Let's start with my absolute favorite thing: food. People this past week have often asked me about the food in India. My immediate reaction, without fail, has been to first answer non-verbally by throwing my hands up and demonstrating my pure excitement in my face. "AMAZING" is usually the word that comes out of my mouth next.
To describe the food in India (and give it any justice at all) would be like me asking you to describe the most beautiful sunset you've ever seen, or the 360-degree view from the top of a mountain you've just spent all day climbing, or anything else that you've ever experienced that has made you actually--and I mean actually--stop and say "wow." That's what most Indian food did for me. It made me stop and say "wow."
Most memorable meals and favorite dishes:
Chicken korma: A simple dish of a cashew curry gravy and chicken over rice. Korma curries are very thick, and cream-based (with yogurt, coconut or nut paste). But this dish, which I ate at a beach-front restaurant in Patnam (Goa), was heaven in my mouth. I asked somebody one time about the Indian "gravy" as they call it, and apparently the majority of them get their heavy, creamy richness from cashews. Cashews EVERYWHERE. Mmmm.
Coconut Veg Curry: The particular one I'm thinking of was a to-go meal, as a matter of fact, in the hill station of Munnar. It was my last night and I knew I had to return to this little street vendor who sold the most amazing coconut veg curry and parottas (a type of bread, see below). This was one of those classic cheap and delicious meals, which put me back a total of less than US$1. When you get anything take-out, it comes in newspaper. So, my coconut curry came in a little plastic sack and was wrapped inside newspaper with my two parottas. The curry was light colored, sweet from the coconut, but with a little heat, and full of carrots, potatoes and onions. Heaven in my room that night, eating from my newspaper place setting...
Idly: My first idly was my second meal in India (and I continued to order idly until my last day in India). Idly are little spongy, savory white cakes made from fermented lentils and rice. Sounds delicious, right? Well trust me, when you dip them in the coconut chutney and sambar (oftentimes spicy, a vegetable "stew" made from tamarind) that always come with the idly. Idly are generally more for breakfast, but can be eaten as a snack. Sambar is delicious, but OH, COCONUT CHUTNEY, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?! One of the things I enjoyed most was sampling all the different styles of coconut chutneys at different restaurants. They vary so much, but when you get a good one, WHOA.
Speaking of coconut chutney and sambar...
Dosa: This is a fermented 'crepe' of sorts, made from rice and lentils. It usually comes out paper thing and a bit crispy. There are several variations, but I usually stuck with just a plain dosa, or a masala dosa (which is stuffed with spiced potatoes). One of my go-to dishes, when I was feeling indecisive.
Parotta: A layered flat bread, eaten mostly in South India. In fact, it was impossible to find parottas once I left the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu (and wow, was I sad about THAT). Parottas are a different texture from nan, or roti, or chapatti, which are flatter and dryer... They are much softer, more moist and just delicious to eat. The dough is such that the parottas are a bit stretchy when you try to pull a piece off. Parottas were the perfect complement to any kind of gravy--veg curry, palak paneer (cheese and spinach), aloo gobi (potato and cauliflower curry), tomato fry (spicy tomatoes), dal and more.
Sheera: Unfortunately for me, I discovered this dish quite late in my trip, but I am SO glad that I discovered it at all. Sheera is a breakfast food. It comes out as a molded scoop of yellow... Looking similar to cous cous or saffron rice, but it's not exactly a grain texture. Think Cream of Wheat, or corn meal, I guess. It's sweetened with honey and coconut, flavored with cardamom saffron, and mixed in are cashews, almonds and raisins. After discovering this dish, it was almost a daily thing to hunt down a restaurant serving it.
Uttapam: Uttapam is a thick, savory pancake, with things cooked into it. My personal favorite was onion (perhaps mainly because they use red onion, and in Korea it's so hard to find red onions!). They usually come with some herbs sprinkled on top, and that famous coconut chutney and sambar! A great snack OR meal...
Curd: Fresh, unsweetened, thick, creamy, homemade yogurt. Need I say more? It's everywhere. A great thing on its own OR mixed in with curry on rice.
Indian sweets: They use a lot of milk and A LOT of sugar. That's really all I can say... Do me a favor and scroll down the page on this link to Indian Sweets, and then you might understand why I had NO idea what I was eating when I'd point to something in a glass case for all those times I was craving sugar. I had little doughnut balls, the beautifully designed orange things (PURE sugar), sweet rice pudding, little squares of fudge-like sweets (but in pistachio or cashew flavor), milk cake... And more.
A box of sweets I got in Mysore:
Gadbad, the local speciatly dessert in the Dandeli, Karnataka area:
Chai: One of my favorite things in India, because it was everywhere. Chai is a mixed spice tea made from cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and pepper that is cooked over the stove with water, milk and black tea. When I left for India, I planned to drink chai and nix coffee from my life. I did it (with the exception of a few times just for fun--and, naturally, coffee is very much a part of my life again now that I'm back in Korea). Chai ranged from tiny five rupee (US$0.10) cups to larger 25-30 rupee (US$0.50-0.60) cups in more expensive, touristy areas. Chai was in restaurants and all over the streets. You could often find a chai at a little shack on the side of a country road, that looked more like a person's house, but apparently operated ALSO as a mini chai stop. Some chai was deathly sweet, some was brought out without sugar and you could add your own (it's better with at least some sugar). Some of it was quite bland, some quite milky, and some quite spicy. My perfect cup of chai was heavier on the spices and lighter on the sugar and milk. Sometimes your cup or chai hits the spot and all feels right in the world, and sometimes it's not so much a satisfaction as it is just a running through the daily motions of life in India. One time I even had smoke-flavored chai (though, I'm not sure it was intentional), when my friends and I were in Dandeli on our jeep safari tour and had our drivers stop for chai. It was one of those little side of the road shacks and came to us tasting like smoke. Smoky chai. That was one of those going through the motions chais :)
Anise: At most restaurants, when the waiter brings you your check he brings it with a little bowl of anise seeds. Sometimes it's just the seeds, sometimes they're sugar coated in white or pastels. They're used as a digestive in India, but I just loved having the taste of black licorice in my mouth :)
Lassi: The famous Indian lassi. Who doesn't love one of these? Plain, sweet, banana, mango... They're all delectable.
There's so much more I could say (as always) about the food in India, but I'll just go ahead and leave you with this: sweet papaya, fish curry, pickled mango chutney, spicy chicken curry, cucumber yogurt salad, cumin, cardamom, anise, black pepper corns, samosas and other fried street snacks, cloves, masala (spice) flavored chips, savory banana chips with a hint of coconut flavor, coconut, coconut and more coconut, fresh pineapple, bananas galore (of the larger and smaller, mini variety), purple garlic, new fruits, lentils and chickpeas, chapatti, roti, tandoori, mango shakes...
Chikku (a very sweet fruit):
A random edible plant that was given to me one day by a shop keeper:
A typical dish all over the country (but which varies depending on region) called "thali" and generally consists of rice, curd, chapatti or roti, pappadam (crisy bread), sambar, chutney, dal, curry, pickled mango... And other things:
Well apparently food took up a lot more time and space than I'd expected (silly me, I should have known)... More "India Talk" soon!
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