Indian food

Indian cuisine encompasses a rich and diverse culinary heritage that extends beyond the borders of India, influencing the gastronomy of neighboring countries and far-flung regions with significant Indian diaspora. This encyclopedia article explores the multifaceted world of Indian food, examining its historical roots, regional diversity, popular dishes, cooking techniques, and cultural significance.

History and Evolution

A page from the Rigveda, one of the oldest Indian texts, mentions food offerings to gods.

Indian cuisine has a history dating back thousands of years. The earliest Indian culinary practices are rooted in religious rituals and traditions. The ancient Indian text, the Rigveda, contains references to food offerings to gods, highlighting the spiritual significance of food in Indian culture.

Over millennia, Indian cuisine evolved through interactions with various cultures, including the Indus Valley Civilization, Persian, Greek, Roman, Arab, and Mongol influences. Trade routes like the Silk Road played a pivotal role in introducing new ingredients, spices, and cooking techniques to the Indian subcontinent.

Regional Diversity

Indian cuisine is exceptionally diverse, characterized by regional variations in ingredients, flavors, and cooking styles. The Indian subcontinent can be divided into several culinary regions, each with its distinctive traditions:

North Indian Cuisine

A North Indian thali with various dishes.

• • Punjab: Known for robust flavors, Punjabi cuisine features dishes like butter chicken, sarson da saag, and naan.
  • Uttar Pradesh: Famous for kebabs, biryanis, and vegetarian dishes like paneer tikka.
  • Rajasthan: Offers a range of spicy and vegetarian dishes such as dal baati churma and gatte ki sabzi.

South Indian Cuisine

A South Indian platter with rice, curries, and chutneys.

• • Tamil Nadu: Renowned for dosa, idli, and chettinad cuisine, featuring spicy gravies.
  • Kerala: Known for its extensive use of coconut, offering dishes like appam, avial, and sadya during festivals.
  • Andhra Pradesh: Features fiery Andhra cuisine with dishes like biryani, gongura pappu, and chicken curry.

East Indian Cuisine

Tandoori_chicken-MB41

Mutton_rogan_Josh_(kashmiri_cuisine)

• • Bengal: Famous for its sweet and savory confections like rosogolla, sandesh, and spicy fish curries.
  • Assam: Known for dishes like assam laksa, bamboo shoot curry, and a wide range of teas.
  • Odisha: Offers unique dishes such as dalma, rasabali, and chhena poda.

West Indian Cuisine

A traditional Gujarati thali.

• • Gujarat: Known for a predominantly vegetarian cuisine with dishes like dhokla, thepla, and kadhi.
  • Maharashtra: Features a mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, including vada pav, puran poli, and misal pav.

Northeast Indian Cuisine

A traditional Naga thali.

• • Nagaland: Offers a unique culinary experience with smoked meats, fermented bamboo shoots, and fiery chutneys.
  • Meghalaya: Known for dishes like jadoh, tungrymbai, and various pork preparations.
  • Arunachal Pradesh: Features tribal cuisines with a focus on local ingredients like bamboo, ferns, and fish.

Indian Diaspora

A popular Indian-inspired dish, Chicken Tikka Masala.

Indian cuisine's global reach is evident through its influence on international culinary scenes. In countries with significant Indian diaspora populations, like the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, the Middle East, South Africa, and Trinidad and Tobago, Indian restaurants and flavors have become an integral part of the local food culture. Dishes like chicken tikka masala and biryani have gained international recognition.

Key Ingredients

Indian cuisine relies on a vast array of ingredients, with spices playing a central role. Commonly used spices include cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and fenugreek. Herbs like curry leaves, cilantro, and mint add freshness to dishes.

Staples like rice and various types of bread (e.g., naan, roti, and paratha) serve as the base for many Indian meals. Lentils (such as dal) are a significant source of protein for vegetarians.

Naan Flatbread inside Tandoor

Cooking Techniques

Indian cooking techniques are as diverse as its ingredients. Some of the most notable methods include:

• • Tandoori Cooking: Utilizing a tandoor oven to bake naan, tandoori chicken, and other meats.
  • Curry Making: Creating rich and flavorful curry dishes by simmering ingredients in a sauce made from spices, yogurt, or coconut milk.
  • Tempering: Infusing hot oil with spices like mustard seeds, cumin, and fenugreek and adding it to dishes for flavor.
  • Frying: Preparing crispy snacks like samosa and pakora by deep-frying.
  • Steaming: Making dishes like idli and dhokla using steam as the primary cooking method.
  • Grilling: Cooking kebabs and tikkas on open flames or grills.

Cultural Significance

Food holds immense cultural importance in India. It is integral to religious ceremonies, festivals, and family gatherings. Meals are often shared with loved ones, emphasizing communal dining and hospitality.

Indian festivals like Diwali, Eid, Holi, and Durga Puja are celebrated with a variety of special dishes and sweets. These celebrations highlight the culinary diversity and cultural richness of the country.

List of Indian foods with their net carbs

If you want to get a list of all the Keto friendly Indian foods, just click on the column header for net carbs below.

common Indian foods sorted for keto friendliness

This is a list of the commonly used Indian foods sorted by food group.

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Keto Indian foods - fruits

List of keto friendly Indian fruits, sort the columns by clicking the net carbs header.

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common Indian foods

• Achar - Pickle.
• Adrak - Ginger.
• Ajwain - Lovage, also called ajowain.
• Aloo - Potato, also alled alu.
• Alu chole - a vegetarian dish using chickpeas, potatoes and tamarind.
• Alur dum - a dish using whole potatoes.
• Aam - mango.
• Amchur - mango powder. A very sour flavoring agent.
• Aniseed - sanuf.
• Areca - betel nut.
• Asafoetida - hing. Gum obtained from root of giant fennel-like plant. Used in powder or resin form. A rather pungent spice.
• Aserio - aniseed.
• Atta - chupatti flour. Fine wholemeal flour used in most indian breads. English wholemeal is a suitable alternative.
• Badai - aniseed stars.
• Badam - almond.
• Bargar - the process of frying whole spices in hot oil.
• Basmati - the best type of long grain rice.
• Bay leaf - tej patia. This very well known leaf is used fresh or dried in certain indian recipes.
• Besan - chickpea flour.
• Bhajee - dryish mild vegetable curry.
• Bhajia - deep fried fritter, usually onion. See pakora.
• Bhare - stuffed.
• Bharta - mash or puree.
• Bhoona - the process of cooking the spice paste in hot oil. A bhoona curry is usually dry and cooked in coconut.
• Bhunana - roast.
• Biriani - a traditional dish. Rice baked with meat or vegetable filling.
• Black salt - kala namak.
• Bombay duck - a smallish fish native to the bombay area known locally as bommaloe macchi. This was too hard for the british to pronounce so it became bombay duck. It is dried and appears on the table as a crispy deep fried starter or accompaniment to a curry.
• Bombay potato - small whole potatoes in curry and tomato sauce.
• Boti kebab - marinated cubes of lamb cooked in a tandoor oven.
• Brinja - aubergine.
• Burfi - an indian fudge-like sweetmeat made from reduced condensed milk in various flavours eg plain or pistachio.  
• Cardamom - elaichi. Various types, notably green, white, and brown. One of the most aromatic and expensive spices.
• Cashew nuts - kaju
• Cassia bark - a corky bark with a sweet fragrance similar to cinnamon and is used extensively in northern indian cookery. Although cooked in the curry the bark is too coarse to eat.
• Cayenne pepper - a type of chilli powder.
• Ceylon curry - usually cooked with coconut, lemon and chilli.
• Chaamp - chop.
• Chakla belan - special rolling pin and board.
• Chamcha - ladle.
• Chana - type of lentil.
• Chawal - rice.
• Chhalni - sieve.
• Chicken curry - - a curry made with chicken, with Indian spices, chiles, etc popular in India and the Indian subcontinent.
• Chilgoze - small long creamy nuts with brown shells used in cooking or eaten raw.
• Chimta - tongs.
• Chirongi or charauli - small rounded nuts resembling egyptian lentils. Used in puddings or pullaos.
• Chor maga - melon seeds. Used as a thickener.
• Chupatti - a dry 6 inch disc of unleavened bread. Normally griddle cooked ,it should be served piping hot. Spelling varies eg chuppati, chapati etc.
• Chutneys - the common ones are onion, mango and tandoori. There are dozens of others which rarely appear on the standard menu.
• Cinnamon - dalchini. The quill-like dried bark of the cinnamon tree. It is one of the most aromatic spices. Same family as cassia, it is generally used in dishes which require a delicate flavour.
• Cloves - lavang.
• Coriander - dhania. One of the most important spices in indian cookery. The leaves of the plant can be used fresh and the seeds used whole or ground.
• Cummin - jeera. There are two types of seeds: white and black. The white seeds are a very important spice in indian cookery. The black seeds (kala jeera) are seldom used. Both can be used whole or ground.
• Curry leaves - .Also known as kadipatha in hindi, small leaves a bit like bay leaves, used for flavouring.
• Dahi wala - a meat dish cooked in a savoury yoghurt sauce.
• Dahi - yoghurt.
• Dalchini or darchim - cinnamon.
• Degchi - brass or metal saucepan without handles also called pateeli or batloi.
• Dewa - lentils. There are over sixty types of lentil in the sub-continent. The most common restaurant types are masoor, channa and urid.
• Dhania - coriander.
• Dhansak - traditional chicken or meat dish cooked in lentil and vegetable puree.
• Dhungar - applying the smoke of charcoal to ingredients.
• Do piaza - traditional meat dish. Do means two and piaza means onion. It gets its name because onions appear twice in the cooking process.
• Doroo - celery.
• Dosa - a south indian pancake made from rice and lentil flour. Usually served with a filling.
• Dum - steam cooking. Long before the west invented the pressure cooker india had her own method which lasts to this day. A pot with a close fitting lid is sealed with a ring of dough. The ingredients are then cooked in their own steam under some pressure.
• Egg curry - - a curry made with Eggs, and other Indian spices.
• Ekuri - spiced scrambled eggs.
• Elaichi - cardamom.
• Fennel - soonf.
• Fenugreek - methi. This important spice is used as seeds and in fresh or dried leaf form. It is very savoury and is used in many northern indian dishes.
• Foogat - lightly cooked vegetable dish.
• Gajar - carrot.
• Garam masala - literally ‘hot mixture’. This refers to a blend of spices much loved in northern indian cookery.
• Garlic - lasan.
• Ghee - clarified butter or margarine much used in northern indian cookery.
• Ginger - adrak (fresh) sont (dried); a rhizome which can be used fresh, dried or powdered.
• Gobi - cauliflower.
• Goor - jaggery (palm sugar) or molasses.Ginger.
• Gosht - lamb.
• Gram flour - chickpea flour (besan).
• Gulab jaman - an indian dessert. Small 1-inch diameter balls of flour and milk powder deep-fried to golden and served cold in syrup. Cake-like texture.
• Gurda - kidney. Gurda kebab is marinated kidney skewered and cooked in the tandoor.
• Halva - sweets made from syrup and vegetables or fruit. Serve cold in small squares. It is translucent and comes in bright colours depending on ingredient used; e.G. Orange (carrot), green (pistachio), red (mango), etc. Has texture thicker than turkish delight. Sometimes garnished with edible silver foil.
• Halwa - is an Indian sweet made with Suji, Sugar, Kaju (Cashew nut, cooked with Ghee and other Spices used as a Dessert.
• Handi - earthenware cooking pot.
• Hasina kebab - pieces of chicken breast, lamb or beef marinated in spices and then skewered and barbecued with onion, capsicum and tomato. Of turkish origin.
• Hing - asofoetida.
• Hisa - bill (account)
• Huldi - turmeric.
• Idli - rice and lentil flour cake served with light curry sauce. South indian.
• Imli - tamarind.
• Isgubul - vegetable seed.
• Jaifal - nutmeg.
• Jal frezi - sautee or stir fry
• Jalebi - an indian dessert. A flour, milk powder and yoghurt batter pushed through a narrow funnel into deep frying oil to produce golden curly crispy rings. Served cold or hot in syrup.
• Javatri - mace.
• Jeera - cummin, also called zeera.
• Jhanna - flat slotted spoon.
• Jinga - prawns.
• Kabli chana - chickpeas.
• Kaddu kas - grater.
• Kadhi - yoghurt soup.
• Kaju - cashew nut.
• Kala jeera - black cumin seeds.
• Kala namak - black salt.
• Kala - black.
• Kaleji - liver.
• Kalongi - nigella, similar to wild onion seeds.
• Karahi - karai, korai etc. Cast iron, wok-like, frying pan.
• Karchhi - metal flat spoon used for turning frying ingredients.
• Karela - small, dark green, knobbly vegetable of the gourd family.
• Kashmir chicken - whole chicken stuffed with minced meat.
• Kashmir curry - restaurateurs creation. A sweetish curry often using lychees or similar ingredient.
• Kathal - jack fruit.
• Katori - small serving bowls which go on a thaali (tray).
• Kebab - skewered food cooked over charcoal. A process over 4000 years old which probably originated in the middle east. It was imported to india by the moslems centuries ago.
• Keema - minced meat curry.
• Kewra - screwpine water. An extract of the flower of the tropical screwpine tree. It is a fragrant clear liquid used to flavour sweets. It is a cheap substitute for rosewater.
• Khalla musaria - grinding stone or pounder.
• Khir - technique of making a sort of cream. Milk is cooked with cucumber and pureed.
• Khurzi - lamb or chicken, whole with spicy stuffing.
• Kish mish - sultanas.
• Kofta - minced meat or vegetable balls in batter, deep-fried, and then cooked in curry sauce.
• Kokum - a variety of plum, pitted and dried. Prune-like and very sour. Also known in malayan as mangosteen.
• Korma - to most restaurants this just means a mild curry. Traditionally it is very rich. Meat, chicken or vegetables are cooked in cream, yoghurt and nuts, and are fragrantly spiced with saffron and aromatic spices.
• Koya - reducing milk to a thick sticky solid. Used for sweet making.
• Kulcha, stuffed - stuffed with mildly spiced mashed potato and baked in the tandoor.
• Kulcha - small leavened bread.
• Kulfi - indian ice cream. Traditionally it comes in vanilla, pistachio or mango flavours.
• Kus kus - see cuscus.
• Lasan - garlic.
• Lavang - cloves.
• Lassi - a refreshing drink made from yoghurt and crushed ice. The savoury version is lhassi namkeen and the sweet version is lhassi meethi.
• Lilva - a small oval-shaped bean which grows in a pod like the european pea.
• Loochees - a type of bread made in bengal using white flour.
• Lovage - ajwain or ajowain.
• Macchi - fish.
• Mace - javitri. The outer part of the nutmeg.
• Madras - you will not find a traditional recipe for madras curry. It is another restaurateurs invention. But the people of south india do eat hot curries; some original chef must have christened his hot curry madras and the name stuck.
• Makhani - a traditional dish. Tandoori chicken is cooked in a ghee and tomato sauce.
• Makke - cornflour.
• Malai - cream.
• Malaya - the curries of malaya are traditionally cooked with plenty of coconut, chill and ginger. In the indian restaurant, however, they are usually mild and contain pineapple and other fruit.
• Mamra - puffed basmati rice.
• Masala - a mixture of spices which are cooked with a particular dish.
• Masoor - red lentil with green skin.
• Mathanni - wooden whisk.
• Matka - round earthenware pot used to freeze ice cream. It is filled with ice and salt.
• Mattar - green peas.
• Meethi - sweet.
• Melon seeds - chor magaz.
• Methi - fenugreek.
• Mirch - pepper or chilli.
• Moglai - cooking in the style of the moghul emperors whose chefs took indian cookery to the heights of gourmet cuisine three centuries ago. Few restaurateurs who offer moglai dishes come anywhere this excellence. True moglai dishes are expensive and time-consuming to prepare authentically.
• Mollee - fish dishes cooked in coconut and chilli.
• Mooli - large white radish.
• Moong - one of the more commonly used lentils. It has a green skin and can be used whole, split or polished to make various dhals.
• Mulligatawny - a tamil sauce which has become well known as a british soup.
• Munacca - raisins.
• Murgh masala - a speciality dish of whole chicken, marinated in yoghurt and spices for 24 hours then stuffed and roasted.
• Murgh - chicken.
• Naan peshwari - naan bread stuffed with almonds and or cashew and or raisins and baked in the tandoor.
• Naan, keema - naan bread stuffed with a thin layer of minced meat curry then baked in the tandoor.
• Namak - salt.
• Namkeen - salty.
• Naan - leavened bread baked in the tandoor. It is teardrop shaped and about 8-10 inches long. It must be served fresh and hot.
• Nargis kebab - indian scotch egg spiced minced meat around a hard boiled egg.
• Naryal - coconut.
• Neem - curry leaf.
• Nigella - see kalonji.
• Nimboo - lime.
• Nutmeg - jaifal.
• Okra - bindi. A pulpy vegetable also known as ladies fingers.
• Pakoras - fritters (deep fried), may be made of potatoes, cauliflower, hot pepper, spinach, onion or a blend of vegetables.
• Palak - spinach.
• Paan - betel leaf folded around a stuffing lime paste or various spices and eaten after a meal as a digestive.
• Panch phoran - five seeds. A mixture of five spices used in bengali vegetable cooking, comprising equal amounts of cumin, fennel, fenugreek, custard and wild onion seeds.
• Paneer - cheese made from bottled milk which can be fried and curried (matter paneer).
• Papadam - thin lentil flour wafers. When cooked (deep fried or baked) they expand to a crispy texture. They must be crackling crisp and warm when served. They come plain or spiced with lentils, pepper, garlic or chilli.
• Paprika - mild red pepper made from capsicums. It originally came from hungary and only reached india this century. Its main use is to give red colour to a dish.
• Paratha - a pan or skillet fried bread. Bread is rolled with a wooden pin and cooked in a skillet with oil/ghree. Bread may have various stuffings.
• Pasanda - meat, usually lamb, beaten and cooked in one piece.
• Patia - restaurant seafood curry with thick, dark brown, sweet and sour sauce.
• Patna - a long grain rice.
• Phal or phall - a very hot curry (the hottest) invented by restaurateurs.
• Piaz, peeaz or pyaz - onion.
• Pickles - pungent, hot pickled vegetables or meat essential to an indian meal. Most common are lime, mango and chilli.
• Pistachio nut - pista magaz. A fleshy, tasty nut which can be used fresh (the greener the better) or salted. It is expensive ad goes well in savoury or sweet dishes such as biriani or pista kulfi (ice cream).
• Podina - mint leaves or powder.
• Poha - pounded rice.
• Prawn butterfly - jinga praj patia. Prawn marinated in spices and fried in batter.
• Prawn puri - prawns in a hot sauce served on puri bread.
• Pullao rice - the restaurant name for rice fried with spices and coloured yellow.
• Pullao - rice and meat or vegetables cooked together in a pan until tender. In many restaurants the ingredients are mixed after cooking to save time.
• Pulses - types of lentils.
• Puri - a deep fried unleavened bread about 4 inches in diameter. It puffs up when cooked and should be served at once.
• Quas chawal - rice fried in ghee, flavoured and coloured with saffron.
• Rai - mustard seed.
• Raita - a cooling chutney of yoghurt and vegetable, cucumber for instance, which accompanies the main meal.
• Rajama - red kidney beans.
• Rasgulla - walnut-sized balls of semolina and cream cheese cooked in syrup (literal meaning juicy balls). They are white or pale gold in colour and served cold or warm.
• Rashmi kebab - kebab minced meat inside a net-like omelette casing.
• Rasmalai - rasgullas cooked in cream and served cold. A very rich sweet.
• Ratin jot - alkanet root. Beetroot coloured , dried, wafer-thin bark of the root. It is used as a deep red dye to make-up, clothing and food. Traditionally the northerners obtained their red tandoori and rhogan josh gosht colouring from it.
• Rhogan josh gosht - literally means red juice lamb. It can be spelt dozens of ways. It is a traditional northern indian dish. Lamb is marinated in yoghurt then cooked with ghee and spices and tomato. It should be creamy and spicy but not too hot.
• Rosewater - ruh gulab. A clear essence extracted from rose petals to give fragrance to sweets.
• Roti - bread.
• Ruh gulab - rosewater.
• Sabzi - a generic term for vegetables.
• Saffron - kesar or safron. The world’s most expensive spice, saffron is the stamen of the crocus flower. It takes 70,000 stamens to give a recipe a delicate yellow coloring and aroma.
• Saag - mustard leaves or dish made of mustard leaves.
• Salt - namak
• Sambals - a malayan term describing the side dishes accompanying the meal. Sometimes referred to on the indian menu.
• Sambar - a south indian vegetable curry made largely from lentils.
• Samosa - the celebrated triangular deep fried meat or vegetable patties served as starters or snacks.
• Sarson ka sag - mustard leaves
• Saunf - aniseed, also called sauf.
• Seeng - drumstick. A bean-like variety of marrow which looks exactly like a drumstick.
• Seenl - allspice. Related to the clove family, the seed resembles small dried peas. Called allspice because its aroma seems to combine those of clove, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and pepper. Used rather more in european cooking than indian.
• Sesame - til.
• Shami kebab - round minced meat rissoles.
• Shashlik - cubes of skewered meat.
• Sheekh kebab - spiced minced meat shaped on a skewer and grilled or barbecued.
• Sil batta - a pair of grinding stones: sil, large stone, batta, small pounder.
• Sonf - fennel seed.
• Sont - dry ginger.
• Sorportel - a goan pork dish with heart, liver and meat.
• Sub-continent - term to describe india, pakistan, bangladesh, nepal, burma, and sri lanka as a group.
• Supari - mixture of seeds and sweeteners for chewing after a meal. Usually includes aniseed or fennel, shredded betel nut, sugar balls, marrow seeds etc.
• Taipal - nutmeg.
• Tamarind - imli. A date-like fruit used as a chutney, and in cooking as a souring agent.
• Tandoori - a style of charcoal cooking originating in north -west india. Originally it was confined to chicken and lamb and naan bread. More recently it is applied to lobster etc. The meat is marinated in a reddened yoghurt sauce and placed in the tandoor.
• Taraazu - weighing scales.
• Tarbooj ke beej - watermelon seeds.
• Tarka dhal - lentils fried and garnished with spices.
• Tarka - garnish of spices/onions.
• Tava - heavy steel shallow frying pan.
• Tej patia - bay leaf
• Thaali - a tray which holds the complete meal served in individual bowls (katori). Used by diners in the south.
• Tikka - skewered meat, chicken or seafood, marinated then barbecued or tandoori baked.
• Til - sesame seed.
• Tinda - a vegetable of the cucumber family.
• Tindaloo - see vindaloo.
• Toor - type of lentil.
• Tukmeria also called tulsi, - black seeds of a basil family plant. Look like poppy seeds. Used in drinks.
• Turmeric - haldi or huldi. A very important indian spice, turmeric is a rhizome. The fresh root is used occasionally as a vegetable or in pickles. The ground spice is extensively used to give the familiar yellow colour to curries. Use sparingly or it can cause bitterness.
• Tusci - basil.
• Udrak - ginger.
• Urid - a type of lentil. Its husk is black and it comes whole, split or polished. Available as a dhal dish in some restaurants.
• Uttapam - is an indian breakfast item made with Rice flour, Urad dal batter pan fried on a pan similar to the popular Dosa but a bit thicker and has more vegetables, popular in South india as a Breakfast or snack item.
• Vanaspati - starch.
• Varak - edible silver or gold foil.
• Vindaloo - a fiery hot dish from goa. Traditionally it was pork marinated in vinegar with potato (aloo). In the restaurant it has now come to mean just a very hot dish. Also sometimes called bindaloo or tindaloo.
• Xacutti - a goan dish using chicken and coconut.
• Yakni - mutton.
• Zafron - saffron.
• Zeera - cummin.
• Aam (pakka) - Mango (ripe).

also see

• Glossary of indian food

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