Unlike the other cuisines of the world Indian cuisine has a large variety of vegetarian food.Indians grow more number of variety of vegetables and spices than any other place in the world and of course number of varieties of dishes with these versatile spices . There are many religions which follow strict vegetarianism(don't eat egg, fish, meat, chicken,seafood).There are also communities which do not eat any food that came from animals( milk and milk products)and also avoid the root vegetables(onions, potatoes,garlic, ginger,beets, carrots etc). Each region and religion is known for its different varieties of foods. The North Indian food has Roti/chapathi and dishes made with flour(atta) forms their staple food.Where as the south Indians take more of rice.
The North Indian food is lavish, flavourful, colourful. They use lot of ghee, curd, buttermilk. They use more of dals/lentils than any of other region in India.The Kashmiri cuisine has much of lighter spices and has sweeter side to every dish. The dishes use lot of dry fruits and fresh fruits.The costliest spice in the world saffron is grown widely in Kashmir and is used in most of their dishes.
Eastern region is known for its versatile variety of sweets. Bengali sweets, mostly made of milk, are famous all over the world.The East Indian lunch/dinner doesn't end without a dessert.
The western states Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Goa has their own cultures and their own cuisines.The Gujarati's are mostly vegetarian.They have all the tastes, sweet, salt, spicy all in a single dish.They make a variety of pickles. Rajasthan is famous for tough Raj puts and tough foods. As it is a desert area they prefer less cooking and make foods that lasts for a longer time. They use more of pure ghee in almost every dish, even the curries. The dessert is usually taken along with main course. The dal-baati and churma, missi roti, pakore ki kadi, rajasthani kadhi are some of the best Rajasthani/Marwari cuisines.
The South Indian food is famous for its use of rich spices and spicy dishes. All the four South Indian states-Karnataka,Tamilnadu,Andhrapradesh,Kerala- have rice as their staple food and use lentils, spices in large amounts in everyday cooking. Andhra Pradesh is known for its royal Nawabi cuisine. The spiciest cuisine of India is the Andhra cuisine. The spicy Hyderabadi biryani , Sheer kurma (sweet dish made with dates and dryfruits), Eggplant preparation Bagara baingan are surely the delicacies of Hyderabadi cuisine. Sesame oil or the Groundnut oil is used in most of the preparations. Pesarattu-upma, vada-sambar, onion fritters, mirch bajjis, and a wide variety of sweets-Bobbatlu, Arisalu, Poornam boorelu, Kakinada kajalu, Bandar ladoo, Sunnundalu- are the example dishes from Andhra pradesh.
The Tamilnadu cuisine is the spicy, oily and most aromatic cuisine. The chettinad cusine is famous all over the world. A large variety of pickles, powders, spice powders, papads stand a brand of Madras. The breakfast items like idly-sambar, Venpongal, Utappam have their origin in Tamilnadu. One more famous items of Tamilnadu is the Madras Filter Coffee. The smell of the hot frothy filter coffee served in a stainless steel tumbler wakes u up and even the Starbucks coffee cannot beat this. Bisibele bath, saagu, vangi bath, uppittu, gojju, akki roti are some of the typical dishes of Karnataka. The most famous masala dosa had its origin in udipi. Mysore pak and Dharwad peda are the well known desserts from Karnataka. Finally the Kerala cuisine is famous for spices and coconuts . Known to be the land of spices Kerala grows cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, kokum, nutmeg,vanilla etc. Large amount of coconut oil and coconut milk are used in every day cooking. Injipuli, olan, avial, kaalan etc are the vegetarian dishes from Kerala. My personal favourite is the famous Malabar paratha.
