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Indian Cuisines
GUJARAT - Many but not all-Gujaratis
are vegetarians, and this is a place to sample the fabulous vegetarians,
and this is a place to
sample the fabulous vegetarian dishes of India. Gujaratis savour
sweet and sour mixes as well, and one of the communities here,
the Bohris, alternate sweet and
salty dishes at their banquets. Moongphuli nu shaak, steamed
cubes of roasted peanut-chickpea paste cooked in a spice paste;
batloo, a millet bread cooked in
a griddle. Khandvi, miniature pancaked, tightly rolled, are
a regional delicacy. There are Muslims here as well, and the Bohri
community of Muslims
produces a fine (and, in India, rare) array of soups, as well
as the delectable malai na khaijla, pastry circles filled with
clotted ceram. The Parsis, who
arrived from Iran in the eighth century, have a predictably
cosmopolitan influence in their dishes - English, Gujarati, and
Persian; one of the most
delicious of the latter is meat dishes combined with dried
fruit.
UTTAR PRADESH - Because India today is carved out
of old kingdoms and cities, some regional cuisines are more diverse than
others: this is the case in U.P. Here, one speaks of the cuisine of Muslim
Lucknow, of its fabulous Kakori kebabs, kulcha flat breads and korma meat
curries; of Rajasthan, where the fabled
hunting parties of the Rajputs produced dishes, like wild boar pickle and game,
meat, and fish cooked over an open fire; fish dunked in yogurt and a
coriandr-chilli-garlic paste and deep fried from a Bhopal lake; puffy pooris
from Varanasi's Lane of Fried Breads.
KERALA - Spice traders have plied Kerala's coastal waters
since ancient times, and the spices they hankered for liberally lace Kerala
dishes. Creamy chicken stews are full of the flavours of black pepper, coconut,
cloves,and chillie; fish is marinated in tamarind; unripe papayas, jackfruit,
and even tomatoes go into curry. Rice accompanies the meal, either cooked or in
rice flour form, as "string-hoppers", a mound
of pasta-like strings; or appams, pancakes with soft centres and crisp edges.
There is pootu, a soft rice-coconut steamed mixture, which is especially
delicious with Kerala fish curry, particularly when the fish comes from the
dramatic Chinese fishing nets off the waters of Cochin.
TAMILNADU AND KARNATAKA - This is the vegetarian
heart of India, and dedicated meat eaters are often surprised at how little
they miss meat here, given the culinary scope of this region's vegetarian
dishes. Rice rules, as does by fresh roasted coffee, usually with plenty of hot
milk and sugar, almost always with a frothy head. Dosas, the golden, crisp
crepe of South, and the lighter than air balls of rice and lentil batter called
idlis, are accompanied by lentil stews like urad dhal. Meals are a necklace of
rice, the pepper soup calle rasam, samber, curried vegetables, and yogyrt, but
each cook will have a different riff. Not everyone in the region is vegetarian:
the fisherfolk of the coast produce delicious Chettiars of Chettinad have a
justly famous fried chicken dish, called simply chettinad fried
chicken.
ORISSA - Traditional Oriya cuisines
includes the delicious dalma (lentils cooked with vegetables like bitter gourd,
potatoes, brinjals, and spinach), saga bhaja (fried spinach), kukuda tarkari
(chicken cooked in a gravy), dahi baigan (brinjal cooked with curd), chingudi
tarkari (prawn curry), tomato khajuri khata (typical sweet and sour tomato
chutney with dates) which serves as an excellent relish, badi chura (fermented
black gram, crushed, dried and mixed with chopped onions), and the crowning
glory chhencheda (seasonal vegetables cooked with fish head). The favourite
sweets are chhenna podapitha (cheese based steamed cake, traditionally cooked
in a leaf) and rasgullas.
WEST BENGAL - Bengalis love sweets. They often put jam even in their 'daal-bhaat' (salted
rice and lentil curry)! There is a vast array of sweet-meats, prepared from
milk, which originated in Bengal. One can get the light and spongy
Rosogulla and mouthwatering Sandesh sweets all over India, but
nowhere do they taste as they do in Kolkatta. Shops in other parts of the
country establish their reputations just by calling themselves "Bengali Sweet
House". If you are in Kolkatta do remember to try the delectable Mishti doi
(sweet, rich yogurt).
Great fish eaters, the true blue Bengali is the one
who can crunch fish bones without letting them stick in the throat!
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