Indian food has it in thousands of varieties each one of them unique to a particular region or culture. The usage of herbs, spices and different types of vegetables and the cooking techniques differs from place to place. Rice, wheat, bajra and pulses are the staple Indian foods. These items are modified into different shapes and forms like rice flour, wheat flour, semiya or vermicelli, macroni, etc. Sun flower oil, coconut oil, mustard oil and rice bran oil, ghee, butter and vanaspati are used for cooking Indian food.

The widely used spices are chilly, pepper, cumin, ginger, garlic, coriander, turmeric, fenugreek, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom. Together with these items, the herbs like coriander leaves, curry patta leaves, mint leaves, palak and varieties of greens are used for the preparation of Indian food.

In the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, seafood has an important role in the foods prepared. Pickles are very famous in Andra Pradesh and the food items are referred to as Hyderabadi foods. Avakai pickle, mango pickle and gongura are famous here. In Assam there is no sautéing of food and in Bihar vegetarian foods are preferred though mutton and fish are eaten with rice occasionally.

The Indian food in Goa are based on seafoods like crabs, prawns, lobsters, king fish and tuna. The thali of Gujarati has dhal and rice with roti and sabji. There is an impact of Central Asia and Persia in the Kashmiri cuisine. Rice is called as bath in Karnataka and various items consumed here are khara bath, bisi bela bath, vangi bath, uppittu, akki rotti, chapathi, mysore dosa, chitranna, kosambari, palya, etc.

The Kerala foods are based on coconut, grated coconut and coconut milk. Rice and tapioca are largely used and the breakfast items are dosa, appam, puttu, pathiri, etc. Madhya Pradesh is famous for its milk based products. Dal bafla the wheat cake is relished with dal. Chaat, kachori and samosa are also famous here.

The cuisine of Maharashtra is based on Konkani culture and Varadi culture with poli, wada and modak and the staple foods are bajri, rice, jowar, wheat and lentils. Pakhala bath is famous in Orissa. The main Punjabi foods are tandoor and tikka varieties with chapatti and rumali roti. A number of spices, tamarind and hers are used in Tamil Nadu food. The non-vegetarian dishes are heavily spiced. Chettinadu dishes are delicious and mouthwatering.

Healthy breakfast, sumptuous lunch and light dinner are in practice in most of the Indian regions. Early morning and evening time goes with milk or tea or coffee probably with a loaf of bread. The South Indian food is not complete with idli and dosai and you can see them prepared at every South Indian house.

The sweets like khaja, kulfi, kheer, laddoo, gulab jamun, barfi and drinks like coffee, tea, lassi and milkshakes are also main Indian foods. The Indian food could be classified into five tastes such as sweet taste, sour taste, bitter taste, astringent taste, spicy taste and salty taste. All these tastes are present in the Indian food in right proportions.

Article Posted By : Sumazla  On November 18, 2011lView All Articles

Suhaina Mazhar is a freelance content writer and blogger with five years experience in content writing. http://sumazla.blogspot.com is her blog.

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