What is an Indian meal? It is a very difficult question to answer, since the food and food habits differ from one part of the country to the other.
Some Indians are such strict vegetarians that they even do not take certain types of vegetables, i.e. onion and root vegetables, i.e. bringals (egg plant). They get protein from milk, pulses, lentils and nuts. There are some who do not eat eggs or chicken but take fish and mutton. Muslims are forbidden to eat pork and Hindus do not eat beef. Some people do not serve milk or milk products with meat or fish. Some people do not take green leafy vegetables during the monsoon season.
Some of the Indian dishes are widely used in the Middle East, i.e. Biryani, Kababs, Roasted and Grilled meat. More than half the world eats rice, but in India rice is cooked in at least one hundred different ways. In the East, West and South rice is a staple dish.
In North India wheat is served as a staple dish. This is made into Chappaties, Phulkas, Parathas; sometimes these Parathas are stuffed with vegetables or minced meat. Nan and Tandoori Roti baked in clay ovens are the traditional breads and are made from wholemeal flour and plain flour. They are served with Curries, which are prepared with meat, onions, poppy seeds, ginger, garlic, coriander and other ingredients.
Rice is not a staple food in the North, but Pulao, similar to the Greek word Pilaff, or Biryani is served on special occasions; Biryani is served with egg, mutton, chicken or vegetable Curries or with Raita, which is prepared with Yoghurt and other ingredients, i.e. sliced vegetables, onions, cucumber, sultanas, tomatoes, mint leaves and boiled potatoes. Rice is garnished with dried ginger, onions, nuts and sometimes with hard boiled eggs. In sweet rice a little saffron is added for special flavour by addition of edible colours. Khichri is also a rice dish prepared with lentils, spices and rice. Mong Dal Khichri is an invalid diet. Channa Dal and Urad Khichri are prepared with cauliflower and served with Raita and pickles.
Seekh Kababs are made of minced meat on an open coal fire or under the grill. Meat for the Kebabs is free from bones and fat.
Shami Kebabs are also very popular. They are prepared from a mixture of minced meat and gram dal, ground and fried in a little fat or ghee.
Bara Kababs are delicious, the meat is usually taken from arms or muscles of an animal, soaked in Yoghurt and roasted in a hot oven. It is served as a snack. Tandoori chicken is another popular Indian dish. The chicken is soaked in Yoghurt, spices, ground ginger and pappya juice (if available, otherwise a little vinegar or lemon can be used). Chicken should be soaked for 6 - 8 hours before it is cooked. It is then threaded on an iron skewer and roasted in a clay oven known as Tandoor if available, if not, in a hot oven (Reg. 8). It is served with sliced onions, lemons and salads or Nans.
Chicken Curry is served all over India with Tandoori Rod (Chappaties) or with Nans, Parathas. Chicken Kababs are served as a meal or snack.
Meat for Mutton should be pinkish red and velvety to the touch. Meat is used for all dishes. Goat is preferred to lamb.
Lentil or Dal is another favourite dish of the North Indians. In the North,
Dal is essential for the table. These are boiled first and then fried; onions, ginger and other spices are added.
Vegetable Curries are also very popular, served with bread, Chappaties or Rice. They can be cooked with onions or without. Matar Panir is very popular in North India. Vegetables are also cooked with the meat. Its preparation is similar to meat Curries.
Pickles or Chutneys are served with meals. Most popular are Mango Chutney, Mango Pickle, Lemon Pickle, Tomato Chutney and Mint Chutney. Sweet and Sour Pickles are made from cauliflower, carrot and turnips. In preparing them, mustard, oil, mustard seeds, onions, red chilli, salt, vinegar and sugar are used in large quantities. Green Chilli Pickle is made with a large amount of mustard seeds, salt and mustard oil.
Papadum (Papad) is also served with all meal. These are prepared from Dal Flour, boiled potatoes, mixed sometime-, with whole black pepper and red chilli are used. The dough is made like Chappaties and very thinly rolled. It is then dried in the sun for about 3 - 4 days, then when it is ready to be served, it is fried in a deep hot fat until golden brown and served with meals.
Desserts or sweets are mainly made with milk. Kheer (Rice Pudding) is a popular dessert. Rice or rice flour, puffed rice, sago or cream of wheat is cooked in large quantities of milk for a long time until it is thick. It is then sweetened and flavoured with blanched almonds, pistachios, saffron and cardomon. Mostly it is decorated with gold or silver foil (Varak). Suji Ka Halwa is another popular dish. It is prepared with equal parts of Semolina (Suji), Sugar and Ghee (clarified butter); about three times the quantity of water or milk is added. It is garnished as Kheer.
Carrot Halwa is another favourite dish in Northern India. It is prepared from one part grated carrots to 4 to 8 parts milk, cooked to a very thick consistency then sweetened and garnished with Varak.
Most cooling and favourite breakfast is a large glass of Lassi (butter milk) with some stuffed parathas. Lassi can be prepared with yoghurt, thinned with water and some salt or lemon juice can be added according to taste.
A South Indian meal starts with rice and ends with rice and Yoghurt. South India has an old tradition of vegetarian as well as non vegeterian cookery. Their staple food is rice, which is cooked in hundreds of different ways. The main cooking medium is coconut and coconut oil. Coconut milk or juice is added to the curry or sometimes rice is cooked in it.
Different kinds of vegetables are added to lentils and served as Sambar. Crushed coconut, fried mustard seeds and other spices are added to lentils preparation. Hieng (Casa Foelida) is fried and used in most dishes.
Rasam, a spicy and clear soup of lentils, is eaten just before the meal or can be eaten with rice.
The South Indian breakfast is very light and wholesome. It is made up of Idli and Dosa; Idli is a mixture of Urad Dal and rice, steamed in moulds. These are very light and easily digestible. Dosa is also made from the same batter as Idli, the batter is made thinner and fried like a pancake. Sometimes Dosa is stuffed with cooked potatoes or vegetables and then called Masaler Dosa. Idli is served with coconut chutney. The accompanying beverage is always coffee. The South Indian prepares perhaps the best coffee in the world.
Coffee beans are freshly roasted and ground and percolated in a very low drip method; sometimes it is allowed to drip overnight. It is always served with plenty of milk and sugar.
Payasam, a sweet dish, resembles the North Indian Kheer, but it is thinner. Sweets are almost the same as in Northern India.
South India and Ceylon abound in a variety of tropical fruits. The most popular are Banana, Pineapple, Papaya and Mango. Raw Banana is used to make Curries as well as cutlets and chips. Raw Banana is also served sliced into fine wafers, dried and often fried in oil. These make very good snacks. Coconut milk as a cold beverage is very common.
South Indian Papadams are very popular and mostly served with main meals. These are plain without any spices.
The staple diet of East India is Rice and fish. In the East the food is mainly cooked in mustard oil. Plain rice is always served at the main meal. The coastline provides the best choice of prawn, shrimps, crab, lobster, hilsa and many other kinds of fish.
Prawn cutlets are prepared by soaking the prawns with ground onions, ginger and salt. They are then formed into shapes, dipped in beaten egg, coated in bread crumbs and then deep fried to a brown colour. Fish is often prepared in yoghurt which is called Dahi Machi.
Macher Kalihya is another popular dish of the East. Fish is cooked with potatoes, peas, yoghurt and spices. Fish, vegetables and onions are separately fried. All these are then mixed and cooked to semi liquid consistency. Bringal and potatoes are very popular in the East.
Ambal, an East Indian dish, is prepared from brinjal, tomatoes and spices. Tomatoes and brinjals are fried in deep fat or oil then mixed with fried mustard seeds and other spices along with tamarind water. Raw bananas are cooked in several different ways.
Dam Aloo and stuffed Aloo (Potatoes) are also very popular. Whole medium sized potatoes are peeled and scooped and then stuffed with almonds, sultanas, chillies and onions, all mixed together with a spoonful of lemon juice. The cut portion is placed back on the potatoes and bound with a cocktail stick. The potatoes are then fried in deep hot fat and then can be added to Curries or can be served as a snack just after frying. Potatoes can be stuffed with minced meat and cooked with spices.
Along with these vegetables Loochi is served which is prepared with plain flour. Loochi is prepared in the same way as Poories. Well kneaded dough is rolled into round circles and deep fried.
The most popular sweet of the East is Sandesh, prepared from cottage cheese and sugar. The cheese and sugar are beaten well together and a little vanilla or almond essence is added for the flavour. Resgullas are also made from cottage cheese and sugar syrup. Little round balls are made from the cottage cheese and soaked in the syrup. Gulab Jamans are another favourite dish of the East and loved by all Indians. It is made from Khoa if available, which is full dried cream milk, sugar and self raising flour. Round balls or long sausage shapes are made and cooked in deep fat until golden brown, then simmered in the syrup for a few minutes.
In the West, Gujaraties and most of the Maharashtrians are vegetarian. Parsees and Goans are non vegetarian.
Rice and wheat is used as a staple food. Khichri, a rice and pulses dish, is very popular. Bhakhri is prepared from wholemeal flour.
Yoghurt and spices are made into stiff dough, well rolled, cut into circles and fried as pancakes. Sago Khichri, a preparation of Sago with ground nut, is a very light and delicious dish. Most of the Gujarati and Maharashtrians season their dishes with mustard seeds and dried herbs. In Gujarati curries, a little jaggery (gur) is always used to bring out the natural sweetness of foods. Dhokla is another speciality of Gujarat. Rice flour and Gram flour are mixed with spices and a little water and fermented overnight. They are then steamed, cut into pieces and finally fried. Spices are poured into it. (Maharashtrians use similar rice preparation from Bengal. Gram Dal (Channa Dal) is soaked and ground, then cooked with different spices. Cuisine is one of the special features of Maharashtrian and Gujaraties dishes. This sweet dish is served as the first course and it is eaten with poories and vegetables and with some other fried food. The meal ends with Dal and rice. The Maharashtrian starts the meal with rice, continues with Chappaties and ends with rice.
A sweet dish of the Gujarat is Almond Halwa and Almond Poories. It is prepared with ground almonds caster sugar, sweetened milk, cardomons and a little saffron is added. Poories are rolled into round circles then roasted in the oven. Doodh Pak is somewhat like the rice Kheer of North India. It is prepared with milk, rice flakes and nuts. Shri Khand (Sweetened Yoghurt) to which cardomon and saffron are added has a thick consistency. There are many other sweets which are served with main meals.
Parsees and Goans delight in non-vegetarian foods. Fish, sweet vermichilli and sweet yoghurt are always served among Parsees. Meat and other vegetables are served on occasions. In Bombay many hotels and clubs serve a Parsee speciality known as Dhansak. This dish is prepared from meat, lentils, vegetables, spices and herbs. It is delicious and always served with rice.
Bombay Duck, a slim white fish the size of a herring, is served in curried or rice form. Patrani machli, prepared with coriander leaves, green chillie, ginger and fresh coconut, is a very spicy dish. Masala fish is another popular dish of the Parsees.
Mutton Baffat is a meat and radish curry. Most of the curries are hot, but tasty. Vegetables are prepared in a great number and called "Foogaths". Coconut is used in these preparations. Green Salad, prepared with lemon juice, black pepper and salt and vinegar, is served with rice and other curries. Sweet dishes of the Parsees and Goans are the same Indian and Western styles.
Beverages served are coffee, tea, lemon juice (diluted in water), coconut milk and other fruit juices. Neera, a pleasant fermented or non fermented drink taken from the palm tree, is a favourite of many people.
Almost all the tropical fruits are found in the country. Strawberries, cherries, pears, oranges, apples, pineapples, papayas, peaches, apricots, custard apples, guvas, several kinds of berries, bananas and mangoes are among the most popular fruits. Mango is the king among them. The famous varieties of mango are langra, dusahri, alphanso and tapka and there is hardly a month when some part of India is not serving mango. The best varieties are available only in summer.
Fresh green coconut is another fruit which is most common. The top of the coconut is sliced off with a sharp knife and the juice is drunk straight from the shell. The soft kernel of the fruit is also very delicious and can be scooped out and eaten. Sometimes it is used in curries and in decoration for sweet dishes.
In some parts of the country, fresh coconut or fruit is served with the main meal. (Sometimes the fruit is cut into small cubes and boiled with the potatoes and sweet potatoes (Shakarkandi) and dressed with black pepper, salt and lemon juice, and this is called Chaat.) People from the North of India are very fond of this spicy fruit dish.
Green vegetable salad is a must on the Indian table. This salad includes lettuce, radish, carrots, onions, tomatoes, cucumber, lemon slices, beetroot, cheese cubes and sometimes hard boiled eggs are added according to taste.