How much do you know about Indian Cuisine..???
How much do you know about Indian Cuisine..??? Part 1
Welcome to my BLOG where I will talk a little about
something close to my Heart or rather my Stomach J .
#coronavirus #covid19 #pandemic #quarantine #masterchef
#workfromhome #sanitizer #washyourhands #stayathome #stayhomestaysafe #cooking
#virus #cleanhands #desifood #indianfoods #mughlaicuisine #butterchicken
#butternaan #thali #culturalcuisine #daalbhaat #foodie #lovefood
Before you
read the comments:
DO NOT CLICK ON
THIS LINK: shorturl.at/rDQ07
The below is sourced from https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-food/
& https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/indian_cuisine
The cuisine of India is one of the world's most
diverse cuisines, characterized by its sophisticated and subtle use of the many spices, vegetables, grains and fruits grown
across India. The cuisine of each geographical region includes a wide
assortment of dishes and cooking techniques reflecting the varied demographics
of the ethnically diverse Indian subcontinent. India's religious beliefs and
culture have played an influential role in the evolution of its cuisine.
Vegetarianism is widely practiced in many Hindu, Buddhist and Jain communities.
India’s unique blend of cuisines evolved through large-scale
cultural interactions with neighboring Persia, ancient Greece, Mongols and West Asia.
New World foods such as chili peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and squash,
introduced by Arab and Portuguese traders during the sixteenth century, and
European cooking styles introduced during the colonial period added to the
diversity of Indian cuisine.
History and influences
The cuisine of India has is considered one of the world’s most
diverse cuisines. Extensive immigration and intermingling of cultures through
many millennia has introduced many dietary and cultural influences. India's
diverse climate, ranging from deep tropical to alpine, has made a broad range
of ingredients readily available to its many schools of cookery. In many cases,
food has become a marker of religious and social identity, with various taboos and preferences (for instance, a segment of the Jain population consume no roots or subterranean vegetable; see Jain vegetarianism) that
have driven certain groups to innovate extensively with the food sources that
are deemed acceptable.
The longstanding vegetarianism within sections of India's Hindu, Buddhist and Jain communities has exerted a
strong influence over Indian cuisine. People who follow a strict vegetarian
diet make up 20–42 percent of the population in India, while less than 30 percent
are regular meat-eaters. [3]
By around 7000 B.C.E., sesame, eggplant, and humped cattle had been domesticated
in the Indus Valley.[4] Many recipes
first emerged during the initial Vedic period, when India was still heavily
forested and agriculture was complemented with game hunting and products from
the forest. In Vedic times, a normal diet consisted of fruit, vegetables,
meat, grain, dairy products and honey.[5] The ancient Hindu
concept of ahimsa, a rule of conduct
that prohibits the killing or injuring of living beings because violence entails negative karmic consequences,[6] led some segments
of the population to embrace vegetarianism. This practice gained more
popularity following the advent of Buddhism in a cooperative climate where a
variety of fruits, vegetables,
and grains could easily be
grown throughout the year. A food classification system that categorized every
item as saatvic (pure), raajsic (active and passionate) or taamsic (heavy,
dull, slow, gluttonous) developed in Ayurveda; each was deemed to have a powerful
effect on the body and the mind.
Later invasions from Central Asia, Arabia, the Mughal Empire,
and Persia, had a fundamental effect on Indian cooking. The Islamic
conquest of medieval India introduced such fruits as apricots,
melons, peaches, and plums, and rich gravies, pilafs and
non-vegetarian fare such as kebabs, giving rise to Mughlai cuisine (Mughal in
origin). The Mughals were great patrons of cooking; lavish dishes were prepared
during the reigns of Jahangir and Shah Jahan. A blending of Mughlai
and Telangana cuisines took place in the kitchens of the Nizams, historic
rulers of Hyderabad state, resulting in the creation of Hyderabadi biryani, a
traditional celebratory meal made using mutton or goat meat, basmati
rice, yoghurt, onions, and spices, considered by many connoisseurs to be
the finest of the main dishes in India.
Influence from Arab and Portuguese traders resulted in
diversified subcontinental tastes and meals. New-world vegetables such as
tomato, chilies, squash, and potato, which were introduced during the
sixteenth century, became staples of Indian cuisine. The British introduced
European recipes and cooking techniques like baking.
Elements
The staples of Indian cuisine are rice, atta (whole
wheat flour), and a variety of pulses, the most important of which are masoor (most
often red lentil), chana (Bengal
gram), toor (pigeon pea or yellow gram), urad (black
gram) and mung (green gram). Pulses may be
used whole, dehusked, for example dhuli moong or dhuli
urad, or split. Pulses are used extensively in the form of dal
(split). Some of the pulses like chana and "Mung"
are also processed into flour (besan).
Most Indian curries are fried in vegetable oil. In North and
West India, groundnut oil has traditionally been most popular for frying, while
in Eastern India, mustard oil is more commonly used. In South India, coconut
oil and sesame (gingelly) oil are common. In recent decades, sunflower oil and soybean oil have gained popularity all over India.
Hydrogenated vegetable oil, known as Vanaspati ghee, is also a popular cooking
medium that replaces Desi ghee (clarified butter).
The most important and most frequently used spices in Indian
cuisine are chilli pepper, black mustard seed (rai), cumin (jeera), turmeric (haldimanjal), fenugreek (methi), asafoetida (hing,
perungayam), ginger (adrak, inji), and garlic (lassan,
poondu). Popular spice mixes are garam masala which is usually a
powder of five or more dried spices, commonly comprised of cardamom, cinnamon and clove. Every region has its own blend of Garam Masala. Goda Masala is
a popular spice mix in Maharashtra. Some leaves like tejpat (cassia
leaf), coriander leaf, fenugreek leaf and mint leaf are commonly used. The use of curry leaves is typical
of all South Indian cuisine. In sweet dishes, cardamom, nutmeg, saffron, and rose petal essence are used.
The term "curry" is usually understood to mean
"gravy" in India, rather than "spices."
Geographical Varieties
Northern
North Indian cuisine is distinguished by the proportionally
high use of dairy products; milk, paneer, ghee (clarified butter), and yoghurt
(yogurt, yoghourt) are all common ingredients. Gravies are typically
dairy-based. Other common ingredients include chilies, saffron, and nuts.
North Indian cooking features the use of the "tawa"
(griddle) for baking flat breads like roti and paratha, and "tandoor"
(a large and cylindrical coal-fired oven) for baking breads such as naan, and
kulcha; main courses like tandoori chicken are also cooked in the
"tandoor," a cylindrical shaped clay oven. Other breads like puri and
bhatoora, which are deep fried in oil, are also common. Goat and lamb meats are favored ingredients of many northern
Indian recipes.
The samosa is a popular North Indian snack, and now commonly
found in other parts of India, Central Asia, North America, Africa and the
Middle East. A common variety is filled with boiled, fried, or mashed potato.
Other fillings include minced meat, cheese (paneer), mushroom (khumbi), and
chick pea.
The staple food of most of North India is a variety of lentils,
vegetables, and roti (wheat based bread). The varieties used and the method of
preparation can vary from place to place. Popular snacks, side-dishes and
drinks include mirchi bada, buknu, bhujiya, chaat, kachori, imarti, several
types of pickles (known as achar), murabba, sharbat, aam
panna and aam papad. Popular sweets are known
as mithai (meetha means sweet in Hindi), such as
gulab jamun, jalebi, peda, petha, rewdi, gajak, bal mithai, singori, kulfi,
falooda, khaja, ras malai, gulkand, and several varieties of laddu, barfi and
halwa.
Some common North Indian foods such as the various kebabs and
most of the meat dishes originated with Muslims’ incursions into the country.
Pakistani cuisine and north Indian cuisine are very similar, reflecting their
shared historic and cultural heritage.
Eastern
East Indian cuisine is famous for its desserts, especially
sweets such as rasagolla, chumchum, sandesh, rasabali, chhena
poda, chhena gaja, and kheeri. Many of the sweet dishes now popular in Northern
India initially originated in the Bengal and Orissa regions. Apart from sweets,
East India cuisine offers delights made of posta (poppy seeds).
Traditional Bengali cuisine is not too spicy, and not too faint.
General ingredients used in Bengali curries are mustard seeds, cumin seeds,
black cumin, green chilies and cumin paste. Mustard paste, curd, nuts, poppy
seed paste and cashew paste are preferably cooked in mustard oil.
Curries are classified into bata (paste), bhaja (fries), chochchoree (less
spicy vaporized curries) and jhol (thin spicy curries). These
are eaten with plain boiled rice or ghonto (spiced rice). A
traditional Bengali breakfast includes pantabhat (biotically
degenerated boiled rice), doi-chirey, and doodh-muree with
fruits. Bangladesh's cuisine is very similar to that of West Bengal,
corresponding to the link between Pakistani and northern Indian cuisine. Fish is
commonly consumed in the eastern part of India, most especially in Bengal.
Rice is the staple grain in Eastern India, just as it is in
South India. A regular meal consists of many side dishes made of vegetables.
The popular vegetable dishes of Orissa are Dalma and Santula. The
most popular vegetable dish of Bengal is Sukto. Deep-fried,
shallow-fried and mashed vegetables are also very popular. Fish is frequently
featured in a regular meal.
Southern
South Indian cuisine is distinguished by a greater emphasis on
rice as the staple grain, the ubiquity of sambar (also called saaru, a
vegetable stew based on a broth made with tamarind and toovar dal) and rasam
(also called rasa, a soup prepared with tamarind juice or
tomato, pepper and other spices), a variety of pickles, and the liberal use
of coconut and particularly coconut oil and curry leaves. The dosa,
poori, idli, vada, bonda and bajji are typical South Indian favorites and are
generally consumed as breakfast. Hyderabadi biryani, a popular type of biryani,
reflects the diversity of south Indian cuisine.[7]
Andhra, Chettinad, Tamil, Hyderabadi, Mangalorean, and Kerala
cuisines each have distinct tastes and methods of cooking. Each of the South
Indian states has a different way of preparing sambar; a
connoisseur of South Indian food can easily tell the difference between sambar
from Kerala, sambar from Tamil cuisine, Sambar from Karnataka and pappu
chaaru in Andhra cuisine. Some popular dishes include the biryani, ghee,
rice with meat curry, seafood (prawns, mussels and mackerel) and
paper thin pathiris from Malabar area.
Tamil cuisine generally classifies food into six tastes: sweet
(milk, butter, sweet cream, wheat, ghee (clarified butter), rice, honey); sour
(limes and lemons, citrus fruits, yogurt, mango, tamarind); salty (salt or
pickles); bitter (bitter gourd, greens of many kinds, turmeric, fenugreek);
pungent (chili peppers, ginger, black pepper, clove, mustard) and
astringent (beans, lentils, turmeric, vegetables like cauliflower and
cabbage, cilantro). Traditional Tamil cuisine recommends that all of these six
tastes be included in each main meal to provide complete nutrition,
minimize cravings and balance the appetite and digestion. A typical meal,
served on a banana leaf, includes steamed rice along with a variety of
vegetable dishes like sambar, dry curry, rasam and kootu. Meals are often
accompanied by crisp appalams. After a final round of rice and curds or
buttermilk, or both, a meal is concluded with a small banana and a few betel
leaves and nuts.
Western
Western India has three major food groups: Gujarati,
Maharashtrian and Goan. There are two main types of Maharashtrian cuisine,
defined by geographical circumstances. The coastal regions, geographically
similar to Goa, consume more rice, coconut, and fish. In the hilly regions of the Western Ghats and Deccan plateau,
groundnut is used in place of coconut and the staples are jowar (sorghum) and bajra (millet)
as staples. Saraswat cuisine forms an important part of coastal Konkani Indian
cuisine.
Gujarati cuisine is predominantly vegetarian. Many Gujarati
dishes have a hint of sweetness due to use of sugar or brown sugar. The typical
Gujarati meal consists of Rotli (a flat bread made from wheat
flour), daal or kadhi, rice, and sabzi/shaak (a
dish made up of different combinations of vegetables and spices, which may be
stir fried, spicy or sweet). Staples include homemade pickles, Khichdi (rice
and lentil or rice and mung bean daal), and chhaas (buttermilk).
Main dishes are based on steamed vegetables and daals that are added to a vaghaar, which
is a mixture of spices sterilized in hot oil that varies depending on the main
ingredient. Salt, sugar, lemon, lime, and tomato are used
frequently to prevent dehydration in an area where temperatures reach 50C
(120F) in the shade.
The cuisine of Goa is influenced by its Hindu origins,
Portuguese colonialism, and modern techniques. The staple food of Goans is rice
and fish and the cuisine is mostly seafood-based. Kingfish (Vison
or Visvan) is the most common delicacy; others include pomfret, shark, tuna and mackerel.
Popular shellfish include crabs, prawns, tiger prawns, lobster, squid and
mussels. Goan Hindu cuisine is less spicy, uses little or no onion or
garlic, and incorporates a variety of vegetables, lentils, pumpkins,
gourds, bamboo shoots, and roots. Goan Christian cuisine includes beef dishes
and the well-known Vindaloo, first introduced by the
Portuguese as "vinha d'alhos."
North Eastern
The food of the North East is very different from that of other
parts of India. North Eastern cuisine is strongly influenced by
neighboring Burma and the People's Republic of China, and makes
less use of well-known Indian spices. Yak is a popular meat in this
region of India.
Beverages
Tea is a staple beverage throughout India; the finest varieties
are grown in Darjeeling and Assam. It is generally prepared as masala chai, by boiling the
tea leaves in a mixture of water, spices such as cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger, and large quantities
of milk to create a thick, sweet, milky concoction. Different varieties and
flavors of tea are prepared all over the country. Another popular
beverage, coffee, is largely served in South India. One of the finest varieties
of Coffea arabica is grown around Mysore, Karnataka, and is marketed under
the trade name "Mysore Nuggets." Indian filter coffee, or kaapi, is
especially popular in South India. Other beverages include nimbu pani (lemonade), lassi (made
by blending yogurt with water, salt, pepper, ice and spices until
frothy), chaach, badam doodh (milk with nuts and
cardamom), sharbat (juice prepared from fruits or flower
petals) and coconut water.
India also has many indigenous alcoholic beverages, including
palm wine, fenny, bhang and Indian beer. The practice of drinking a beverage
with a meal, or wine and food matching, is not traditional or common in India.
People prefer to consume drinking water with their food, and it is customary to
offer drinking water to guests before serving hot or cold drinks.
Etiquette
Several customs are associated with the manner of food
consumption in India. Traditionally, meals are eaten while seated either on the
floor or on very low stools or cushions. Food is most often eaten without
cutlery, using instead the fingers of the right hand (not the left since that
hand is used for cleaning oneself after a bowel movement). Indian culture
dictates that eating with your hands is a pleasurable experience, activating a
so-called sixth sense, rather than using cutlery. Furthermore, the food is
already in bite-size pieces making the use of a knife and fork unnecessary.
Traditionally, the fingers are also used to feel the temperature of the food to
one's taste, and combine flavors such as by tearing a small portion of bread (Roti,
Naan) folding it into a small pocket to scoop a desired amount of food.
However, these traditional ways of dining have been altered under the influence
of eating styles from other parts of the world.
Traditional serving styles vary from region to region in India.
A universal presentation is the thali, a large plate with samplings of
different regional dishes accompanied by raita, breads such as naan, puri, or
roti, and rice. In South India, a cleaned banana leaf is often used as a
hygienic and visually interesting alternative to plates.
Restaurant meals
An Indian meal in a restaurant is generally called thali and
is usually served on a round tray made of either silver, stainless steel
or brass, with a selection of different dishes in small bowls. According
to the region in which the restaurant specializes, a choice of native
vegetarian or non-vegetarian delicacies is offered; one may encounter South
Indian (vegetarian) thali, Chettinad thali,
Mumbai thali, Rajasthani thali or Gujarati thali.
Rice, even in a modest amount, is an essential component
of thali. A North Indian thali consists mainly of
Indian bread such as chapatti, roti, paratha, phulka or naan along with rice,
while South Indian thalis are served mostly with rice. In
North Indian cuisine pooris and chapattis are
offered first and the waiter serves the rice later, often in a separate bowl.
The rest of the items, such as different curries, sweet and other miscellaneous
items (applams, papad, pickles and beeda) are similar for
both North Indian and South Indian thalis. Some restaurants offer
'unlimited' thalis, with "bottomless" refills on all
components of a thali, so that the customer eats until fully
satisfied. In some places the term means unlimited helpings of everything in
the plate excepting a few items like the dessert or vada.
Finally a banana, beeda, and a glass of juice
or lassi will be offered.
Popularity and influence
outside India
Indian cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines across the
globe.[1] The cuisine is
enjoyed not only among the large Indian diaspora but also by the general
population in North America, Europe, Australia and parts of Africa. A survey held in 2007 revealed that more than 1200 Indian
food products have been introduced in the United States since 2000.
According to Britain's Food Standards Agency, Indian food industry in the United
Kingdom is worth £3.2 billion, accounts for two-thirds of all eating out and
serves about 2.5 million British customers every week.
Indian cuisine is popular in South East Asia because of its strong historical
influence on the region's local cuisines. The influence of Indian cuisine
on Malaysian cooking styles
dates to the nineteenth century. Spread of vegetarianism in other parts of
Asia is often credited to ancient Indian Buddhist practices. Indian
cuisine is also enjoyed in the Arab world because of its similarity to and
influence on Arab cuisine. Mchuzi (curry) is a common dish in East Africa,
where it was introduced by Indian immigrants during the colonial
period. Indian immigrants also introduced their cuisine to South Africa during the
nineteenth century.
Curry's international appeal has also been compared to that
of pizza.
Historically, Indian spices and herbs were one of the most sought after trade
commodities. The spice trade between India and Europe led to the rise and
dominance of Arab traders to such an extent that European explorers, such
as Vasco da
Gama and Christopher Columbus, set out to find new
trade routes with India, launching the Age of Discovery.
Comments
Post a Comment