Your culinary journey in India
Get ready for one of the most extravagant culinary journey of your life! Be prepared for tasting spicy and colouful foods. Before your departure do not hesitate to make a probiotic cure about for about two weeks to improve your digestive system.
According to religion, caste, and the area in which he lives, an Indian does not eat the same thing as his neighbor!
On your trip to India, you will find two major types of cuisine
- Vegetarian cuisine in India, can be relatively strict, it means without any meat, fish or eggs, and sometimes even without onion and garlic. In fact, this Indian cooking is theoretically forbidden to Hindus - and more to the Brahmins - because any food growing underground (such as tubers) is considered unclean because it could kill worms, insects... This strict vegetarianism is for the Jain population and some worshipers of Vishnu. Otherwise, there is a different type of vegetarism, where only certain fish and meats are considered unclean.
The vegetarian diet is not only a religious choice. It also has economic reasons. Indeed meat remains more expensive than other products.
- The non-vegetarian food in India is mostly composed with sheep and chicken. There is clearly no pork in India (the Muslim religion has left its marks) or beef (sacred cow).
The southern India cooking is predominantly vegetarian, often based on rice, vegetables and spicy sauces. The Northern India cooking is itself more readily carnivore (meat in the tandoor or mughlaïe) and rice is often replaced by an incredible variety of breads. It means that it is possible to find the specialties of North and South India in almost the whole country!
Some basic dishes and specialties
- The dal (or dhal): This is a basic course in India, commonly called the dish of the poor. Lens based preparation.
- Curry: a dish that is prepared with all kinds of food (chicken, mutton, fish, but also vegetables, etc.). The secret is, again and of course, spices, entered in ghee (clarified butter).
- The biryani and pulao: pilaf rice dishes flavored with saffron and cooked with or without meat in vegetarian version or egg.
- The tandoori: meat or fish pieces macerated in spiced yoghurt and spiced and cooked in a clay oven. But the term is applied to all cooked in this manner.
- The kebab and kofta: the first is a skewer of grilled meat and chopped while the second consists of meat or vegetable dumplings, chopped and cooked in a spicy yogurt sauce.
- The korma: a yogurt based sauce, cashews, almonds, various seeds ...
- Paneer: fresh cheese, somewhat similar to the Italian ricotta, widely used in vegetarian cuisine.
The great Thali
Indian Thali is a special dish. It is cheap, hearty, healthy and delicious! This is a dish that brings together the best of Indian cuisine. In South India this dish is traditionally served on a flat plate sometimes covered with banana leaves, while in the north of India, it is served on a round metal tray compartmentalized to receive various preparations.
Rajasthan
From the arid landscapes of Rajasthan not favorable to cultures a very spicy and creative cuisine is bornt. In this region of India, scarcity of fish, fruits and vegetables has made dried fruit , cereals, legumes and dairy products more popular . These foods are used for cooking dishes of astonishing finesse. Wheat flour is used for roti, paratha and poori. The churma which is a complete flour balls studded with dried fruits and sugars. You can also find the besan a chickpea flour another ingredient used in the composition of salty foods. Another feature of this kitchen particularly in the arid deserts of Jaiselmer, Jodhpur or Bikaner, is water which is not used in the cooking of meat: milk, curd, cream and ghee will be prefered!
Breads
- Roti and chapatti: wholemeal cake mixed with water and not lifted. Baked (tandoor) for the first and on a cast iron plate (tawa) for the second. These are the most common breads.
- Naan: White flour sourdough pancake linked with milk and baked. We find delicious, like butter and cheese naan, topped with butter or stuffed with cheese. Sometimes garlic and garnished with almonds, dried fruit ... delicious.
- The dosai (or dosa) are thin pancakes meal of lentils and rice, from the South. They eat natural (plain dosai) or stuffed with potatoes (masala dosai) quite spicy but excellent, a classic Indian for breakfast!
The uttapam (or uthappam) is a thicker variant (pizza style), less digestible by us. There is a breakfast bar softer than masala dosai for palaces and fragile stomachs. Also eat the main course.
Fruits and Desserts
We recommend buying fruit peel in the markets. Avoid fruit salad served in the street.
- Apple: quite expensive.
- Small green or yellow bananas. They are everywhere. Bananas roses, bigger, even more fragrant.
- Papaya: the best fruit for intestinal disorders through papain it.
- Chikoo: small round fruit with brown skin, the grainy texture of pear and very sweet.
- Oranges, guava, soursop, custard apple, pineapple, coconut all year and mangoes around May-June.
Pastries and Sweets
There are many. We quote the halwa, very different from the one we know from the Middle East. The kulfi ice cream is made with pistachios or almonds, often supplemented with cardamom.
Generally, Indian sweets are made with semolina or curdled milk or honey.
One of our favorites is the gulab jamun, milk balls, golden-fried and served in a syrup flavored with cardamom and rose water ... rather typical of the cuisine of the north, but now very common to the southern border.
More specific to South India, the United appa, small fragrant dumplings with cinnamon, very good, a little taste like Bordeaux fluted.
Paan
After their meal, the Indians chew paan or betel is something sacred in India. Betel are being immersed for hours in unfiltered water, we recommend the most basic prudence. A betel leaf, a layer of slaked lime, walnut pieces of areca, spices, herbs, and sometimes a little tobacco. We drive the whole, chewed, it classy and spit red juice.
Beverages
- Water: absolutely avoid drinking tap water or suck on ice cubes (except, in principle, in restaurants and chic bars).
- Soft drinks: Since 1994, Coca-Cola, widely challenged by Indian brand Thumbs Up, or parPepsi. Rather, we recommend to consume local sodas!
- The beer is found in the restaurants in average prices (a fortioridans most exclusive). The best-known beers are Kingfisher, laKnock Out, UB and Foster's. They are available in Premium version (light) and version Strong.
- In the restaurants that have a license, it is also sometimes wine (in larger cities). But most of the time, it is very expensive and not great at all.
- Alcohol stronger, found in some chic restaurants and shops in the liquor, is expensive too, even if it is produced in India.
Excellent liquor in Rajasthan: the asha. However, in this state and in some holy cities (such as Pushkar, Rishikesh, Haridwar or Varanasi) is not theoretically has the right to drink alcohol (including beer) in restaurants.
- Tea (chai in Hindi) is the national drink, served with milk. Otherwise, it must be said that we want the black tea. The Indian tea (chai masala) is boiled with milk, sugar, cardamom and many other spices.
- In the South, particularly in Kerala, which produces, and Tamil Nadu, there are very easily coffee. It is served with milk and sugar, unless you think specify black coffee!
- Lassi is a popular drink made with yogurt. One can find three kinds: natural (plain), sweet (sweet) and salt (salt).
- The mango juice is excellent.
- Also all fresh juices (mango, pineapple, banana, etc.), provided that they are not cut tap water or served with ice.
- In the South, very refreshing sugarcane juice. It can be purchased from street vendors lugging their pressing machine sugarcane, but beware of sanitation (refuse ice).
- The milkshake: we find all kinds (but not everywhere), lemango milkshake being the best in our opinion! Attention again and again to ice additions.
- The nimbu pani is a lime juice excellent, served sweet or savory. Unfortunately, it is often mixed with water and ice.
- And there is still the coconut juice we drink directly in the nuts with a straw. Very refreshing and purifying.
- The juice extracted from sugar cane, which is not found everywhere. It can be purchased from street vendors lugging their pressing machine sugarcane, but beware of sanitation (and refuse the ice).
When I arrived in India for the first time, I thought I could easily travel by my own without an organised planning and trip but I quicly realised how complicated it was for a woman to travel alone. India is a spacial and amazing country but you have to be careful. I was a bit lost when I arrived in Delhi Tourism Services offices. M.KUMAR Ajay did his best to explain a lot of things about Indian culture and told me it was safer to travel with a bit of organisation. I ended booking a tour with the agency at a very reasonalble price for 2 weeks. M y stay in India was great :) Mathilde. Paris. January 2009