Indian food is clearly renowned globally because of its awesomeness in terms of taste and in terms of variety of cuisines. The fact that you can find Indian food in just about any of the restaurants around the world show that its flavor and aroma can hardly be compared with any other kind of food.

Indian cuisines are easily separated into as many as four different categories and each of these are categorized based on the four geographical regions of India and each of the four different categories has its own distinctive characteristics. The four Indian cuisines are South, North, West and East Indian cuisines. In this article we will take a brief gander on each of these cuisines.

Let’s begin with north Indian cuisines. Everyone knows North India to have climate that is intense and plentiful supply of vegetables and even fruits. The food and culture in North India has been partially influenced by Central Asia. Dried food and even nuts are in use a lot and what’s good here is that there is constantly that generous sprinkle of yoghurt, cream as well as ghee inherent in the sumptuous North Indian dishes. This part of India is blessed with vegetables and as a result there are lots of vegetarian dishes in this region. Unlike the other Indian regions, the North doesn’t consume rice as much. Bread, naans, rothis, parathas and kulchas are more prevalent. The spices that are most commonly used here include red chillies, coriander, turmeric and even garam masala. If you are looking for some popular cuisines in North India, they include Tandoori Chicken, Punjabi Chole , Dal Makhani as well as Lassi Patial.

South India is the region which has a hot and even humid weather and with lots of the regions being coastal, there’s an abundance of rainfall during monsoons. This coupled with a fertile soil helps in producing abundant fruits and vegetables. Rice is the staple food in this region with bread and rothis being supplementary. Two of the very common soups that can be found in just about any meal mixed in rice in the Southern part of India include Sambhar and Rasam. Highly hot and spicy are the foods in some of the Southern regions of India such as Andhra Pradesh. Chillies, curry leaves, mustard and tamarind are the preferred spices. Some examples of the common south Indian snacks include dosa, vada, idli and payasam. Dosa is the Indian version of a thin pancake and is made from rice and black lentils. It is rich in carbohydrates and proteins and is generally eaten for breakfast. The thicker version of the Indian pancake is Idli and it’s made out of a batter of rice as well as black lentils that are fermented. Idli as well as dosa are prepared with soups such as chutney and even sambhar.

The East Indian Cuisines are somewhat influenced by the Chinese and Mongolians. East India is known for its sweet dishes and the number of dessert recipes in this region is huge. Many of the people in this region seem to prefer steaming and frying their food and the staple food here is rice. Yoghurt and even Milk are made use of in great quantity while the spices which are utilized similar to the ones used in South India. The popular vegetarian dishes that are in this region of India are Thukpa, Momos as well as Sandesh.

The Western part of India has dry as well as hot weather and the diversity of the vegetables is inadequate; but that doesn’t seem to affect the lavishness and surplus of its cuisines. The dishes of Gujurat are known for their lip-smacking and delectable nature while those of Rajasthani are known for their spicy nature. Staple food in this region depends on the cuisines and both rice and bread/rothis are consumed equally well.

This is just a simple discussion of Indian Food and we have barely touched the surface. For further information on Indian recipes and in particular the south Indian recipes please visit South Indian Recipes. The web page contains South Indian Food recipes and videos.

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