Cuisines and Dining Choices

For Indians food is a gift of gods and is treated with respect. Based on pragmatic medical precepts evolved over centuries of experimentation and observation, Indian food is aimed at nourishing the body and is pleasing to the mind and eyes. Ingredients of each meals are based on six rasas or flavors-sweet, salty, bitter, astringent, sour and pungent each ingredient believed to have particular physical benefit on application of the right proportionate use. Indian Cuisine is considered to be one of the three great distinctive cuisine's of the world, the other two being the Chinese and the French. Indian cuisine aims to satisfy needs of the tongue and body, from sweet to sour bitter or hot, from heating to cooling foods, from food for the body to food for the brain. Within these parameters, each region has nurtured its own culinary tastes using different combination of spices. No country in the world has developed such elaborate and tasty range of vegetarian cuisine as India. Characteristic of all Indian cooking is the inspired use of spices. Immense care is taken to ensure that spices enhance rather than dominate the basic flavor and they do not diminish nutritive value.

Indian curry contains pieces of mutton, chicken or fish in a sauce based on the famous onions, tomatoes, yogurt or coconut milk enriched by three or 12 condiments. Some of the more celebrated culinary traditions of India originated in the royal courts of the Mughals, in Oudh and Hydcrabad. All the three cuisines can be sampled at specialty restaurants as well as regional food festivals that deluxe hotels hold periodically. While mutton, chicken and fish are served throughout the country, the frequency with which they make their appearances differs. In Kashmir, mutton is the chief attraction in the 24-course banquet, WAZWAN, each dish being cooked in a different way separate from the other. Of all coastal States in the country Goa, Kerala and Bengal have culinary traditions with a preponderance of fish with Goa and Kerala making profuse use of coconuts. Goan seafood delights include Crab, lobsters, tiger prawns and shellfish, all accompanied by rice and washed down with excellent wine and vermouth of local manufacture. Kerala, as all other southern States, is noted for its variety of crisp PANCAKES - DOSA and STAEMED RICE CAKES - IDLI made from pounded rice.

DAHl (CURD) is part of almost every Indian menu. Served to mitigate the chilly "hotness" of some dishes, it is often mixed with vegetable or fruit and is lightly spiced to create the 'RAITAS' of the north and the 'PACHADIS' of the south. In many parts of the country, THALl meals are the norm. These largest platters contain up to a dozen dishes in individual servings, consisting of meat chicken, vegetables - with gravy or dry, pulses and accompaniments and widely served. Some of India's best, evened culinary traditions are the TANDOORI cooking best known and loved. TANDOOR is the Indian oven, a homely clay lined cylinder filled with sizzling coals, Restaurants that serve Tandoori food often have a section where cooking is done by the simple expedient of wielding a metal stick. As the heat of the oven reaches 600° c. cooking time is counted in minutes and seconds. Tandoori meats use no oil and are normally accompanied by yougart dips. Some of India's best loved dishes are favorite of every family as for SARSON KA SAAG, prepared from green mustard leaves simmered all night long on a coal fire. It is available only in the winter. There are also the interesting dishes of the Persis. 'DHANSAK', meat cooked with five different daIs and an unusual blend of spices and 'PATRAN! MACHI' lightly spiced fish steamed in banana leaves, are just two examples. Chutneys and pickles-sweet, sour or hot, or all three, whip the appetite and add relish to a meal. Every conceivable ingredient can be used: mint, coriander, mango, ginger and lime.

'PAPADS', roasted or fried savory crisps, are also popular meal adjuncts. Made of previously rolled and dried lentil or rice dough they provide the crunchiness considered essential to repast. PAU BHAJI is a passion in Mumbai where roadside stalls have a cauldron of simmering vegetables which are served with a bun. BHELPURI in Mumbai and CHAAT in Delhi are roadside snacks of crunchy morsels tempered with piquant seasonings . To describe INDIAN SWEETS as merely being made of milk, reduced milk or cottage cheese and sugar syrup is an oversimplification of a highly specialized branch of cooking. Sweet traditions in Bengal, Bikaner and Delhi are famed throughout the country. Finally, there is the satisfying ritual of the after-meal PAN (BETEL), a must for any true connoisseur of Indian food. Lauded for its digestive and medicinal properties, it is a fragrant combination of betal leaf, aerca nut, catechu, cardamom, clove and a choice of a whole host of other exotic ingredients of varying flavors, effects and strengths. Non-alcoholic beverages include the countrywide favorite in NIMBU PANI a squeeze lime over sugar or salt served in water or soda. Yougart and water are vigorously churned to make BUTTER Milk, a delicious accompaniment to Indian meals. Bottled fizzy drinks includes various brands of indigenous lime, orange and cola. Other FRUIT-BASED DRINKS-apple, guava, mango, tomato are available in tetra pack and tins.

SODA and MINERAL WATER are also widely available. India's alcoholic beverages include gin and rum which are comparable to the finest internationally as well as whiskey. India's dozens of brands of BEER encompass very good pilsners and lagers available in bottles. Liquor is available at most restaurants especially those in hotels. It is either imported or made in India. In addition there are local variations like ASHA and KASTOORI,the saffron liquor of Rajasthan and FENI, the strong brew of Goa usually available in the concerned States. Although the local food of the region is available at many restaurants, the cuisine of Punjab has become standard Indian fare in most of the middle and high priced restaurants throughout the country. Similarly Udipi restaurants serve vegetarian South Indian cuisine all over India at low prices. Every major hotel offers, a choice between INDIAN, CONTINENTAL, CHIENESE, ITALAIN and FRENCH delights in the special restaurants. Western style confectionery-chocolates, cakes, cookies and marzipan are available in the pastry shop confectioneries in all metro cities.TEA: The cup that cheers is a must for millions all over the world every morning and Assam is a leader in production of tea.Indian Tea! Flavor of Darjeeling and Assam tea has reached across oceans all continentals. A cup of tea that cheers and cares. Tea is an ideal beverage that files into the healthy way of life-tempers the perils, calms the mind, prevents drowsing, enlightens and refreshes the body and clears perceptive faculties. Tea is taken in various forms as a health giving drink with and without milk and sugar. Easily available everywhere in India-on footpaths, from small restaurants to restaurants in five star hotels, bus depots, at taxi stands, Railway stations, airports and at the place you name it.

ANY TIME IS TEA TIME IN INDIA.