Indian cuisine

Indian cuisine is not a single ethnic cuisine but rather the collective national culinary identity of the country, encompassing the diverse regional and ethnic cooking traditions native to the Indian subcontinent. Its development has been profoundly shaped by religion, cultural choices, and traditions over an extensive history. Agriculture first reached the Indus Valley Civilisation around 7000 BCE, introducing cereal cultivation, and by 3000 BCE, spices like turmeric and cardamom were already being grown in India. The cuisine relies on simple equipment, such as a burner, and labour-intensive methods, including hand-grinding flavourings.

Unique cooking techniques include frying a paste of onion, garlic, and ginger in oil, then browning meat or vegetables in that oil before adding liquid stepwise, as well as frying spices in ghee or oil and adding them to cooked dishes. Many dishes are tied to religious festivals, and faiths impose dietary restrictions: Hindus often avoid beef, Muslims avoid pork, and Jains follow strict lacto-vegetarianism. Staple ingredients include pearl millet, rice, whole-wheat flour, and a variety of lentils used whole, dehusked, or split. Cooking oils vary by region, with peanut oil common in the north and west, mustard oil in the east, and coconut oil in the south.

Key spices and flavourings include chilli pepper, black mustard seed, cardamom, cumin, turmeric, asafoetida, ginger, coriander, and garlic, while leaves such as bay, coriander, fenugreek, and mint are used for flavouring. Curry leaves are typical of Gujarati and South Indian cooking. The cuisine reflects an 8,000-year history of cultural interactions, from early trade with Mesopotamia to influences from Arabia, Central Asia, and the Mughal dynasty, which combined Persian and Hindu cooking into dishes like biryani and kebabs. Later, Portuguese and British rule introduced techniques like baking and New World vegetables such as tomato, potato, chilli, and peanut.