Do you want to try something different? Aren’t you afraid of spicy? You will love this post about Indian food!
When you go to India there are 15 foods that you must try, that is why we want to leave you with the list of those typical dishes of the country. But before we get to savour these meals, we want you to know a little more about Indian gastronomy. The first thing we want you to know is that the most important ingredients used in Indian cooking are rice, atta (a special type of whole wheat flour used to make bread), and at least five dozen varieties of vegetables. The most important of them all is chana (chickpea or pea), as well as toor (Indian chickpea), urad (black lentil) and mung (green soybean). Indian food also uses a wide variety of seasonings and among the most important are chilli, black mustard seed (also called rai) cumin, turmeric, fenugreek, ginger, coriander or coriander and asafetida (hing) and, on occasion, the saffron. Vinegar and cheese are also added, fundamental for the creation of the typical dish of the country, as you will see below.
15 traditional dishes of Indian cuisine
The Masala Dosa
This kind of rolled crêpe is made from fermented lentils and rice dough. It can be eaten on its own, but the truth is that Indians tend to always eat it stuffed with succulent delicacies such as potatoes, onion, curry and turmeric, as well as soaking it in different dips or chutneys. This Indian dish is spicy and is usually served in two different sizes. It is eaten with the hands, without a fork or spoon.
Tandoori Chicken
This traditional East Asian recipe is made by marinating chicken with yoghurt and a mixture of spices known in India as garam masala, which consists of ginger, garlic, paprika, cumin and other similar seasonings. Although it may seem simple, this recipe has the particularity that you need to mix the spices perfectly so that the flavors do not dominate one over the other. Lucky for you, seasoning blending is an innate art to the Indians, so you’ll be sure to get a mouth-watering bite.
Chole Bhature
It is a delicious fried and swollen bread that is eaten with chole, which is a paste of spicy chickpeas and spices. Also, like most Indian foods, it has a large number of spices and spiciness. You will find this dish in Delhi, the capital of India. Chole bhature is usually eaten as a quick meal or for breakfast and can be accompanied by a typical Indian drink, lassi, a drink made from coconut, water, spices, yoghurt and sometimes fruit. We recommend you try it because it is one of the most delicious Indian dishes.
The Famous Momo
If you like pasta you will love eating Momo, which is a dish of Tibetan origin. Momo is a ball of cooked barley flour dough that is stuffed with minced pork or lamb seasoned with cilantro, coriander and other spices. Momo is also quite popular in Nepali cuisine and in West Bengal. This dish is also served with a very spicy sauce, but its flavour is unique.
Indian Pizza or Uttapam
Delicious pizza made with many species. Who wants pizza? This pizza consists of a dough base of lentil flour and rice flour, but it is always cooked in a thinner shape than the pizzas you are used to and filled with various things. It is served with tomatoes, or in an onion sauce with a mix of vegetables.
Pakora
This Indian dish is a snack and is nothing more than fried vegetables with a mixture of chickpea flour. Pakora is served with a sauce and in many places, you will see it served as an appetizer. The pakoras are sold in paper cones and are bathed in a spicy sauce that will always be to the taste of the consumer.
Samosa
Apart from being a typical Indian food, it is also an international Indian dish. It is nothing more than some empanadas stuffed with potatoes, onions, peas and other vegetables, depending on who prepares it. It is served with cumin and spicy, but you can fill it with chicken, beef or other types of meat. What is clear is that that crunchy touch and its filling will make it seem like one of the best Indian dishes.
The delicious Rasam soup
This soup is more typical in the south of the country, which is why it is also often known as the South Indian soup. It is usually prepared with tomatoes and their juices, tamarinds, spices, rice, vegetables, hot water and pepper. There are several soups in the cuisine of India, but Rasam is the most typical and traditional in the country.
The Biryani
This typical Indian food is made from rice. Rice, as we have already mentioned at the beginning of this post, is an important ingredient in Indian cuisine. For this reason, many dishes in this country are made with rice as the main ingredient. The Biryani is based on rice with a mixture of spices (cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves, coriander and mint leaves), but meat, vegetables and yogurt are also mixed with the rice. In each region of India there is a different variety of Biryani, but they all have in common that it is made in a saucepan and ingredients from each region are included.
The Rajma
If you are a vegetarian, one Indian food that you must try is Rajma. This Indian dish is very popular in the north of the country and is made with thick curry, red beans and a variety of different spices depending on who is making it. The Rajma is served with rice, so that the mixture is more forceful.
Baigan Bhartha
We continue with the vegetarian Indian dishes. If you travel to India you will not only be able to delight your palate with Rajma, but we also recommend that you try the delicious Baigan bharta, another common dish in India and Pakistan. This vegetarian dish is cooked with chopped vegetables such as eggplant and bell pepper, fresh coriander, onion and is prepared on a charcoal grill or sometimes on direct fire. It is usually accompanied with Indian flat bread (paratha) and rice with yogurt sauce.
Panipuri
If you feel hungry while walking through the streets of Mumbai, Delhi, Lahore, Dhaka, Calcutta, you should stop to eat panipuri, which is a popular snack that consists of a kind of crunchy sphere. It is a hollow and crunchy dough that is filled with a mixture of tamarind, chili, chaat masala, potatoes, onion and chickpea. Very spicy, but also delicious.
The Kati Roll
This dish, which is also part of typical Indian food, can be found at street stalls, which are very common in regions like Calcutta. It is a wide variety of fillings wrapped in Indian flatbread or paratha (with kebab, eggs, vegetables and spices). It can also be filled with chicken meat and vegetables such as tomato, onion, etc. It is usually accompanied by some refreshing sauce such as lime or lemon or even chaat masala, which is a mixture of spices that is prepared with mango powder.
India’s famous international dish – Chicken Tikka Masala
What to say about this dish? If you are a fan or a fan of chicken, this is the Indian dish that you must eat when you travel to this country. Chicken tikka masala is one of the most international Indian recipes. It is prepared with chicken tikka – that is, chicken marinated with yogurt and spices cooked in the oven – and masala sauce. Masala literally means “mixture of spices”, which is why the dish has a unique and aromatic taste. It is also prepared with tomato sauce and coconut milk and comes with a plate of rice. It can be very strong, so be careful if you don’t like spicy.
Egg Curry
To finish the list of delicious and typical Indian foods, I invite you to eat Egg curry. If you like boiled eggs, you already know that you must go to India to try this typical dish of the country. It is nothing more than boiled eggs with a sauce or gravy, which has coriander, tomato, onion, peas, ginger, garlic, hot green chili, tamarind and garam masala, all these ingredients are stir-fried in vegetable oil or ghee. It is not necessary to tell you that it is spicy, right?
Other Curiosities:
– Did you know that most Indian dishes are eaten with the right hand? Indians consider food to be a divine gift and a way of worshipping the gods, as well as something to comfort the soul. Therefore, eating is something that must be done with all the senses, including touch. The right hand is the hand with which one eats because the left is considered vulgar and impure.
– Did you know that in Indian gastronomy many dishes are served accompanied with some yogurt or milk? This is done since the vast majority of dishes in Indian cuisine are spicy and dairy products serve as a refresher for the strong food that they usually consume.
We hope that you have learned a lot about Indian food and that our post has whet your appetite and caused curiosity about the many delicious Indian dishes that you can try during your trip to this country.
Have a good trip!
