North Indian cuisine
Due to the extreme climates in the north of India where summers are hot and winters are cold, there is abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. Geographically, this region is greatly influenced by Central Asia, both in culture and food. Because of the rich variety of fruits and vegetables, this region is known for producing a wide range of vegetarian dishes including mutter paneer (a curry made with cottage cheese and peas) and chaat (hot-sweet-sour snack made with potato, chick peas and chutney.
The North of India is also home to tandoori roti and naan bread where bread is favored over rice. The cooking style uses a “tawa,” or griddle, for baking flat breads in a clay tandoor oven. Staple foods include tandoori chicken, various kebabs with goat or lamb, and the popular samosas, which can also be found in other parts of India and throughout the world. Samosa’s are usually boiled or fried and filled with mashed potatoes and peas. Other fillings can include minced meat, cheese, and chick pea. The curries of North Indian are usually thick and moderately spicy. Dairy products are also a common ingredient especially milk, cream, cottage cheese, ghee (clarified butter) and yogurt.
Eastern Indian Cuisine
As opposed to North Indian cuisine, rice is a central ingredient in Eastern Indian cuisine. Geographically, the Eastern coast of Indian has abundant beaches, mountains, and the heaviest rainfall in the world in the city of Cherrapunji. The climate and fertile lands produce an array of green vegetables and fruits as well as rice.
Compared to other regions, the food in Eastern Indian is simple and the ingredients are not elaborate. Fish is very popular along the Eastern coast where it is usually steamed for fried. This region is also known for momos (steamed, meat- or vegetable-filled wontons), thukpa (a clear soup), tomato Achaar (tomato pickle), machcher Jhol (fish curry), and jhaal-Muri (a spicy snack made with puffed rice and mustard oil). Common ingredients include mustard seeds, cumin seeds, nigella, green chilies, cumin paste and the spice mix panch phoron or panch phutana. Mustard paste, curd, nuts, poppy seed paste and cashew paste which is cooked in mustard oil are readily used.
Southern Indian Cuisine
All states in Southern India including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, and Kerala are on the coast, therefore, producing abundant seafood dishes. Due to Southern India’s hot, humid, and rainy climate, fresh fruit, vegetables, and rice are plentiful. This region is also notorious for its fiery food with some of the hottest dishes in the country. Most dishes use a mixture of curry leaves, mustard, pepper and peppercorns, tamarind, chilies, and fenugreek seeds.
All dishes are centered around rice and combined with sambaar (a lentil dish with whole spice and chilies), rasam (a hot-sour soup like lentil dish), dry and curried vegetables, and poppadums (deep-fried crispy lentil pancakes). Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, and Kerala cuisines each have distinct tastes and methods of cooking and food is typically fried in coconut oil.
Western Indian Cuisine
The states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa in Western India have a dry and humid climate producing fewer fresh vegetables and fruits, thus most are served as pickles and chutneys. The cuisine of Western India is considered to be the most diverse with vegetarian and meat dishes such as aal maas (red meat curry) and thaali, a large plate consisting of as many as ten different vegetable dishes, rice, and chapati (Indian bread).
The coastal regions in Goa traditionally cook with more coconut, rice, and fish while Gujarat and Rajasthan tend to use corn, lentils and gram flour, dry red chilies, buttermilk, yoghurt, sugar and nut. Western Indian cuisine is typically prepared in vegetable oils like sunflower, canola, and peanut oil with spices such as dry red chilies, sugar, sesame seeds, coconut, nuts, vinegar, fish, and pork.