Indian Food Tourism

Lassi, by far, is the most easiest Indian dish to prepare and is taken cold. It is a good way to beat the scorching heat and get refreshed.

It can prepared in two ways either sweet or salty.

Sweet Lassi

Ingredients

*1 cup of yogurt
*½ a cup of water
*½ a cup of ice cubes
*3 to 5 teaspoons of sugar
*A pinch of salt
*A dollop of plain yogurt for garnishing

Salty Lassi

Ingredients

*Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
*Plain yogurt - 1 cup
*Chilled milk - 1 cup
*Lemon juice - 2 tsp
*Salt - 1/2 to 1 tsp
*Ice cubes - 1/2 cup
*A dollop of plain yogurt for garnishing

Common Preparation

1. Blend all the ingredients at high speed till frothy.
2. Add a dollop of fresh yogurt on top.
3. Make 2-3 glasses of Lassi

Tidbit: Since usually punjabis (people who are from the Indian state of punjab) tend make huge gallons of lassi for their daily consumption, they use washing machine to churn curd/yogurt and blend the ingredients!!!

Hyderabadi Biryani is a famous meat and rice dish of Hyderabad, India.

It is a traditional celebration meal made using goat meat and rice and is the staple of a die-hard Hyderabadi. The blending of mughlai and Telangana cuisines in the kitchens of the Nizam (ruler of the historic Hyderabad State), resulted in the creation of Hyderabadi Biryani.

Ingredients

* 1 kg: Meat
* 750 gm: Semi cooked rice
* Sautéed brown onions to taste
* 1 tbsp: Ginger garlic paste
* 1 tbsp: Red chilli paste
* 1 tbsp: Green chilli paste
* ½ tbsp: Cardamom powder
* 3-4 sticks:
* Cinnamon
* 1 tbsp: Cumin seeds
* 4-5: Cloves
* 2 tbsp: Lemon juice
* 250 gm: Curd
* 4 tbsp: Butter
* A pinch: Mace
* Mint leaves to taste
* 1 tsp: Saffron
* ½ cup: Water
* 1 tbsp: Salt
* ½ cup: Oil

Method

1. Clean the meat.
2. Now in a pan add meat, salt, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, green chilli paste, sautéed brown onions, cardamom powder, cinnamon, cumin seeds, cloves, mace, mint leaves and lemon juice. Mix it well.
3. Add curd, clarified butter, semi cooked rice, saffron, water and oil and mix it well.
4. Now apply sticky dough on the sides of the pan.
5. Cover with lid to seal it and cook for about 25 minutes.
6. Hyderabadi Biryani is ready to eat.
7. Garnish with boiled eggs, sliced carrot and cucumber.
8. Serve hot.

This sweet (pronounced locally as ulva) is made from wheat and sugar. Halwa is brown and semi-solid in texture and contains lots of ghee/Vanaspati which gives it the oily look. It tastes the best when fresh and hot. Tirunelveli Halwa is said to owe its peculiar taste due to the recipe of this region.

Two of the famous halwa stores are Irutu Kadai halwa (Dark Store halwa), situated near the Nellayappar temple and Shanthi Sweets. The name Irutu Kadai of the former store derives from the fact that the looks of the store had been kept unchanged from the date it was started. Till date, there is no bright electrical lamp or even a board display to show the shop name!

Ingredients

*Whole Wheat - 11/2 cups
*Sugar - 6 cups
*Ghee/Clarified Butter - 3 cups
*Cashew Nuts - 15
*Kesari powder - 1/4 tsp.

Method

1. Soak the raw wheat into water overnight.
2. Grind the soaked wheat in a blender or a wet grinder and extract the first milk and the second from the ground mixture.
3. Heat a thick bottomed kadai.
4. Pour both the milks into the kadai. Let the milk cook and thicken.
5. The mixture in the kadai should start looking translucent.
6. Once it becomes completely translucent start adding the sugar to the kadai. Also add the kesari powder to kadai. This gives the halwa an orange color.
7. After about 10 mins start adding the ghee slowly into the kadai. After adding all the ghee let the mixture cook until the ghee begins to separate.
8. Fry the nuts in ghee till golden brown and add it to the kadai. Switch off the gas and pour the halwa on a big plate.
9. Rub some ghee into the plate before pouring the mixture into it. Let the halwa cool for some time.
10.After it cools and thickens cut the halwa into squares and serve.

Note: The milk from the wheat can be extracted by passing the ground wheat through a minute sieve or through muslin cloth. After extracting the first milk add more water to the residual pulp and let it sit for some time. Pass this again through the sieve to get the second milk. The first milk is always thicker than the second milk.

Panipuri or Gol Gappa or Gup chup is a popular street snack in the Indian sub-continent. It comprises a round, hollow puri, fried crisp and filled with a watery mixture of tamarind, chilli and potato. The name panipuri literally means "water in fried bread". The snack has three major ingredients - Puris, pani (water) and stuffing.

1. Puris - Ready made puris can also be used.

Ingredients:
*Maida or all purpose flour - 1 cup
*Sooji (rava) - 1 tbl spn
*Oil
*Salt

Method
Mix flour, sooji and salt. Add sufficient water to make the dough. Keep it aside for half an hour.
Make small balls of the dough, roll it into tiny puris (make it to chapathi size and cut into small puris) and deep fry them in oil.

2. Pani

Ingredients
*Coriander leaves - 3/4 cup
*Green chillies - 3-4
*Ginger - 2 pieces
*Cumin(jeera) seeds - 1 tea spn
*Jaggery - 1 tbl spn
*Dates (Khajoor) - 7-8
*Tamarind extract(thick) - 1 and 1/2 tea spn
Salt

Method
Grind all the ingredients together to a thick chutney. This chutney can be preserved for 2-3 days. While serving, dilute it with water to required consistency(do not make it too watery).

3. Stuffing

Ingredients
*Sprouted moong - 1 cup
*Onion (finely chopped) - 1/2 cup
*Sev (Indian delicacy)- 1/2 cup

Method
Wash the sprouted moong to remove as much skin as possible. Then cook with 3/4 tea spn salt and about 3/4 cup of water. Serve puris with pani, onions, sev and cooked moong.

How to eat

Stuff the puris with moong, onions and sev (1 : 1/2 : 1/2 proportion). Pour pani in the stuffed puri. Enjoy!

Pesarattu is a thicker verison of Dosa made specifically in major towns of Andhra pradesh.

Ingredients

*Whole Moong dall - 2 cups
*Rice - 4 table spoons
*Onions - 3 finely chopped
*Green chillies - 6 finely chopped
*Red chillies - 2
*Ginger - small piece
*Cumin seeds - 1/2 t.spoon
*Cilantro - 1 bunch finely chopped
*Salt - 1.5 t.spoons
*Cooking Oil for making Pesarattu

Method

1. Rinse and soak whole moong dhall and rice in water for 4 hours.
2. Grind the above with green chilles, red chillies, ginger, cumin seeds, salt and little onion.
3. Fry the remaining onions in oil and keep them aside.
4. Make the Pesarattu like dosas, and put a spoon full of onions on the dosa and fold the dosa before serving.
5. Serve with coriander chutney or onion chutney.

The idli is a savory cake popular throughout South India. The cakes are usually two to three inches in diameter and are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils (de-husked) and rice.

Kancheepuram Idli as the name goes is from Kancheepuram, a holy city in Tamilnadu, India. History goes that Kancheepuram Idly is served as prasadam (offering) in Varadharaja Perumal Temple, a famous Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, located in the Kancheepuram. It is a huge Idli (Steamed Rice Cake) which is added with spices.

Ingredients

*Raw rice - 2 cups
*Whole black gram - 2 cups
*Oil - 5 tblsp
*Ghee- 4 tsp
*Whole black pepper - 2 tsp
*Thick curd - ½ litre or 500 gms
*Cooking soda - ¼ tsp
*Cumin seeds - 2 tsps

Method

1. Soak dhal and rice together for 3 hours.
2. Grind this after soaking till it reaches a coarse consistency. Batter should be thick preferably. Allow it to ferment for 10 -5 hours.
3. Before pouring the batter into idli plates for steaming, add oil, ghee, pepper, cumin seeds, curds and soda to the batter.
4. Grease idli plates and pour batter as in normal idlis but a bit thicker.
5. Steam till the idlis are cooked. This will take approximately 35- 45 minutes.
6. Serve hot along with idli chilli powder mixed with oil.

Note: You can make plate idlis if you want to add excitement to your idlis. Instead of the normal idli plates, grease and steam in bigger plates to make 4 or 5 plate idlis.