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The Colorful Indian Delicacies

by: Sugar&Spice

Most of you would agree with me if I say that Cooking is an Art, and Indian cooking is something like a canvas painted by an artist in bright and aromatic colors of spices. Indian cuisines are very colorful and tastes delicious. The look of the dish is superb. The moment you look at them you feel hungry. These dishes make you drool and go crazy. India is a land of "Unity in Diversity", so is the case with food. Here you'll find various regional delicacies which are all on the "Must have menu" if you are in India. If you miss any of these then you missed a lot.

Here we have listed some of the famous Indian Cuisines:

Tandoori Chicken
The most famous non-veg starter in India. Tandoori chicken is something that all non-vegetarians crave for. The rich red color is truly mouth watering. Tandoori Chicken is served with onion and tomato salad and green chutney. The overall look of the dish is amazing

Mughlai Chicken Curry
Mughlai cuisine is rich in terms of the ingredients used in cooking. Most of the mughlai cuisine is prepared in desi ghee and not in refined oil. The use of various types of dry fruits makes it rich which represents the Royalty of the Mughals.

Image credit: http://z.hubpages.com/u/926221_f496.jpg

Maharashtrian Chicken Curry
The Maharashtrian Chicken curry is delicious to look at. Maharashtrian chicken curry is not thick gravy like other chicken curries. The gravy is prepared by using lots of refined oil and onion paste. Then goes various kinds of spices that gives a delicious red color to the gravy.

Image credit: http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/6079/tambdarassa2ws1.jpg

Paneer Tikka
Paneer tikka is the famous vegetarian starter in India. The dish looks very colorful where Paneer is mostly orange or yellow in color, green capsicum, red tomatoes and pinkish onion. Served with onion salad and Green chutney.

Image credit: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/139/347734051_96098ae646.jpg

Chicken Tikka
The marinated chicken is either orange or yellow in color with black patches (because of the grill), sprinkled Chat masala gives it a little brown tinch, green salad and chutney completes the look of the dish.

Image credit: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2382/images/2382_MEDIUM.jpg

Palak Paneer
Palak Paneer is basically a North Indian dish. The dark green color of Spinach and the pale yellow color of the paneer compliments each other. At some places you'll find shallow fried paneer cubes in the gravy and sometimes the raw paneer. The taste is same though. Palak paneer is maily served with Tandoori roti or butter naan.

Image credit: http://howyoudoin.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/palak-paneer.jpg

Mattar Paneer
Another favorite vegetarian delicacy in India. The dish is very colorful, the bright green peas, pale yellow paneer cubes, red gravy and to compliment all this is the coriander leaves sprinkled on top. To make it more colorful some shredded coconut can be used in garnishing.

Image credit: http://www.currynroti.com/images/Mattar.jpg

Butter Chicken
Another North Indian delicacy which is famous not only in India but across the world. The name itself says it all, "Butter Chicken". The gravy is very smooth in looking and while eating as well. A little sweet and not at all spicy. If you have heard that all Indian gravies are very spicy and that is the reason you afraid to taste Indian cuisine, then start with butter chicken. The orange colored gravy gives it a very rich look and sometimes it can be garnished with some creme over it.

Image credit: http://miniimpex.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/Butter_Chicken.14165645_std.jpg

Aloo Paratha
The stuffed aloo paratha is my favorite breakfast. Well, it can be any meal in a day, I can have it in breakfast, Lunch and Dinner as well. The stuffing is prepared with boiled potatoes, green chillies, coriander leaves, and some spices. It is served with white butter or curd or raita and green chutney.

Image credit: http://fivefingerfeast.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/aloo-paratha.jpg

Rajma Rajma is red kidney beans. Mostly famous in northern India. It can be called the staple food of North Indians. Rajma is a little maroon in color or we can say dark red color. Garnished with green coriander leaves and served with rice.

Image credit: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/188/422341694_4bb5388661.jpg

Kadhi Pakode Wali
Kadhi is again a famous north Indian cuisine. It is prepared using curd and besan (gram floor). The pakode (cutlets) can be of any type. The garnishing is done by heating up some ghee and then put in kashmiri mirch powder (Kashmir chili powder) which gives a rich red color and is not spicy. Then put in some cumin seeds and then pour it over the kadhi and put some coriander leaves. The dish has bright yellow, red and green colors.

Image credit: http://bp2.blogger.com/_rQigxuDQG9k/RvxXu_LF-ZI/AAAAAAAADCE/Lc_VUYP0uwM/s400/kadi+n+paratha+010.JPG

Chhole Bhature
Chhole Bhature in the popular Indian fast food. "Chhole" is chickpea stew and "bhature" is fried flatbread. Served with onion, curd and achar (pickle).

Image credit: http://www.highlyirrelevant.com/images/ish2.jpg

Pav Bhaji
Pav bhaji is a Maharashtrian fast food. The "Pav" refers to bread and "Bhaji" refers to the vegetable paste which is prepared by mixing various kinds of vegetables. The use of various vegetables makes it very colorful. Served with Onion, lemon and garnished with coriander leaves.

Image credit: http://www.planyourdinner.com/recipe-photo/15.jpg

Fish Curry
The recipe differs from place to place. In Bengal you'll find a different recipe and in konkan region you'll find a different one. In Konkan region the main ingredients used in gravy is the coconut and coconut milk, whereas in Bengal it's onion. In some parts of Maharashtra the peanuts are used in gravy.

Image credit: http://www.rahimscuisine.com/Fish%20Curry.jpg

Coconut Badam Fish Curry
This dish hales from Konkan region of Maharastra. For gravy they use coconut, coconut milk and almond paste, which gives a creamy look to the dish.

Image credit: http://blog.wacky5.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/coconut-badam-fish-curry.jpg

Biryani
Biryani is a very popular recipe. It's a one dish meal as it has both Meat and Rice in one dish. The secret to a good biryani is in the quality and flavour of the basmati rice. Biryani is surely a popular food dish in India as there are 26 different types of 'Biryanis' in India. Many have been fascinated by its taste and the sheer brilliance of its preparation. All Biryanis look fabulous and taste delicious.

Image credit: http://www.akbarpalace.com/goat%20biryani.jpg

Gulab Jamun
Gulab Jamun is popular Indian sweet. It is made of khoya, dough, often including double cream and a little flour in a sugar syrup flavored with cardamom, rosewater or saffron. First The dough is prepared and then small balls are deep fried in either refined oil or desi ghee. Then these balls are put in hot sugar syrup. the small balls enlarge to lemon size. The rich shiny golden brown color is amazing. Can be served hot or cold (hot is preferable).

Image credit: http://satts.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/gulab-jamun.jpg

Ras Malai
This is milk based sweet famous across the country. Probably my favorite dessert, Ras Malai is dumplings made from Paneer soaked in sweetened, thickened milk delicately flavored with cardamom and garnished with Pistachio or other dry fruits can also be used.

Image credit: http://www.pakistangift.com/uuu3.jpg

Rasgulla
Rasgulla is a traditional Bengali sweet. It is mainly prepared by kneading paneer and a small amount of semolina. These are rolled into small balls, and then boiled in light syrup made of sugar. This is done until the sugar enters the balls.

Image credit: http://obhai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/bengali_rasgulla_rasgolla_rosogolla_recipe.jpg

Veg Pulao
Veg pulao is an all time favorite dish. Whenever we feel lazy to go in kitchen, veg pulao is the best option. The main ingredients used are rice, some spices and all available vegetables (if you wish) like, potato, capsicum, green peas, cauliflower, beans, spring onion etc. The dish looks yummy and complete. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Image credit: http://www.siliconeer.com/past_issues/2009/april-2009/PAGE-RECIPE-VEG-PULAO-1223.jpg