India Cuisine: Traditional Food and Popular Dishes

What will you sample during your holiday in India? From fragrant curries to tantalizing flame-roasted tandoori grills, spicy sauces to tangy chutneys, exotic vegetarian delights to inviting flat breads, Indian cuisine sure packs a punch. If you have decided on private travel to India, check out our most iconic all-time favorites that not only Indian’s dote on, but which most visitor’s go certifiably gaga about!

Westerners perceive India as predominantly vegetarian. This is not necessarily so, although vegetables are an integral part of Indian meals. However, peoples religious beliefs and cultural choices often mandate what can and cannot be eaten. The majority of vegetarians reside in South India.

Heavenly Non-Vegetarian Heroes To Tickle Your Taste buds!

Biryani

The origin of biryani continues to mystify, with many claiming parentage. ‘Birinj’ is Persian for rice, and ‘biryan’ means to fry or roast. Usually prepared with basmati rice, the aromatic dish uses several spices, saffron, and typically contains chicken or mutton/lamb (marinated overnight), although fish, eggs or vegetables are also used. Biryani is traditionally linked to Delhi’s Mughlai cuisine and Lucknow’s Awadhi cuisine in north India and south India’s Hyderabadi cuisine.

Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori chicken is a lip-smacking north Indian treat rivaling biryani, traditionally cooked in a tandoor – a wood or coal fired cylindrical clay oven. The chicken is marinated for several hours in yogurt, lemon juice and a special spicy tandoori masala.

Butter Chicken

The pride of Punjab, this dish has chicken marinated overnight in yogurt and spices like turmeric, ginger and garlic, then cooked blending butter and tomato puree, known locally as makhani sauce.

Rogan Josh

From beautiful Kashmir comes this aromatic gravy dish, made using lamb, goat or other meats. The rich flavors and textures are redolent of fennel, ginger, cinnamon and cardamom, tracing its culinary lineage to Persia.

Curries

Synonymous with India worldwide, curries are famous for their variety – seafood, meat, chicken, egg or vegetables. Aromatically flavored with rich spices (up to 25 spices) and curry leaves, curries are best with steamed rice or Indian breads.

Lip-smacking Veggie Foods Indians Love

Dosa

A staple south Indian breakfast/snack, dosas are fermented crispy crepes/pancakes made with a rice and black lentil batter. This thin flat bread is savored dipped in coconut chutney, accompanied by pickles, tomato gravy, lentil sauce or mash potatoes. The humble dosa finds mention in Travel CNN’s World’s 50 Best Foods, 2011.

Idli-Vada-Sambhar

A household south Indian breakfast/snack specialty, idlis are small round savory cakes made by steaming fermented rice and de-husked black lentils together. Accompaniments are chutney and sambhar – made with vegetables, yellow lentils and tamarind.

Palak Paneer

An integral part of Punjabi cuisine, this healthy and mildly spiced vegetarian delicacy comprises of palak (spinach) and paneer (cottage cheese), prepared in a flavorsome sauce.

Chole Bhature

Chole, another Punjabi delight, is a spicy white chickpea dish accompanied by bhatura, a fried leavened flat bread that is best washed down with a chilled lassi – a traditional sweet/savory yogurt-based drink.

Samosas

Samosas, an irresistible national passion, are triangular deep fried snacks/appetizers of savory filled (potatoes/mince meat/vegetables) stuffed pastries served with mint chutney.

Pav Bhaji

Mumbai’s pav bhaji is a popular Maharashtrian fast food. While bhaji means vegetable, pav/pau means bread. The bhaji comprises spicy smashed potatoes and vegetables, while the pav is liberally drowned in butter, then sprinkled with coriander and chopped onions.

Bhel Puri-Pani Puri-Chaats

Enjoying an almost iconic position in western India, bhelpuri is synonymous with Mumbai’s beaches. Dry or wet, sweet or spicy, bhel is a mix of cold, crunchy puffed rice, chopped onions, potatoes, coriander and tamarind chutney. Each street vendor has his own signature style, mixing the ingredients on the spot, served in paper plates/cones with puris doubling as spoons. Pani-puri in Mumbai, gol gappa in the north and puchka in Bengal, this chaat comprises round, hollow, crispy fried puris filled with a mix of tamarind water, chaat masala, potato, onion, chilli and chickpeas. One mouthful is all it takes!

Melt-in-your-mouth Indian Confectionery

Indian Sweetmeats

The variety of Indian desserts are limitless, with all-time hits like gulab jamun, barfi, rasmalai, rasgulla, ladoos, sandesh, kulfi and more to drool over!

• Gulab Jamun – a festive favorite, small balls of khoya and dried milk are slow-cooked, fried golden and dipped in saffron infused sugar syrup.
• Sandesh – a Bengali speciality, comprising cardamom and saffron infused sweetened cottage cheese.
• Barfi – made with a reduction of condensed milk, mawa and sugar, often induced with different flavors and nuts, topped off with silver varq.
• Jalebi – an any occasion favorite, made with a fermented batter of corn-flour, all-purpose flour and yogurt

“You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food.” – Paul Prudhomme

Let Enchanting Travels showcase the best of India On A Plate. Explore Indian cuisine, where for the most part, ‘the belly rules the mind!

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What Our Guest's Say

Our trip to southern India was customized for us by Enchanting Travels based on suggested itineraries from their website. The two of us spent 22 days with 2 different drivers, the first in Karnataka and the second in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. They were excellent drivers and the SUV was always spotless. They also spoke reasonably good English so we were able to learn about the areas we were driving through and the Indian culture. The local coordinator was available by What’s App and frequently checked in with us to see how the trip was going. She also changed our internal flights on short notice and had someone meet us at the airport with our boarding passes! We really felt we were never alone. We are totally spoiled now that we have travelled with Enchanting Travels and will definitely travel with them again! This is a first class organization!

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Ann Weigel

USA

My husband and I recently returned from a 3 week customized and private vacation in Southern India and Sri Lanka put together by Enchanting Travels. This is our second trip with Enchanting Travels and once again this experience exceeded our expectations. Anita Sahi was a joy to work with, she really listened to what we wanted our trip to look like and helped us plan activities, tours, hikes, and special places to visit. We chose what hotels we wanted and she recommended excellent accommodations to choose from. Once we were in India, our trip manager Sugufta Sumbul worked closely with us to ensure everything was going as planned. We stayed in contact with her through WhatsApp and any question nor concerns we had she was on top of it. All our drivers and guides were excellent with good knowledge and good English skills. A special shout out to our driver/guide Numal in Sri Lanka. We felt like we were traveling with a good friend. He really shared his knowledge of his beautiful country, answering all our questions, taking us to his favorite spots and recommending food and handicraft shops. We wished we had more time in Sri Lanka. We would highly recommend Enchanting Travels. They made the trip so enjoyable and most of all stress free, which is priceless.

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Robert S Cole

USA

Seamless organisation and communication resulting in an unforgettable experience in India. I would highly recommend this company and our itinerary. We particularly enjoyed staying in Indian Heritage Hotels and the local guides made each location interesting and informative. Our driver, Mukesh, was incredibly reliable and safe. Thanks to Rose Kennedy and Shruti Jain for making it happen

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Yasmine Layher

Australia

This trip was my gift to my wife for her birthday. I had traveled to India numerous times for business and wanted her to see this interesting and beautiful land. This was our 7th trip with Enchanting and I knew they would put together a journey that would explore the most important sights in the time which we allowed. We spent 2 weeks in the North of India and 2 weeks in the South. I was hesitant to do some much traveling by car but India has really improved their highways and the car trips where enjoyable. Our drivers were excellent. They knew the lay of the land and how to navigate the hectic Indian traffic. I am a retired international airline pilot and I will tell you that the hotels we stayed in are some of the finest in the world.

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Everett Beasley

USA

This was our 14th trip with Enchanting. Each trip is always very well coordinated with never any worries about transportation, reservations or tickets etc…. The guides are always very knowledgable, helpful and kind. The drivers are always very prompt and courteous. The trip coordinators are in constant contact for any needs or concerns throughout the journey. I always answer the survey after our trips and know that Enchanting takes the answers very seriously. Thanks to the staff at Enchanting for many happy memories!

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Julie Goodwin

USA

Our week-long visit to Delhi and Rajasthan planned in a short period of time was exceptional. Everything except our dinners was arranged for and included in the itinerary. Our personal guides in each city were engaging and enhanced our experience tremendously. Our chauffeur (far more than a driver) was brilliant. He was also our trip coordinator and provided local guidance as we travelled. The whole visit was executed perfectly and Enchanting staff made it so from planning through to the final wave goodbye. We are so pleased to have found this company and will definitely select them again for future visits elsewhere in the world.

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Michael Patrick Proctor

USA