You would require:
1 cup poha (which is flattened rice), 1 liter of whole cream milk, 5 almonds, 5 pistachios, 5 cardamoms powdered, 1 cup sugar, 4-5 cashews broken, 15-20 raisins, water and little bit of salt.

Wash and drain the poha. Leave it for 10 minutes.  Separate the poha grains using your fingers from the vessel. Boil the milk in a large vessel and when the milk starts boiling add poha and stire gently in it. Bring the mixture to boil. Simmer till the milk volume reduces to half. Stir occasionally once or twice. It is time add sugar and cardamom, stir it to dissolve. Add the raisins and cashews. Simmer the whole mixture for 2 minutes and garnish with chopped almonds and pistachios. The aval payasam is ready.

Masala Dosa

Masala dosa is a very popular south Indian recipe which you can find in almost all types of fast food joints in India and restaurants. The masala dosa is the most popular recipe among south Indian dishes in other parts of India.

You would require:
2 ½ cup uncooked rice, 1 cup of urad dal preferably whole, 2 tablespoon fenugreek, salt to taste and 2 table spoon cooking oil. For Masala you would require 3 boiled potatoes peeled and chopped, 1 onion chopped, 2 chillies, 1 tbsp turmeric powder, 1 tbsp chana dal, ½ tbsp mustard seed, salt to taste and coriander leaves if you wish.

You have to soak the urad dal, rice and fenugreek seeds separately for at least 8 hours in water. Now grind them well together using the requisite amount of water to make a fine paste. Add salt and set the mixture aside for fermentation for the whole day.

Now when you are ready to prepare masala dosa, cut the onions, and arrange the rest of ingredients to prepare the masala dosa. Sauté the chopped onion in a pan with cooking oil and add mustard seeds, chana dal, and chilly to the sauté onion. Fry till they are brown in color. Add salt and the chopped potatoes, turmeric, chilly powder continuously. Cook it for few minutes. It is time now to pour the ladle on a non-stick pan and give it a circular shape. Put little oil around it and turn around while bubbling appears. Now fill the center of the dosa with the masala (one spoon) prepared. Fold the dosa to cover the masala. The dosa is ready to be served with chutney of coconut and sambhar.

The South Indian food is loved by folks because of their simple preparation techniques and the nutrition value which remains intact in their recipes. You can prepare quickly some South Indian recipes without compromising the taste, aroma and nutrition of food. All you need is to arrange the ingredients of the required recipes. Remember, the South Indian Food are very much taste oriented and if you minus one ingredient, perhaps there may be some chance of mission the origin flavor of it. For example a lot people prepare dosa a popular dish of south India without fenugreek seeds in them which reduce the taste of the dosa to a large extent.

Here are few simple yet healthy recipes of South India Food which you can prepare in your home in no time.

Carrot Rice

This is a yummy dish of South India Cuisine and served as quick breakfast or lunch at homes.

The ingredients:
2 cups of basmati rice cooked well. 1 cup of fresh carrot grated and 1 onion chopped finely. 2 green chillies, ½ cuped boiled peas, 1 tabsp urad dal, 1 tbsp cashew nuts, 1 tbsp mustard seeds, salt to taste, ½ tbsp red chilly powder, ½ tbsp turmeric powder, 4 tbsp lemon juice, coriander leaves, oil for cooking and little bit of cumin.

Take a shallow pan and heat 2 tbspoon of oil. Add the mustard seeds, when they strart spluttering add the urad dal and cashew nuts. Sauté the mixture in oil in low flame till they are brown in color and add turmeric powder, chilly powder, and salt. Now mix the grated carrot and boiled peas and sprinkle with water. Keep the pan cover in low flame till the carrots are tender. Now add lemon juice and add the boiled rice to the pan. With a cooking spoon mix the rice well with the stuff in the pan. Cook for another 3-4 minutes in medium flame. Garnish with coriander leaves. The delicious carrot rice is ready.

Chettinad Chicken

This chicken recipe is very popular throughout India because of its preparation style and nutrition value.

The ingredients:
1 kg of chicken washed can cut into bite pieces. Ginger garlic paste, 2 onions chopped, 1 ½ tsp black peppercorns, 1 ½ tsp white poppy seeds, 2 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 2 twigs of curry leaves, 2 tbsp fennel seeds, 4 green chillies, salt to taste, 1 tbsp turmeric powder, 1 tbsp chilly powder, cooking oil, 1 tomato mashed properly and coriander leaves for garnishing.

Smear the chicken pieces in salt, turmeric powder, chilly powder and little oil properly. Heat the oil in a large shallow pan, add cumin seeds, fennel seeds, chopped onion, and fry till they are brown in color. Add the black peppercorns, poppy seeds, green chilies, curry leaves to it and sauté the spices properly. Keep the mixture aside and now add the remaining onion and ginger garlic paste to the oil and fry till they are brown in color. Add the smashed tomato, coriander powder, sauted spices, and rest of powders of turmeric and chilly. Mix the mixture well and if require sprinkle water over it. Now add the chicken and add salt for taste. Fry the mixture in medium flame for at least 6 minutes. Pour some amount of water and cover the lid of the pan and cook for 15 minutes. The gravy would turn almost dry. When the chicken becomes tender and the gravy quite thick put off the flame and cover the lid for another 5 minutes. The Chettinad chicken is ready to be served with hot bun or rice.

Here is a Shahi Mughlai Dish of Delhi and other North Indian places which is in great demand among food buffs.

Biryani Badshahi Recipe

Ingredients:
720 gm of mutton finely cut into bite pieces, 400 gm of rice parboiled, 4 tbsp lime juice, 10 blanched almonds, ½ tbsp mint leaves, 1 cup butter, 1 handful of chopped coriander leaves, ½ tbsp cumin seeds, 1 large sliced onion, 3-4 cardamom, 3 tbsp oil, 5-6 pods of garlic, 3-4 cloves, ginger finely grated, ½ tbsp saffron, 2-3 green chillies chopped, 1 cinnamon, ½ kg curd, 130 mg milk, 4 cups of water.

Wash the rice and boil it in a cooker. Soak the saffron in water. Now fry the sliced onions in the oil till they are brown in color. Put it aside. Fry the garlic, ginger, red chillies and almonds in fresh butter, add mutton to it and salt and stir the mixture well. Add little amount of friend onions to it. Now add water and cook on low flame till the meat is tender and some thick gravy is left. Put curd in a muslin cloth and let the water to drain away. Mix the cardamom, cumin seed, min leaves, chopped chillies, coriander in the drained curd. Strain the saffron water and add lemon juice to it. Add all these to the mutton on the pan and mix well. Now sprinkle half of the boiled rice and spread a layer of friend onion and then the rest of rice over it again. Pour the milk and some butter over it. Cover the vessel and seal the edges with flour paste. Place the can on flame for about 45 minutes. The Shahi Badshahi Biryani is ready for serving.

The other popular Shahi Mughlai dishes of Delhi and North India are – Murg Noorjehani recipe, Shahi Chicken Korma, Nehari, Bakra Tandoor Tangri and others. They are richly prepared with large amounts of butter, clarified butter and other ingredients.

Paneer Butter Masala

What you would require? 
300 gm of paneer, 2 onions chopped (blanched and pureed), ½ cup butter, 2 tbsp coriander powder, 4 tbsp tomato puree, 1 tablespoon garlic-ginger paste, 2 tbsp cashew nuts, 1 tbsp turmeric powder, 2 tbsp kashmiri chilli powder, 1 tbsp garam masala, 1 cup fresh cream and salt for taste.

Cut the paneer into cubes and fry them. Now put them in hot water to keep them soft. Heat butter in a kadai and add the onion puree and sauté till they are light brown in colour. Now add the garlic-ginger paste and sauté for some time. The add kashmiri chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, cashew nuts, tomatoe puree, garam masla and salt. Add little amount of water and sauté.

Now add the paneer cubes and add required amount of water. Cook till the gravy turns semi solid or quite thick. Finally garnish with fresh cream and the paneer butter masala is ready to be served with hot rotis.

Shahi Paneer

What you would require? 
300 gm cheese cut into cubes of bite size. Two onions chopped, 1 tablespoon garlic-ginger paste, 2 green chillies, ¾ tablespoon of turmeric powder, 1 tbsp garam masala, ½ cup cream, ¼ cup dry fruits, ½ tbsp white pepper powder, 1 tbsp red chilly powder, 10 tbsp vegetable oil, ½ cup milk and salt to taste.

Fry paneer in a frying pan till they are light brown in color. Now put them in hot water so that they remain soft. Sauté the dry fruits in the remaining oil in the frying pan. Make a fine paste of onion, garlic-ginger paste, and green chilly in a blender. Fry the mixture in oil and sauté till they are light brown in color. Lower the flame and add white pepper, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, garam masala, and salt. Saute the mixture again for 1 or 2 minutes. Pour the milk, dry fruits and heat till the gravy is thick. Cook on a low flame and then add the paneer cubes. Heat the paneer on the gravy for another 2 minutes. Now add the cream over it. The shahi paneer is ready to serve. Garnish with more dry fruits and serve it with tandori rotis.

Non-Vegetarian Specialty of India: A few Mouthwatering Recipes

Chicken Changezi

This dish is basically a Mughlai dish which is still prepared in the many restaurants of Old Delhi streets, Ajmer in Rajasthan and in some places in Punjab. It would take hardly 30-45 minutes to prepare this dish. You would require collecting all the ingredients and then starting preparing the dish.

Ingredients:
A full undressed chicken cut in fine bite pieces. 4 onions chopped, 2 tablespoon curry powder, ½ cup butter, cooking oil, 1 cup cream, ½ tbsp chilly sauce, 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste, coriander leaves, chicken masala, garam masala, 2 green chillies and salt for taste.

First put the chicken in a pressure cooker, add some amount of turmeric powder, a bit of salt and coriander leaves. Boil the chicken with two whistles by pressure cooker. Keep the pressure cooker aside and take a large frying pan. Put the half cup of butter and fry the onions till they are little brownish in colour. Now add the paste of garlic-ginger and add all the masalas. Mix the ingredients well and pour 1 cup of water into it. Chop the green chillies and add on the mixture. Cook the mixture for 5 minutes in low steam. When the mixture becomes thick add the chicken from the pressure and mixture the changez well. Add salt to the required amount and pour ½ cup of water on it. Cook for another 10 minutes in low steam. The chicken changezi is ready to be served with hot rotis.

Lamb Dry

Ingredients:
lamb leg cut into bite pieces. Yoghurt, salt to taste, turmeric powder, ghee or butter ½ cup, 1 tbsp chilly powder, ½ tbsp cumin powder, ½ tbsp coriander powder, 2 tomatoes chopped, garam masala 2 tbsp, garlic ginger paste 3 tbspn, 1 big onion chopped.

Mix the lamb pieces with yoghurt and turmeric powder and keep aside for 40 minutes. After 40 heat the ghee in a kadai and add the onion and garlic-ginger paste. Fry them in low steam till they are brownish in colour. Add lamb meat and cook for 10 minutes in medium heat. Add the other ingredients into it except the garam masala and cover and simmer the mixture till the lamb meat is tender. Now add the garam masala and cover it for another 4-5 minutes. Now the lamb dry is ready for serving it with toasted buns.

If there are food items which are traditional to India as well as they have the touch of foreign lands then it has to be the sea-food. Because no other food item prepared in India style has any sort of similarity with western country. But the other recipes have similarity with food prepared in neighboring countries like – Afghanistan (Afghani Chicken), Pakistan (Chicken Chengezi), Nepal (Rice puddings), Bangladesh (Rice and Fish Curries). Thus Indian food with foreign touch is exclusively the sea-food.

Foreign style food prepared in restaurants is not talked about. The food which people of India eat in general is talked about. And the sea food recipes are some which have some amount of foreign touch in them like baking, roasting and use of sauce along with them. Here are few recipes of sea food with foreign touch.

Baked Oyster

You need:
½ cup butter, 2 stalks celery, ½ cup floor, ½ cup sweet green peas, 2 cups of oyster juice, 2 cups of milk, 1 pie shell, 2 tbspoon Red pimiento (Charred) and salt and pepper for taste.

Cut the celery stalks and green pepper into dices. Drain the oysters. Store the oysters and juice. Heat the butter in a pan. Add diced celery and green pepper. Stir it with flour and cook it for 5 minutes. Keep the prepared stuff aside. Mix the milk with oyster juice and cook the mixture till it turns thick. Add salt and pepper. Add the red pimiento and oyster juice. Stir well; pour the mixture into a greased dish. Top the mixture with pie shells. Bake them at 375 degrees till they are golden brown in color. Your baked oyster is ready.

Cheese Prawn

You need:
50 gm of cheese, ¼ kg of prawns (deveined and boiled), 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tbsp chilly sauce, 3 boiled potatoes boiled and mashed,, ¾ mustard sauce, 1 tbsp Soya sauce, ½ tbsp salt, ¾ tbsp pepper powder, 1 tomato chopped, 1 onion chopped and fresh green coriander leaves chopped into fine fishes.

Mix the cheese sauce with prawns. Add the mustard sauce, chilly sauce, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Mix the mashed potatoes and mixture well. Take a baking dish and grease it well with butter. Pour the mixture of potatoes and sauce in it and garnish it with onion and tomatoes. Add the prawns mixed with cheese sauce. Bake it in oven in 200 degree centigrade for 5 minutes. Your cheese prawn dish is ready to be served. Top the plate with coriander leaves and serve it with toasted buns.

An archetypal Bengali considers food an important aspect of daily life. That’s why you will find Bengali food full of variety and having the essence of freshness and experimentation to make them better and best. Fish, Meat, Mix Vegetables, Sweet dishes and other food items are debated and discussed well among Bengali intellectuals. The housewives and cooks of Bengali recipes spend enormous time in their kitchens to prepare delicious dishes. The Bengali recipes are known for their variety. They make perfect combination of all types of vegetables, leafy green vegetables, some raw fruits like raw mango, raw papaya, and dry fruits to prepare different types of recipes.

What again differentiates Bengali recipes from other recipes in India is their extensive use of mustard oil for cooking. Health wise mustard oil is also a good oil to cook and it adds a different kind of flavor to the food cooked. The use of spices too differs, that is they use the same spices which are used throughout India, but their application is different. The specialty of all types of Bengali cooking lies in the use of a particular mixture of spices called Panchphoron, a mixture of five spices – zeea, saunf, fenugreek, mustard seeds, and kalaunji. They also mix some sweet flavors in some recipes for incredible taste and color. Sugar added to mutton recipes or chicken recipes of Bengali provides a very good color to the gravy.

The staple diet of any Bengali is rice, sabji, dal and fish. They prepare different types of fish recipes to relish with rice. A discrete flavor is instructed to the fishes by frying them in mustard oil. They fry the fishes deep brown till they become something crunchy.  Then they cook the fishes in gravy. Whatever you eat, the typical Bengali dishes end with sweets – either misti dahi or rasogolla.

If you ever go into a Bengali market, you will find the fish market crowded with different types of fishes and sea food like – carp, hilsa, salmon, rohu, bhekti, magur, prawns, koi, lataya, singe and other types of nutritious and delicious fishes.

Here is a recipe:

Bengali Style Mutton Dry

You would require:
500 gm mutton for 4 servings, minced garlic cloves, 2 onions finely chopped and blended with garlic and ginger in a blender, turmeric powder, chilly powder, garam masala, meat masala, 1 cup curd, 2 bay leaves, 1 cup mustard oil, salt to taste, and tomato finely mashed.

Before you start the dry mutton recipe, put the mutton into a pressure cooker cutting them into bite pieces and put over the flame till you hear 7-8 whistles. Now put the pressure aside. Take the pan and heat the oil and sauté the mixture of onion-garlic-ginger till the color turns brownish. Add the mashed tomato and sauté in low steam for 2-3 mnutes. Now add all the types of masalas and sauté for another 2 minutes. Add little water to it and sauté for 1 minute. Open the cooker and add the mutton on the frying pan. Add salt of required amount. Add little water and mix them well with the mutton. Cover it and cook for 10 minutes in medium steam. The mutton dry is ready to be served with sauce or toasted bun.

The seafood recipes of India prepared in Indian style has different flavors of them. Though they are cooked and prepared in different styles in big restaurants by chefs, but the common man of India cook them in home completely in Indian style spreading the sweet aroma around the corners. Here are few Indian seafood recipes that you can try in your home and have a taste of it.

Tuna Curry

You would require ingredients for 4 servings. The cooking time would take approximately 15-20 minutes depending on your preparation and collection of recipes. It is a Kerala style non-vegetarian dish. 

You would require:
300gm tuna filled in oil, one cup of coconut grated, 1 tbsp chopped garlic, 5 green chillies choppedfinely, 1 tbsp chopped ginger, 1 large onion finely chopped, 1 tbsp coriander-powder, ½ tbsp turmeric powder, 2 tbsp red chilly powder, 1 tbsp fine tamarind paste, 1 spring of curry leaves, salt for taste and ½ cup water.

Make a kind of coarse paste with all the ingredients and grated coconut. But don’t use the water, tamarind, and curry leaves now. Add little amount of water if required while grinding is done. Take the paste in a pan. Now add water to the paste and also the curry leaves and tamarind paste. Take a spoon to mix all well and bring them to boil. Pour the grated coconut paste to it and water too. Cook till fine gravy is prepared. Open the can of tuna fish. Don’t forget to drain off the oil. Put the tuna fishes in the boiling mixture in the pan. Cover the pan with a good lid and cook for at least 5 minutes. When the gravy is coarse the tuna is cooked. Serve the hot curry of tuna with bread or rice.

Shrimp in Spicy Sauce

You would require:
¼ cup vegetable oil, 1 lb small raw shrimp de-veined and shelled, 2 small onions chopped finely, 1 clove garlic, ½ crushed red pepper, 1 cup coconut milk, 1 tomato chopped to fine pieces, 1 green bell pepper thinly sliced into rings, 1 tbsp packed brown sugar, ½ tbsp salt for taste and freshly grounded pepper.

Heat the oil in skillet till it is hot. Now add the onions and garlic and red pepper and sauté till they turn pink. Now add the shrimp and sauté for 4-5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Simmer without covering the pan till the shrimp are tender. The shrimp in spicy sauce is ready to serve with fresh bread.

If you want to learn or taste the recipes of India, you cannot miss the pickles, chutneys and appetizers of India which are prepared using the best spices and s sorts of fruits, vegetables, and natural ingredients. Appetizers stimulate the digestive system and add taste and flavor to a particular recipe. As well as they are nutritious and good for health. The appetizers are for all occasions and for all seasons.

If you ever buy any book on Indian Recipes and cooking traditions you will definitely find some recipe lessons on Indian appetizers. The appetizers include items like pickles, chutneys, murabbas, jellies, jams, sherbets, cold drinks prepared in home, squashes and raita. The ingredients required to prepare them are easily available in the local market.

The chutneys, pickles, salads, raita and other things used in a variety of ways in Indian homes depending on their moods, lifestyle, region and festivals. They are served as condiments to enhance the taste of food and add an extra flavor to dishes.

Here are recipes of few appetizers in India:

Coconut Chutney

Ingredients:
1 cup of unsweetened/sweetened grated coconut, 1 cup of roasted chana or roasted peanuts, 1 cup loosely filled cilantro leaves, 5 hot green chilly peepers, ½ tbsp salt, 3 pods of garlic, ½ cup lime juice and 1 cup of water. 

Mix all the ingredients in a pour into a bowl. Now take a blender and blend them find. All salt and mix the blended items well. Garnish the chutney with fresh leaves of parsley or mint or coriander or any herb of your choice.

The coconut chutney is ready to be served with dosa or roti or rice dishes.

Amla Pickle

Amla pickle is a widely used condiment in the homes of Indians. Almost all homes do prepare ala pickle during amla season and relish it with favorable dishes like paranthas.

Ingredients:
15-20 amlas, 1 tablespoon mustard seeds, 4 green chillies, 2 tablespoon turmeric powder, 1 tbsp hing, 7-8 tbsp mustard oil, fenugreek seeds, vinegar and salt for taste.

Take a pressure cooker. Pour all the amlas after washing them well. Now cook them till they are soft and tender. Five or six whistles will make them tender. Take out the amlas and blend them well with mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, and green chillies. Ass the turmeric powder too. If you wish you can add red chilly powder to prevent them from rotting when they are kept for long. Now heat the oil in a kadai and add the paste of that you blended in the mixture to it when the oil is hot. Cook for at least 6-7 minutes. Take a clean glass container whose mouth can be covered tightly. Pour the rest of the oil in the container and put the amla from kadai in it. Add little amount of vinegar to keep the medium tangy and free from rotting pathogens. For one week keep the bottle under direct sunlight. The amla pickle by now gets ready to be served with variety of dishes.

The traditional Hyderabadi cuisine are known for their spicy flavor, hot fragrance, liberal use of exotic spices, ghee and use of dry fruits in most items. They use the meat of lamb extensively as a non-vegetarian food. The delectable recipes of Hyderabad are famous throughout the world. Tourists flocking to India rarely miss the chance to visit the place of historic importance and get a taste of the cuisine.

Here are few recipes of Hyderbadi Food:

Beef Korma

Though beef is not eaten by majority sections in India, yet the item is very popular in South India. Beef korma is a delectable dish of Hyderabad and it is served well with hot tandoori rotis or rice.

You would require:
2 lbs of beef cut into pieces of 1 inch. ¼ cups of sliver almonds, 8 cloves of garlic, 7 cloves preferably whole, 1 tbsp ginger-root which is chopped coarsely, 1 tbsp coriander seed, 1 tbsp cumin seeds, 1 tbsp cardamom seed with pods, 1 tbsp red peppers crushed, 1 ½ tbsp salt, 1 tbsp ground cinnamon, 6 tbsp cooking oil, 3 medium onions sliced very thinly and separated, ¾ cup of whipping cream, ½ cup plain yogurt, 2 tbsp flour, ¼ tbsp garam-masala, 2 tbsp parsley or you can choose snipped coriander, water of required amount.

Combine all the spices and blend them in a blender to fine powder. Add little water, and then blanched almond, cloves of garlic, ginger-root, salt and grounded cinnamon to the mixture and blend them well till the mixture is in the form of paste. Boil the meat and then deep fry them in cooking oil. Now it is time to fry the onion on a big pan and add all the blended ingredients into it. Sauté till the color is deep brown. Now add the meat and pour ½ cup of water to the pan. Cover the pan for simmering the whole stuff for 45 minutes till the meat becomes tender and keep on stirring from time to time. Now stir the yoghurt, adding whipping cream, garam-masala and flour to it. Cook and stir the whole stuff till the gravy is thickened. Garnish the cooked korma with coriander leaves and the beef korma is ready to be served hot.

Hyderabadi Biryani

Ingredients required:
720 gm of mutton finely cut into bite pieces, 400 gm of rice parboiled, 4 tbsp lime juice, 10 blanched almonds, ½ tbsp mint leaves, 1 cup butter, 1 handful of chopped coriander leaves, ½ tbsp cumin seeds, 1 large sliced onion, 3-4 cardamom, 3 tbsp oil, 5-6 pods of garlic, 3-4 cloves, ginger finely grated, ½ tbsp saffron, 2-3 green chillies chopped, 1 cinnamon, ½ kg curd, 130 mg milk, 4 cups of water.

Wash the rice and boil it in a cooker. Soak the saffron in water. Now fry the sliced onions in the oil till they are brown in color. Put it aside. Fry the garlic, ginger, red chillies and almonds in fresh butter, add mutton to it and salt and stir the mixture well. Add little amount of friend onions to it. Now add water and cook on low flame till the meat is tender and some thick gravy is left. Put curd in a muslin cloth and let the water to drain away. Mix the cardamom, cumin seed, min leaves, chopped chillies, coriander in the drained curd. Strain the saffron water and add lemon juice to it. Add all these to the mutton on the pan and mix well. Now sprinkle half of the boiled rice and spread a layer of friend onion and then the rest of rice over it again. Pour the milk and some butter over it. Cover the vessel and seal the edges with flour paste. Place the can on flame for about 45 minutes. The biryani is ready for serving with chutney and raita.