The food of Jammu and Kashmir differs from region to
region. The Hindu Dogras of Jammu being predominantly vegetarian, eat a staple diet of
rice, wheat and beans. The Ladakhis eat rice, wheat, millet, locally produced vegetables
and fruits, goat meat and dairy products made from yak milk. The most famous cuisine of
the state though is Kashmiri. Dishes are cooked for a long time, so the meats may fully
absorb the flavours of the accompanying condiments. The seasons and availability of fresh
produce dictates the ingredients, some of which are dried for use in the winter months.
The Kashmiri cuisine is essentially meat-based. There is a variation in the different
eating habits of the Hindu and Muslim Kashmiris that determines which spices are used and
which meats too since beef is prohibited for Hindus. The highlight of Kashmiri cuisine is
the formal banquet called "wazawan", which includes a spread of over 36 courses
cooked all night long by a team of chefs called ‘wazas’ under the supervision of
a ‘Vasta waza’ or master chef, descendants of the cooks of Samarkand. The food
is characterised by thick gravies which use liberal quantities of yoghurt, spices and
dried fruits, and is usually cooked in ghee (clarified butter) or mustard oil. Saffron,
the most expensive spice in the world, is grown locally. It is used extensively to flavour
pulaos (rice dish) and sweets. The popular dishes include the starter yakhni, tabaq
naat made of fried ribs, dum aloo (steam cooked potato curry), rogan josh
made with mutton, gushtaba, a meatball curry, and haleem made from
meat and pounded wheat. A Kashmiri meal must end with a cup of ‘Kahva’,
green tea flavoured with cardamom and almonds.
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The
food of Punjab is meant for the strong-hearted. It is rich in flavours and has a
liberal dose of ghee (clarified butter) and spices. Punjab has an abundance of milk and
therefore milk products are an important part of daily diet. No meal is complete without
large glassfuls of butter milk or lassi (yoghurt drink). The people of this region
are largely wheat eaters and have developed variations of breads including the stuffed aloo
paratha (potato bread) and the makke ki roti (maize bread). Vegetarian delights
such as sarson saag (mustard leaf curry), rajma-chawal (kidney beans with
steamed rice) and kadhi (gram flour and yoghurt curry) are the most popular Punjabi
dishes. Punjabis have also created a combination of the northwest frontier cuisine and
Mughlai recipes to present rich poultry and mutton dishes. The ubiquitous ‘tandoori
chicken’ is a great favourite!
The cuisine of Uttar
Pradesh is just as diverse as its geography. Ranging from simple every day fare to
rich, elaborate banquets, the cuisine of Uttar Pradesh has absorbed and adapted a variety
of cuisines to create an entire smorgasbord of wonderful dishes. The people of Uttar
Pradesh love to cook, to eat and to feed! Difference in communities notwithstanding, as a
people, they are very warm and hospitable. For most of them, the ultimate in hospitality
means you feed your guests till they beg for mercy.
Many
Hindu communities are staunch vegetarians and they have created a vast variety of
vegetarian dishes ranging from the all time favourite puri-aloo (potatoes and fried
wheat bread) to savouries and divine desserts and sweetmeats. The Muslims, Kashmiris,
Kayasthas and Christian communities cook up a storm of non-vegetarian dishes including a
delectable selection of breads, kebabs, curries and biryanis. The Muslim cuisine,
of northern Uttar Pradesh is very different from the Mughlai food of Delhi. The Nawabs of
Oudh (now Lucknow) were great gourmets and encouraged their master chefs to create new
styles of cooking like the famous ‘Dum Pukht’ where the food is sealed in large
pots called ‘handis’, placed over a slow fire and left to cook in its own
juices. When opened, these dishes release the most fragrant and delicious aromas. Lucknow
and its neighbouring towns were put on the culinary map of India thanks to these rich
curries, melt in the mouth kebabs, fragrant rice biryanis and pulaos and an
eclectic collection of leavened and unleavened breads.
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India’s
best known cuisine came from the Mughals and along with European cooking, influenced the
royal kitchens. However, the common man’s kitchen in Rajasthan remained
unaffected and the simplest ingredients go into preparing most dishes. The food owes much
to the demands and ingenuity of the lifestyle of the people. For example, the universal
favourites Dal-baati (lentil curry with wheat dough balls roasted in hot coals) and
choorma (dry, flaky, wheatbread crumb pudding garnished with raisins and almonds)
were food items that could be carried for days in the hot desert climate by warriors. Baatis
could be buried in the hot desert sands and slowly baked till required. Non-vegetarian
dishes include ‘soola’ or barbecued meats marinated to succulent
tenderness and grilled on open coal fires. Its origins lie in the yesteryear hunting
expeditions of the nobility.
In the
desert areas of Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Barmer the scarcity of water and fresh green
vegetables had its impact on the creativity of the cooks. Instead of water, the womenfolk
of the herdsmen used milk, buttermilk and clarified butter that was available in plenty,
as well as dried lentils and beans from native plants. Gram flour is a major ingredient
and is used for preparing delicacies like gatta ki sabzi, pakodi and khata.
Bajra and corn, the staple grains, go to making rotis, rabdi and kheechdi.
And various chutneys prepared from locally available spices like coriander, garlic, mint
and turmeric round off the regional flavour
However,
it is sweets that the Rajasthanis really excel in, each region having its speciality. So
Jaipur is famous for its ‘mishri mawa’ and ‘ghevar’,
neighbouring Pushkar for its ‘malpuas’, Ajmer for its ‘sohan
halwa’, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer for their ‘laddoos’, Bikaner for
its ‘rasgullas’ and Udaipur for its ‘dil jani’. And you
can find mouth watering, crisp and syrupy ‘jalebis’ everywhere.
Being
constantly on the move, the Rajasthanis required foodstuff that could last several days
and be easily carried. So, a large number of savoury snacks were developed - ‘dal-moth’,
‘mathri’, ‘bhujia’, ‘khatta-meetha sev’, which
are popular to this day.
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Almost
always strictly vegetarian, Gujarati cuisine is unlike any other Indian cuisine.
The difference lies in the unusual blending of the sweet with the savoury into a
harmonious whole. Even though the state of Gujarat has absorbed many outside influences
down the ages, the cuisine has remained much the same. The grand spread of Gujarati
cuisine can be glimpsed and savoured in the very popular "Gujarati Thali" a
large silver platter consisting of innumerable bowls full of vegetable curries, dals or
lentil based gravies, a variety of breads, savories - crisp spicy fried farsans,
sweetmeats and an amazing range of sweet and sour chutneys and pickles. The entire meal
including the vegetables and dals (curried lentils) achieves a delicate balance of
flavours – sweet and sour, salty and spicy, crisp and soft, low fat and deep-fried!
Some of
the well-known Gujarati delicacies are Paunk (combination of various roasted
cereals), undhyoo (a speciality of potatoes, sweet potatoes, brinjals and broad
beans baked in an earthenware pot in a mud oven), kadi (a curry of yogurt and
chopped vegetables), khamam dhokla (a salty, sweet-and-sour cake made from chickpea
flour), shrikhand (a dessert made from yoghurt spiced with saffron, nuts, cardamom
and dry fruit) and doodh pak (a dessert of thick sweetened milk with dry fruit and
nuts).
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Bengali
food consists of a lot of fish, lentils and rice. Breakfast could be milk and rice flakes
eaten with gur (jaggery) or luchi (fluffy wheat pancake) with aloo dum
(a dry spicy potato dish not to be mistaken for the Kashmiri dum aloo). Lunch and
dinner are elaborate affairs. The first course is rice and daal (lentil curry) with
vegetables, pickled mangoes and fresh salad. It is followed by rice and meat and yet
another course of rice and fish. Great fish eaters, the true blue Bengali is the one who
can crunch fish bones without letting them stick in the throat! The 'hilsa’ fish is a
speciality when cooked in mustard sauce.
Bengalis
love sweets. A vast array of milk based ‘mithai’ (sweetmeats) originated in
Bengal. The light and spongy Rosogulla, the mouth-watering Sandesh are
available all over India, but nowhere do they taste as they do in Kolkata. Sweetshops in
other parts of the country just have to call themselves "Bengali Sweet House"
and their reputation is established. If you're ever in Kolkata do try the delectable
Mishti Doi (rich sweet yoghurt).
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Goan
cuisine is the end result of the blending of local Konkani and Portuguese food styles.
This culinary amalgamation and adaptation has created fiery coconut based curries and
stews using pork and beef and rich cakes and pastries, as well as an interesting range of
port and red and white wines.
Goa’s
famous Pork Vindaloo is the fiery local speciality, cooked in hot red chilli
peppers and vinegar – it’s hot and tangy. Other specialities of Goan cuisine are
equally well known: Xacuti (a chicken or meat dish), Chourisso (spicy Goan
sausages), Sorpotel (a pig liver dish) and Prawn Balchao. A meal should be
rounded off with delicious, much relished desserts, Dodol and Bebinca. Fresh
seafood is an absolute must for Goan cooking, which includes dishes of prawns, crabs,
mussels and fish cooked in local styles and mouth-watering creations of lobster cooked in
wine and cheese.
Feni,
the local cashew fruit or coconut brew hits all the right spots. For the less adventurous,
there are some local ports and red and white wines or the cool, refreshing coconut water
drunk straight from the tender green coconut.
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Andhra
food is deliciously hot and tangy. The everyday favourite is pulihara, tamarind
rice spiced up with sliced green chillies. Telugu people love their side dishes, pickles
that’ll have you red in the face, crisp poppadums and yoghurt. The dosa, a rice
pancake is special in Andhra. Called the pessaratu, it is filled with a savoury
semolina preparation called uppama.
Famous
all over the world, the aromatic meat and rice preparation called biryani belongs
to Hyderabad. Taking its cue from the Nizams of Hyderabad, this distinctly Muslim food is
mainly concerned with succulent meats, sweet spices and ways of putting them together in
the most delectable fashion there could be. Fruits, like custard apples, bananas, mangoes
and the locally grown grape, anab é shahi, act like an antidote to the spices of the
food.
While
Andhra cuisine (barring Hyderabadi fare) is predominantly vegetarian, the people of the
coast do eat fish and prawns cooked in sesame or coconut. Rice toddy is the locally brewed
alcoholic drink.
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The food
of Tamil Nadu is what passes for “south Indian cuisine” everywhere else
in the country. Idli, dosa, vada, sambar, uppama! As
with all Indian food, a meal centres on a base of rice or semolina preparation. Eaten
alongside is the sambar, sour hot dal souped-up with vegetables. The Brahmins are
vegetarian, but others consume sour-hot fish, mutton and chicken with gusto.
Of the
Tamilian cuisines it is Chettinad food that is on the ascendance on the popularity charts.
The cuisine belongs to the money-lending community of Chettiars who were originally from
the deep south of the state but whose trade links took them far and wide into South East
Asia. The wealth of the community is reflected in its food, which is liberal in its use of
oils, meats and spices. Of course they cook the usual chicken and fish, but they also have
dishes for such exotica as Japanese quail. They do a variety of vegetarian dishes. The
basic terms are varuval, poriyal and kuzambu. A varuval is a dry
preparation where meats or vegetables are lightly fried with onions and spices, the poriyal
is a rich hot curry, and kuzambu is a stew of meat or vegetables in spiced up
coconut milk.
The
drink of choice through the state is coffee. Grown in the plantations in the Nilgiri
Hills, the coffee is brewed with great care and filtered such that it is guaranteed to
deliver the day’s caffeine fix with one flavourful punch.
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Rice is
the staple of the Kerala diet. Various preparations form the base of the meal;
curries of fish, meat and vegetable accompany it. Most dishes bear the flavour of coconut,
curry leaves and mustard seeds, and the tastes of coconut milk and tamarind. All
communities except the Namboodiris, a community of orthodox Brahmins, consume meat.
Kerala
cuisine is distinguished by its regional and religious variations. The food of the Malabar
Coast is distinct in its use of red chillies, pepper, mutton and beef preparations and the
fondness for the famed Malabari 'barotha' a many-layered fried bread made from
unleavened dough. The Travancore region is staunchly Hindu so beef is taboo but pork is
not. Rice is still the staple; but while the curries are less spicy there is a strong
flavour of coconut oil. The Malayali relishes sea fish, mussels, pork, beef, mutton and
fowl, and these may be stewed, fried or curried. Usually Muslims won’t eat pork and
Hindus won’t eat beef. The influence of the Middle East is unmistakable in the
richness of the meat dishes
Puttu
is a breakfast speciality made from steamed rice flour. The Kerala variation of the dosa,
the Tamilian rice pancake, is called appam. The pathiri is yet another kind
of bread, which may be had sweet or stuffed with meat. The most popular sweets are payasam
and pradaman. Rasam, served right at the end of a meal, is light pepper water
intended to help you digest your food. Kallu and patta charayam are the
local liquor: the latter is a kind of arrack - extremely potent; the drink is usually
accompanied with boiled eggs and hot pickles, which go some way in taking the edge off the
drink. Culinary specialities include banana, yam and jackfruit chips, avial, a
vegetable curry flavoured with fresh coconut, green chilis and curd, injipuli , a
tamarind and ginger sauce, as well as the hot but very delicious Malabari
prawn and chicken curries. |
