Ride to Indian Cuisines

If you think you know Indian food, think again. Most people's forays into Indian cuisine include the usual suspects like curry, naan, samosas, or tandoori chicken, but chances are, anything else is still a mystery. Once you venture outside your comfort zone, you'll discover Indian cuisine is elegant, extraordinarily varied, packed with enticing aromas and flavors, and offers something for every palate. Here's a guide that includes tips on important staples, regional specialties, and what foods to avoid.

Rice is THE essential Indian food staple

In India, 74 varieties of rice are cultivated and feed half of the population. Rice is in everything from soups to desserts to biryanis (the north's version of fried rice, with meat, nuts, dried fruit, and vegetables). Long ago, Ayurveda healers proved rice combined with legumes and pulses can be a nutritious, satisfying meal, so many dishes include chickpeas, dal (lentils), peas, beans, and other vegetables with rice. In restaurants, look for basmati, jasmine, brown, red, and black rice in dishes like northern dal makhani, garam masala, and southern chana masala.

Spice blends are the heart of Indian cuisine

Indian cooks' handmade masala (spice) blends are like fingerprints, and no two blends are alike. Each blend varies according to region, old family recipes, and the type of dish, and can include bay leaves, ginger, tamarind, dried fenugreek, dried mango powder, cardamom, and tons more. From region to region, a cook's masala dabba may vary to include northern garam and tandoori masala, southern madras masala, and western vindaloo spice mix.

Sambars, curries, and rasams are India's chicken soup

Curries (essentially thick stew or gravies) are popular, but Indians eat a variety of other soups and stews. In the south, sambars (flavorful, broth-based pea and lentil soups seasoned with tamarind) are the ultimate anytime comfort food, while rasams are thick, hearty soups made with tomatoes, tamarind, and lentils.

India is THE place for fabulous bread

If you love bread, then India is for you! There, it comes plain, stuffed with meat or vegetables, and topped with garlic, herbs, or spices. In restaurants, northern breads are common and include leavened wheat flour-based flatbreads baked in a clay tandoor oven, unleavened, layered flatbread fried in ghee (clarified butter) or oil, or crepe-like breads made with batter and cooked on a tawa griddle.

Southern breads, meanwhile, are mostly unleavened. They're turned into batter with rice flour, cooked like crepes on a tawa, or deep-fried like irresistible pappadam (paper-thin crunchy rice disks flecked with black pepper). Dosas are another southern favorite cooked on a tawa, and combined with rice and lentil flour to be stuffed with curry or vegetables. But the choice for breakfast is always idli, a lentil and rice disk steamed in an egg poacher that's topped with chutney.

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