India the land of diverse flavours

New Delhi: Just like the diverse geography and languages in India, the nature of food also changes frequently. It is natural that the food habit of the people from various regions are ruled by the dominant crop harvested in that respective zone.

India is known globally for its tasty and spicy food. Some of the dishes have become exceptionally famous abroad like the biryani or chicken tikka.

Vikas Khanna, an award winning, Michelin Starred Indian chef, restaurateur, wrote in his "Cuisine and Diplomacy" article for Ministry of External Affairs that Indian migration has spread the culinary traditions of the subcontinent throughout the world.

These cuisines have been adapted to local tastes and have also affected local cuisines. For example, the curry's international appeal and Indian tandoori dishes such as chicken tikka enjoy widespread popularity.

Indian cuisine in the Middle East has been influenced greatly by the large Indian diaspora. Centuries of trade relations and cultural exchanges have resulted in significant influence on each region's cuisines, the most notable being the biryani. It was introduced by Persian invaders into northern India and has since become an integral part of the Mughlai cuisine, he wrote.

Chicken tikka masala has been called "a true British national dish". In 2003, there were as many as 10,000 restaurants serving Indian cuisine in England and Wales alone.

According to the Britain's Food Standards Agency, the Indian food industry in the UK is worth 3.2 billion pounds, Khanna informed.

As rightly pointed out by the Association for Asian Studies food in India is an identity marker of caste, class, family, kinship, tribe affiliation, lineage, religiosity, ethnicity, and increasingly, of secular group identification.

India sought to define itself gastronomically in the face of colonisation beginning in the 12th century. First, Central Asian invaders formed several dynasties known as the Sultanates from the 12th to the 16th Centuries. Then, the great Mughal dynasty ruled from the 16th to the 19th Centuries. The British came to trade as the East India Company, stayed as the Crown from the 18th Century until 1847, and then had their heyday as the British Raj from 1857 to 1947.

The Mughals brought new foods to the subcontinent from Central Asia, including dried fruits, pilafs, leavened wheat breads, stuffed meat, poultry, and fruits. They also introduced new cooking processes such as baking bread and cooking meat on skewers in the tandoor, braising meats and poultry, tenderising meats and game using yogurtand making native cheese.

They borrowed indigenous ingredients such as spices (cardamom, pepper, and clove) and vegetables (eggplant from India and carrots from Afghanistan) to cook their foods, creating a unique Mughlai haute courtly cuisine.

From princely kitchens, the cuisine has made its way over the centuries to restaurants in major cities. In Delhi, the capital of Mughal India, as food writer Chitrita Banerji informs us, the Moti Mahal Restaurant claims to have invented tandoori chicken.

In the neighbourhood Punjabi and Mughlai restaurants in metropolitan centres, the menu usually consists of dishes of meat and poultry that are heavily marinated with spices, then grilled and braised in thick tomato or cream-based sauces and served with indigenous leavened breads such as naan and rice dishes with vegetables and meats such as pulaos and biryani. These foods, in popular, mass-customised versions, are the staples of 'dhabas' (highway eateries) all over India.

Indian food historian Madhur Jaffrey states that as the British Raj set roots in the subcontinent, the English-trained Indian cooks (khansama) to make a fusion food of breads, mulligatawny soup (from the Tamil mulahathani pepper water), mince pies and roasts, puddings, and trifles.

These dishes were later adapted to the metropolitan Indian table for the officers of the Indian army and British-Indian club menus. "Military hotels" - restaurants where meat and poultry were served primarily to troop members and often run by Parsis or Muslims - became popular as the new concept of public dining gained popularity in urban India between 1860 and 1900. The oldest known cafe from this era is Leopold's Cafe in Mumbai, where military hotel culture first took root.

Other "hotels" or eateries primarily served, as they still do, vegetarian domestic cuisine in a public setting. "Continental food" in contemporary India includes a combination of English breakfast dishes such as omelette and toast; bread, butter, jam; meat and potato "cutlets"; an eclectic combination of Western dishes such as pizza, pasta, and tomato soup with croutons; bastardized French cuisine of vegetable baked au gratin with cheese and cream sauces, liberally spiced to make them friendly to the Indian palate; caramel custard, trifle, fruit and jelly; and cream cakes for dessert.

The entire southern part of India, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, is mostly rice eaters. A lot of lentils are also used. Fish and various seafood are also very popular over there. Coconuts grow in abundance in Kerala, and consequently, grated coconut and coconut milk are widely used in dishes and curries as a thickener and flavoring ingredient.

According to India Nutrition, Tamil food is characterised by the use of rice, legumes and lentils, its distinct aroma and flavour achieved by the blending of spices including curry leaves, tamarind, coriander, ginger, garlic, chili, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, cumin, nutmeg, coconut and rosewater. The word "curry" is derived from the Tamil word kari' which means "an additive to the main course or a side dish" rice and legumes play an important role in Tamil cuisine.

In the eastern part of the country for states like Odisha, West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, along with rice, fish rules the culinary world. In West Bengal, with an emphasis on fish and lentils served with rice as a staple diet, Bengali cuisine is known for its subtle flavours, its confectioneries and desserts, and has perhaps the only multi-course tradition from India that is analogous with French and Italian cuisine in structure.

Towards the northeast part of the country - Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya - food will strongly resemble cuisines from Southeast Asia. In Meghalaya the staple food of the people is rice with spicy meat and fish preparations. They rear goats, pigs, fowl, ducks and cows and relish their meat. The popular dishes are jadoh, Ki Kpu, Tungtoh, and pickled bamboo shoots.

The Nagamese use oil minimally, they prefer to ferment, dry and smoke their meats and fishes so their food is healthy and light.

Unlike the eastern and northeastern part of the country, many states in the western part of the country eat mostly vegetarian food. But there is no dearth of variety over there as well. The typical Gujarati dish consists of roti (a flat bread made from wheat flour, and called rotli in Gujarati), Daalor Kadhi, rice, and sabzi/shaak (a dish made up of different combinations of vegetables and spices, which may be stir fried, spicy or sweet).

Towards the northern part of the country like in Haryana due to its high cattle population, milk products dominate food variety.

In Jammu and Kashmir, its local cuisine has evolved over 100 years. The cuisine was then influenced by the cultures which arrived with the invasion of Kashmir by Timur from the region of modern Uzbekistan. Subsequently, it has been strongly influenced by the cuisines of Central Asian, Persia, and the North Indian plains. The most notable ingredient in Kashmir cuisine is mutton, of which there are over 30 varieties. Gastronomical delight is so vast and interesting in India that it is a paradise for any foodie.