What food do you eat in India?

Midnite Toker

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chrissawka

funny how at first i was so paraniod bout getting sick and not liking the food there....i left home with a bag full of cipro<for bacteria in stomach>,pepto bismol,and tums expecting to live off chocolate bars and chips<as they are the same worldwide!>
turned out i never got sick once and loved every veg dish i tried,the food was great in india
after 4 weeks of veg i was in kerala and tried the beef marvelous just like home<just don't think of how it is stored in the open air!>
one thing that did take a while to get used to is everyone touching yer food w/their fingers/hands before serving it to you.
seeing that i am not of royal descent i ate it and hey i am still alive. sory little sarcastic remark for those out there who can't handle india and fly home 2-3 days after landing.........shame what they miss out on
i loved india and its food<more so the people and culture> w/all my heart. if i could only be their now
p.s. sory M.T. think u wanted people to list their favorites and i sidetracked the column

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enjoyed 6 weeks in southern india and saving up to go back..
i never hated.....yet loved<more>a country soo much
words cannot truely describe the satisfaction it gives u

maree

Veg for me with the odd stab at Western food when the mood takes me - "spaghetti" etc in the more touristed areas (+ I remember the cake selection in Mcleod Ganj with fond memories). One thing I try to avoid are those revolting masala potato chips.

Baisab

I love -
Punjabi food - my favorites: Malai Kofta, Shahi Panir Korma and the inevitable Alu Gobi
Alu Dam Kashmiri
Biryanis
Paranthas
Pakora
Samosa/Kathori
Pau Bahji (love those pau buns)
Masala Dosa
Cheap fresh seafood on the beach (love that Goan curry Vindaloo)
Chili Omelet out on the street
Egg Burji

Sweets -
Barfi
Chiki
Gulab Jamun
Puri with Sujee ka Halwa (unbelievably tasty)

Drink -
Lassi - plain, salt, honey and of course: banana
I am also a fool for a good Chai

Dakota

All veg dishes. Street food, thalis. I never eat any "Western" food. I love to try whatever the locals eat, provided it isn't too oily.
Fruit - pineapples, mangoes. Yummy!
Tsampa.
Sweets: the one that I could not resist eating almost every day while in Pushkar is sesame sweets.
Drinks: I like chai, though it can be too sweet sometimes.
Tibetan tea, if only not too salty. It definitely is something different.
Lassi - plain. Love it! Especially the famous one in Jaipur. Forgot the name. The best!!!

kolobar

Local food (as local as it can be) - which means non veg in Pakistan and Kashmir and mostly veg (+occasional nonveg at Karim in Delhi) in India. I reach my limits with bawa (goats legs in hot gravy) - Lahore specialty but did not surrender while dry yak meat in Chandra valley was too much.

wonderwomanusa

My favorite is saag-ghosht (lamb-spinach curry) and that plus tandoori chicken is what I eat here in the West.

In India, I eat what's available and I especially like the street snacks at night in Varanasi!

When I'm in Kolkata or Delhi, I also eat Westernized food, but I don't think you'll see me at McD's unless my mouth gets dreadfully homesick.

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The map is not the territory. --Alfred Korzybski

cyberhippie

Everything, not all at once though, strangely the thing I miss the most whilst on my working holiday here in Europe is Pau-Bhaji.
An spicey Indian breakfast served with a bread roll I've tried making it at home but as with many things from the Indian menu it just don't taste the same in a cold climate??
Should you like to try it here's the recipe!

Pau Bhaji

Ingredients

1/2 head cauliflower
3 large potatoes
250g green peas
3 long carrots
1 big onion
1clove garlic
1tbsp ginger (Shredded)
1tsp turmeric powder
2tsp jeera (fennel) powder
4tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 cloves
8tbsp oil
3tbsp butter


Directions

Cut all the vegetables (except the onions) into small pieces, cubes for potatoes.

Grind 1/2 the onion, ginger and garlic into a puree.

Boil the cut vegetables (except tomato and onion) in a pressure cooker in 1 cup of water for approximately 10-15 min. If you don't have a pressure cooker, boil vegetables in a pot until all vegetables are soft and tender (approximately 20 to 30 minutes).

In a skillet, add the oil and heat. Add the mustard seeds and cloves and let it simmer for 3 minutes at medium heat. Add the onion/ginger/garlic puree, along with the finely chopped green chilies to the oil, and cook till its golden brown (approximately 3 minutes)

To this mixture add the turmeric powder, cumin powder, and red chili powder and salt saute for about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes cut into very small cubes, and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add the tomato puree to the mixture and stir for about a minute.

Drain the boiled vegetables and mash lightly in the pot. Add the mashed vegetables to the skillet and mix thoroughly. Add the
butter to the mixture and stir well.

Cover the skillet and simmer for 10 minutes at medium heat. (Stir every 2-3 minutes to see that the bottom does not stick)
Transfer Pau Bhaji to a serving dish. Cut the cilantro and 1/2 onion and sprinkle on top as garnish.

Serve with butter toasted burger buns.

Serves 8

One for your kitchen maybe MT ??

Midnite Toker

You have got my mouth watering already. It's quite an elaborate recipe.

One correction - jeera is cumin, not fennel. Ugh! Fennel in a baji!

I usually use chickpeas in the baji as I love chickpeas so much (in fact I love chicks and peas too, but not quite as much as I love chickpeas). I'd also toss in a handful of curry leaves as well. They give it that certain "something."

Agree with you that these dishes just don't taste the same outside the tropics. Perhaps what's missing is the extra ambience you get while eating them. My morning baji in Goa was always at the same restaurant (Agnes' place in Agonda) and I sat eating while the milk was delivered and the school headmaster came in for his samosa and coffee at the same time every day.

marreigh

One of my plans whilst in India is to do some cooking for myself, I have cooked Indian food for over 20 years and can't wait to choose my own fresh ingredients and give it a go. Just talking about food I was watching Discovery Travel on cable the other day a programme about South India and the presenter said that oranges are not only tasty and refreshing but by peeling them with you finger nails you are also using on of natures best disinfectants, great tip I thought and a lot less bulk than carting around a cannister of wipes as was suggested some where I read.

Midnite Toker

At this snapshot point we have over 40% of poll respondants saying that they eat Indian vegetarian food while in India. Granted, some of the people answering the poll may be resident Indians who are by their religion vegetarian, but I wanted to ask the others:

Why did you choose to eat vegetarian food?
Was it the often-circulated warning that meat and meat products are unhealthy in India, a taste thing, or some other reason?

Sadhu

Channa Bhatura in a dhaba for breakfast, with an aloo parantha and hot chai.

I've been veg for 20 years, in India and everywhere else.

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hazyjane

To answer your question, M_T, I reported that I ate veg in India because that's what I eat at home. I'm a pescatarian, really, but that wasn't one of the choices. And the one time I ordered fish curry in India in one of the 'fancy' tourist places it turned out to be chicken and of course I had to send it back.

I should admit that at breakfast time I was weak and usually had the lemon pancakes. I guess I could have chosen the "Western treats sometimes" options but I wanted to express the veg part of it.

beach

Drink only bottled (sealed) water