India has a wide range of cuisine. India is known to the world for use of spices in food. The “Indian Curry” is famous world over. India is a vast country; therefore there is a difference in the cuisine in different parts of India. The south Indian food has its own distinct flavor, while the food in north is different and spicier. The cuisine in different parts of India is influenced by the local culture prevailing there. It is also dependent upon the vegetation found in a particular geographical region.
Indian cuisine has evolved over a period of time and it is influences by various cultures. As India came into contact with the outside world, it also influenced the cuisine of India.
The Middle East and Europe brought its flavor to Indian cuisine and it blended beautifully with the Indian cuisine. Indian food has also been influenced by religious beliefs. India is home to many religions. Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Hinduism were born here. Islam and Christianity also came Jains and Buddhists are strict vegetarians while Muslims and Christians use a lot of meat product in their food. All these influences have mixed with the present day cuisine in India.
Today when anyone visits India can expect all types of food in India. Apart from the Indian food, Chinese, Continental and other types of food are easily available in India. Today you can expect all sorts of restaurants in India. But still people who visit India want to taste the Indian food and enjoy it.
The ingredients of Indian food: Common ingredients of Indian food are wheat, pulses, rice, gram, potatoes, various types of vegetables, meat etc. These are cooked in ‘ghee’, mustard oil, sunflower oil and other vegetable oils. Various sorts of spices are used to cook these foods like cumin, turmeric, chilly pepper, fenugreek, ginger and garlic. Indian curry made with the use of various spices is world famous. Chicken curry is a popular Indian food.
Some popular Indian foods: The main food items which form a day to day staple diet for Indians are various types of bread made mainly out of the wheat flour. Some of the popular breads are “roomali roti, missi roti, aloo parantha, naan etc. The non-vegetarian food mainly comprises of various sort of preparation from chicken, goat meat, fish etc. In the vegetarian food, some of the popular curries are “Shahi Paneer, Matar Paneer, Navratan Korma etc”. In snacks “samosas and aloo tikkis are very popular. India is also very popular for sweets. Some of the popular sweets are “Ras gulla, Rasmalai, barfi, gulab jamun etc”. Kebabs are very popular as well. It is mainly liked by the Muslim population. In the southern part of India, the main emphasis is on rice. Rice is the staple food there. Coconut is used in most of the food items. “sambar, rasam, dosa, idli, vada etc.” are some other very popular food.
Indian cuisine attracts people from world over. In UK alone there are more than 10000 Indian restaurants. There is a great influence of Indian cuisine on the Malaysian cuisine. Vegetarianism which fast spread to west can be mainly contributed to Indian food. Variety of Indian food items have been introduced in theUSA. Indian cuisine is liked the world over.
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