Indian food is as diverse as its culture and its climate. The essence of good Indian cooking revolves around the appropriate use of aromatic
Indian spices. The skill lies in the subtle blending of a variety of spices to enhance the basic flavor of a particular dish.
Indian cooking is as vibrant as it is varied - from pavement snacks to palace feasts, it's one of the world's great cuisines. Once you get
the hang of it, you'll be surprised how easy it is to make.
North india
North Indian cuisine is distinguished by the proportionally high use of dairy products; milk, using the "tawa" (griddle) for baking flat
breads like roti and paratha, and kulcha, main courses like tandoori chicken also cook in the tandoor. Other breads like puri and bhatoora,
which are deep fried in oil, are also common. Goat and lamb meats are favored ingredients of many northern Indian recipes.
The [samosa] is a popular North Indian snack, and now commonly found in other parts of India, Central Asia, North America, Britain, Africa
and the Middle East. A common variety is filled with boiled, fried, or mashed potato. Other fillings include minced meat, cheese (paneer),
mushroom (khumbi), and chick pea.
East India
East Indian cuisine is famous for its desserts,[citation needed] especially sweets such as rasagolla, chumchum, sandesh, rasabali, chhena
poda, chhena gaja, chhena jalebi and kheeri. Many of the sweet dishes now popular in Northern India initially originated in the Bengal and
Orissa regions. Apart from sweets, East India cuisine offers delights of posta (poppy seeds).
Traditional cuisines of Assam, Bengal and Orissa delicately spiced. General ingredients used in Assamese, Bengali, and Oriya curries are
mustard seeds, cumin seeds, nigella, green chillies, cumin paste and the spice mix panch phoron or panch phutana. Mustard paste, curd, nuts,
poppy seed paste and cashew paste are preferably cooked in mustard oil. Curries are classified into bata (paste), bhaja (fries), chochchoree
(less spicy vapourized curries) and jhol (thin spicy curries). These are eaten with plain boiled rice or ghonto (spiced rice).
South India
South Indian cuisine is distinguished by a greater emphasis on rice as the staple grain, the ubiquity of sambar and rasam (a dish in liquid
form prepared with herbs and/or spices, tamarind paste, turmeric and/or tomato and/or dhaal, also called chaaru/saaru and rasam), a variety
of pickles, and the liberal use of coconut and particularly coconut oil and curry leaves. Curries called Kozhambu are also popular and are
typically vegetable stews cooked with spices, tamarind and other ingredients. The dosa, poori, idli, vada, bonda and bajji are typical South
Indian favorites. These are generally consumed as part of breakfast. Other popular dishes include Kesaribath, Upma/Uppittu, Bisibele Bath,
Rice Bath, Tomato Bath, Pongal, Poori & Saagu, Pulao, Puliyogarai and Thengai Sadham. Hyderabadi biryani, a popular type of biryani,
reflects the diversity of south Indian cuisine.[10] South Indian cuisine obtains its distinct flavours by the use of tamarind, coconut,
lentils, and a variety of vegetables.Udupi cuisine is a popular cuisine of South India.
Western India
Western Indian cuisine has three major regions: Gujarati, Maharashtrian and Goan. Maharashtrian cuisine has mainly two sections defined by
the geographical sections. The coastal regions, geographically similar to Goa depend more on rice, coconut, and fish. The hilly regions of
the Western Ghats and Deccan plateau regions use groundnut in place of coconut and depend more on jowar (sorghum) and bajra (millet) as
staples.
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