Cuisine Tours of India

Indian shores are awash with coconut trees and fresh coconut is a benign presence in the pungent cuisine of all coastal states. It figures in strews for which the Syrian Christians of Kerala are so justly famed. It makes the sauce for meenakottan, a preparation of fish served even in Hindu households in Kerala. And it lends silkiness to the fabulous prawn onion cashew nut pilaf, which is the forte of Mopla fisherman.

Goan food offers a rich variety because the Goan population comes of widely different backgrounds. There are Hindus and Muslims who go in for mutton and chicken. And there are Christians (some of Hindu and others of Portuguese origin) who opt for pork. Rice is a staple for all, but the curries and gravies that go with the rice are vastly different. Portuguese influence in Goa is particularly evident at Christmas time when the larders are filled to bursting with rich fruit cake, plum cake and more cake, biscuits and cookies, pork pies and sweet pies

The style of cooking known as dumpukht has an ardent following in India. But as to its beginnings, Rajasthani tradition is so meshed in with the Mughal that neither can claim sole credit. Rajasthan does seem to be a likely the Mughal that neither can claim sole credit. Rajasthan does seem to be a likely place for the birth of dumpukht. A vessel containing meat and spices was sealed and buried in a pit in the sand, with lighted, dry cow dung below and above it. Gentle heat worked the magic, while the seal kept the flavors in and out.

Hyderabadi cooking is internationally famed. It originated, obviously, in Hyderabad (Deccan). But it is a proud culinary tradition that took the best from several different sources. The Muslim preference for meat, combined with the sharp, distinctive flavours of the largely vegetarian south. The Persians practiced combining lamb with dried beans and spices to make dishes like dalcha. And unforgettable gingelly seed chutneys, straight from a dastarkhan in the Middle East.

In India, all over the countryside, earthen pots are used for cooking. The fuel of choice is wood or else coal, flames being muffled under a layer of ash, so the cooking is slow and the flavors have plenty of time to settle in. Traditionally, in Coorg, cooking was done in blackened earthen chattis (pots). In rural Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, sabat mah (shole black lentils) and sarson ka saag (mustard greens) are still done this way. In Goa its fish curry, in Hyderabad it is biryani or chipe ka gosht. The last named is preferably cooked in a new clay pot. Curd is almost always set in bowls of clay, all over the country.

The tandoor (clay oven) is said to be a native of the erstwhile North-West Frontier Province, now in Pakistan. But several generations of north Indians have gown up on tandoori food. It is still a familiar sight at street corners and a crowd puller at dhabas(roadside eating places) along the highways in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Kashmir. Tandoori food, a be it chicken, fish, or paneer tikka, is a top favourite everywhere because it's crisp on the outside and like cream within. Bakers in Kashmir even use the tandoor to produce melt-in-the-mouth shortbread, flakey pastery and kulchas. Gujarat and Maharashtra are partial to groundnuts, crushed and added to sundry vegetables and savouries. But vegetarian food is loved all over the country. Note the popularity of the Punjabi salwart kulche-chhole. Or witness the way north Indians have taken to their hearts those South Indian breakfast delicacies-idli, dosa and sambhar, laced with coconut chutney.