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RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES
Although a number of religions exist in India, the two cultures that have
influenced Indian cooking and food habits are the Hindu and the Muslim
traditions. Each new wave of settlers brought with them their own culinary
practices. However, over time they adopted a lot of specialties and
cooking methods from the Indian cuisine and blended the two to perfection.
The Portuguese, the Persians and the British made important contributions to the
Indian culinary scene. It was the British who started the commercial
cultivation of tea in India.
The Hindu vegetarian tradition is widespread in India, although many Hindus
eat meat now. The Muslim tradition is most evident in the cooking of
meats. Mughlai food, kababs, rich Kormas (curries) and nargisi
koftas (meatballs), the biryani (a layered rice and meat
preparation), rogan josh, and preparations from the clay over or tandoor
like tandoori rotis and tandoori chicken are all important
contributions made by Muslim settlers in India.
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NORTH INDIAN FOOD
A typical North-Indian meal would consist of chapatis or rotis
(unleavened bread baked on a griddle) or paranthas (unleavened bread
fried on a griddle), rice and an assortment of assessories like dals,
friend vegetables, curries, curd, chutney, and pickles. For dessert
one could choose from the wide array of sweetmeats from Bengal like rasagulla,
sandesh, rasamalai and gulab-jamuns. North Indian desserts are
very similar in taste as they are derived from a milk pudding or rice base and
are usually soaked in syrup. Kheer is a form of rice pudding, shahi
tukra or bread pudding and kulfi, a nutty ice cream are other common
northern desserts.
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SOUTH INDIAN FOOD
South Indian food is largely non-greasy, roasted and steamed. Rice is
the staple diet and forms the basis of every meal. It is usually served
with sambhar, rasam (a thin soup), dry and curried vegetables and a curd
preparation called pachadi. Coconut is an important ingredient in
all South Indian food. The South Indian dosa (rice pancakes), idli
(steamed rice cakes) and vada, which is made of fermented rice and dal,
are now popular throughout the country. The popular dishes from Kerala are
appams (a rice pancake) and thick stews. Desserts from the south
include the Mysore pak and the creamy payasum.
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