Indian cusine

Indian Cuisine

Indian food encompasses the cooking of many different regions and the foods are quite different from state to state. In the north, where the climate is temperate, sheep are reared and the lamb dishes are generally cooked slowly in the oven. Travelling south through Delhi and the Punjab, the diet becomes much richer; here they cook mainly with ghee and eat both goat and chicken. In these northern regions, instead of rice, the preference is for breads. To the east, around the Bay of Bengal, there is an abundance of fish from the many rivers and from the bay itself. Coconut palms grow in the hot and humid climate, so coconut features strongly in many recipes. On the west coast, in Gujarat, the people are mainly vegetarian, eating pulses and vegetables; likewise in Tamil Nadu in the far south east. The humid tropical conditions of the south west, in Goa and Malabar, encourage date and coconut palms and banana plants to flourish and there is also an abundance of fish and shellfish. Southern Indians eat more rice than the northerners and they prefer to steam foods. The dishes are traditionally very hot, much more so than in the north.

But religion influences diet at least as much as geography. There are hundreds of different religions, each with their own customs and taboos: Muslims and Jews don’t eat pork, while Hindus and Sikhs are prohibited from eating beef. Although many Hindus are strict vegetarians, others eat fish and shellfish.

The imaginative use of spices sets Indian cooking apart from other cuisines; it is by far the most aromatic of all types of cooking. The most commonly used spices are cumin, coriander, mustard, black pepper, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.