Indian cuisine

Indian cuisine is the national culinary identity of India, made up of many regional and ethnic cooking traditions from across the subcontinent. It is not a single ethnic cuisine. Religion, cultural choices, and traditions have all shaped what people eat. Hindus often avoid beef, Muslims do not eat pork, and Jains follow a strict lacto-vegetarian diet. Many dishes are tied to religious festivals.

The history of Indian cuisine spans about 8,000 years, shaped by interactions among different groups and cultures. Agriculture reached the Indus Valley Civilization around 7000 BCE, bringing cereal farming. By 3000 BCE, spices like turmeric and cardamom were being grown in India. Early trade links are evident: around 2350 BCE, goods from the Indus Valley reached Mesopotamia, and cloves from the Moluccas have been found in Terqa. The Mahabharata mentions rice and vegetables cooked together, and the word “pulao” appears in texts like the Yājñavalkya Smṛti. Indian cuisine also influenced Filipino cooking.

Later arrivals from Arabia and Central Asia, along with centuries of trade, brought new influences—for example, the tandoor spread from northwestern India to the Middle East. The Mughal dynasty had a major impact, blending Persian and Hindu cooking into dishes like pilau, biryani, and kebabs. The Portuguese and British introduced baking and New World foods such as tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, squash, and chili peppers. The British brought cauliflower in 1822. Around the late 18th century, a Scotsman named Robert Lindsay noted a Sylheti man cooking a curry for his family.

Staple foods include pearl millet, rice, whole-wheat flour, and lentils like masoor, tuer, urad, and moong. Lentils are used whole, dehusked, or split. Cooking oils vary by region: peanut oil in the north and west, mustard oil in the east, coconut oil in the south, and sesame oil in the south for its nutty aroma. In the 21st century, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, and soybean oils have become common, along with hydrogenated vegetable oil known as vanaspati ghee.

Key spices and flavorings include chili pepper (introduced by the Portuguese from Mexico in the 16th century), black mustard seed, cardamom, cumin, turmeric, asafoetida, ginger, coriander, and garlic. Panch phoron is popular in eastern India; goda masala, a sweet spice mix, is used in Maharashtra. Common leaves for flavoring include bay leaves, coriander leaves, fenugreek leaves, and mint leaves. Curry leaves and roots are typical in Gujarati and South Indian cooking.

Cooking equipment is simple—often just a burner (gas, charcoal, or dried cowpats)—but the work is labor-intensive. Pressure cookers speed things up. Two techniques are unique to the region. One involves frying a paste of onion, garlic, ginger, and oil until soft, then browning meat or vegetables in that oil, and adding liquid stepwise while stirring—a method that blends sautéing, stir-frying, and stewing. The other technique, called bagar, chhauk, or takar, involves frying spices in ghee or oil and adding them to a cooked dish of dal or curry. Pickles, made by soaking meat, vegetables, or fruit in vinegar or concentrated salt water, often accompany meals. Herbs, spices, and garlic are frequently crushed with a stone rolling pin or a pestle and mortar.

Cuisine varies greatly across India’s regions and states. As cook Madhur Jaffrey notes, India is larger than Europe (excluding Russia), and its states have cuisines as diverse as those of European countries, shaped by the climates that determine what foods can be grown.