to a boil in a pot and stirring continuously thereafter on a low flame. It is then reduced and thickened to the consistency of soft cream cheese. Used widely in the making of many Indian desserts and sweet meats.  

• Korma: Rich sauce thickned with yogurt, nuts or poppy seeds.  

• Kulcha: Flatbread often stuffed with onion or potatoes and seasoned with cilantro.  

• Kulfi: Sweet, aromatic ice cream made from cream, milk, and sugar flavored with mango, pistachios, saffron etc. Among the most popular are the Mango Kulfi, Pista kulfi and the Malai Kulfi.  

• Lassi : A tall cool drink made from yogurt and water and made either sweet or salty. To be enjoyed with a fresh dollop of yogurt on top on a hot summer day.  

• Masala: Spices, herbs and other seasonings ground or pounded together. When wet ingredients like water, vinegar, yogurt etc. are added to the spice mixture it is appropriately called a "wet masala". Dry spice mixtures are also called "Garam masala" or commonly known in the world as "Curry powder". Indian cooks generally don't use pre-prepared curry powder - originally a British invention to approximate Indian seasoning - but prefer making their own ever changing blends.    

• Masala Dani: ( Masala Dabba*) : Spice box containing the commonly used dry spices and is always kept near the cooking range for easy and quick access. A spoon is included for ease of use.    

• Modak: Cone shaped dumplings made from rice flour filled with a cooked mixture of freshly grated coconut and sugar. Made exclusively during the festival of "Ganapati".    

• Mutter : Peas    

• Mutter Paneer: Curried peas with cubes of fried homemade cheese.  

• Murgh : Chicken  

• Murgh Masalam: Curried chicken…world famous!

• Naan: Indian flat bread made from wheat and baked in a tandoor.

• Paan: Betel leaf stuffed with supari (betel nut), quick lime paste, kathechu paste, gulukand (rose petal preserve), fennel seeds and dried grated coconut. Paan is eaten usually after a meal and has known to aid in digestion. Paan connoisseurs always add tobacco in their paan. The paan is garnished with edible thin silver foil called "Varak".  

• Pakoras: Popular Indian crispy and spicy snack served usually hot out of the frying pot along with coriander chutney. A popular tea time snack served with Indian tea. Slices of different vegetables like potatoes, onion, chilies, spinach leaves, eggplant etc dipped in a batter made out of chickpea flour and a few dry spices and deep fried.  

• Paratha: Whole-wheat unleavened flatbread. It is sometimes filled with cooked ground meat or a vegetable mixture. Slightly larger than a Chappati and shallow fried to perfection.  

• Papad: Thin wafer like discs about 4 to 8 nches in diameter made from a variety of lentils, potato, shrimp, rice etc. The discs are deep fried or dry roasted on an open flame and served as a crispy savory appetizer. Served in many Indian restaurants complimentary before a meal.  

• Pulao: Delicately flavored rice, sautéed in ghee and flavored with whole spices like cumin, cloves etc. Just like the Indian cuisine there are many varieties of Pulao.    

• Puris: Deep-fried whole-wheat flatbreads. They are usually around 4 inches in diameter and puff up when deep-fried. Delicious when hot!  

• Raan: Leg of lamb marinated in yogurt-based masala.  

• Raita: Vegetable and yogurt salad.  

• Rassgulla: One of the most famous Indian sweets that originated from east India. The balls made from milk are cooked in a light sugar syrup, flavored with cardamom. Served chilled.

• Rogan Josh: Rich lamb curry.  

• Roti: is Bread in Hindi. "Tandoori roti" is bread that is baked in a tandoor, "Rumali Roti" or literally meaning handkerchief bread is a kind of a thin and flaky partha made up of many layers.    

• Saag Curry: Aromatic curried dish made from greens (saag).

• Sambhar: Lentil curry form the south of India. Served as an accompaniment with "idli"and "dosa".  

• Samosas: Deep-fried pastry appetizers filled with vegetable or meat mixtures.    

• Seekh Kabab: The word "Seekh" in Hindi means skewer. Seekh kabab simply means kababs on a skewer. Kababs are usually made out of ground lamb mixed with various spices, cooked in a "tandoor".  

• Sev: Thin string-like fried snack preparation made out of gram flour. Used in the preparation of "Sev puri" and "Bhel Puri" or can be enjoyed just plain. Nowadays there are many spicy and non-spicy varieties of "sev" available in specialty Indian stores.  

• Shahi: means "Royal" in Hindi  

• Tandoor: The traditional Indian clay oven is called the "Tandoor". A Tandoor is a clay pot usually sunken neck deep in the ground. Charcoal is put on the flat bottom of the pot.  The heat generated by the hot charcoal in and on the sides of the clay pot is used for cooking. Long iron rods, long enough to reach the bottom of the pot, are used in the cooking process.

It is probably the most versatile kitchen equipment in the Indian kitchen. Barbecues, breads, daal, gravies made in them acquire a unique taste, very different from the food cooked on the regular kitchen oven. 

You will not find "tandoors" in Indian homes /  kitchens today. Most use the gas or the electric oven. Nowadays Tandoors are found mainly in restaurants, although a new outdoor tandoor is available for the outdoors.    

• Tandoori Murgh: This is the bright red world famous Tandoori Chicken. Chicken marinated with spices, red color and yogurt, cooked in a tandoor. Try making it as described in the cook book or at your favorite Indian restaurant.    

• Tikka: Skewered boneless meat cubes cooked in a tandoor.  

• Upma: Spiced semolina cooked with or without tiny cubed potatoes, peas, and sometime shrimp and garnished with freshly grated coconut and cilantro.  

• Varak: Fine thin edible silver foil used to decorate or garnish Indian desserts and "paan". It has been known to aid in digestion.    

• Vindaloo: Meat usually pork is used to make this very spicy and flavorful dish. Cooked in vinegar and typically served 2 to 3 days after it is made. A great dish to make when entertaining as it can be made ahead of time.  

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See Also

Indian Spices Indian Desserts Tandoori Cuisine