India

A dry-cooked Indian vegetable dish (sabzi) in which potatoes and cauliflower are bhunna'd — sautéed and tossed — in tempered oil with cumin, turmeric, and ginger until tender and lightly caramelised, with no added liquid and no gravy.

A South Asian celebratory dish of long-grain basmati rice and marinated meat or vegetables, cooked together in sealed layers (dum) so that spiced steam perfumes the grain without dissolving it into a porridge.

Tandoor-charred chicken pieces simmered in a velvety, mildly spiced sauce built from tomatoes, butter, and cream — the sauce's richness and gentle sweetness deliberately softening the smokiness of the grilled meat.

A family of North Indian street snacks built by layering a crispy starch base with boiled potato or legumes, fresh yogurt, tamarind chutney, green chutney, and a dry dusting of chaat masala to achieve a simultaneous sweet-sour-spicy-tangy flavour balance.

A Punjabi dish of kabuli chana (white chickpeas) pressure-cooked then slowly braised in a deep, dark onion–tomato masala sharpened with amchur and whole spices until the gravy clings and the chickpeas are fully saturated with spice.

A South Asian dish of dried lentils or pulses simmered until soft and seasoned with aromatics, then finished with a tadka — whole spices and aromatics bloomed in hot fat and poured over or stirred in.

A thin, crisp crepe made from a long-fermented batter of ground rice and split black gram (urad dal), spread in a wide circle on a screaming-hot griddle and cooked until golden, lacy, and brittle at the edges.

Deep-fried milk-solids-based dough balls soaked in rose-scented cardamom sugar syrup, characterized by their spongy texture and syrupy sweetness.

A South Asian dense pudding-style sweet made by cooking semolina, flour, or a grated vegetable (such as carrot) in ghee with sugar and nuts until rich and glossy.

An assembled South Indian breakfast of soft steamed cakes made from fermented rice-and-urad-dal batter (idli) served with a spiced tamarind-and-toor-dal broth laden with vegetables (sambar).

A South Asian sweet of fermented wheat-flour batter piped in tight spirals directly into hot oil, then immediately soaked in warm saffron-cardamom sugar syrup until the exterior crisps and the interior becomes syrup-saturated.

A sour, turmeric-golden curry made by slowly simmering a whisked blend of sour yogurt and besan (chickpea flour) in seasoned water, finished with a mustard-and-cumin tadka and typically enriched with fried pakora fritters.

A one-pot dish of rice and split lentils cooked together with water and minimal spices until they fully merge into a soft, unified, porridge-like mass.

A hot beverage of strong black tea simmered together with whole warming spices, whole milk, and sugar, then strained and served immediately.

A leavened wheat flatbread of Persian-Mughal heritage, traditionally pressed against the interior wall of a tandoor clay oven to produce a teardrop-shaped bread with a soft, chewy crumb and characteristic charred blisters.

Palak Paneer is a North‑Indian spinach‑based curry in which cubes of fresh paneer cheese are simmered in a spiced, pureed spinach sauce.

Cubes of fresh Indian cheese simmered in a smooth, mildly sweet tomato gravy enriched with butter, cream and cashew paste.

Hollow crisp-fried semolina puffs filled with spiced potato and chickpeas, then flooded with sharp, cool tamarind-mint water and eaten whole in one bite.

A Mumbai street food of spiced, butter-enriched mashed vegetable medley (bhaji) cooked down on a flat iron tawa and served alongside soft dinner rolls (pav) toasted in butter on the same griddle.

A South Asian milk-based sweet pudding made by slow-simmering rice, vermicelli, or lentils in whole milk with sugar or jaggery, cardamom, and ghee-fried nuts, served as a dessert or devotional offering.

A light, quick-cooked Indian breakfast of briefly soaked flattened rice (poha flakes) folded through a mustard-seed-and-curry-leaf tadka with onion, green chili, and turmeric, finished with lime juice.

A fragrant long-grain rice dish cooked by absorption in a rich bone-in meat stock (yakhni) infused with whole aromatic spices, yielding individually separate, stock-flavored grains with nestled tender meat.

A cooling South Asian condiment of whisked yogurt seasoned with spices and folded with raw or cooked vegetables, herbs, or fruit.

A North Indian comfort curry of red kidney beans slow-simmered in a thick onion-tomato-ginger-garlic gravy spiced with garam masala, classically eaten with rice.

A thin, tangy, peppery broth made with tamarind or tomato, tempered with spices and lentils, served as a digestive soup or rice condiment in South Indian cuisine.

Roti (also called chapati) is an unleavened flatbread made from whole‑wheat flour, water and salt, rolled thin and cooked on a dry tawa with optional puffing over an open flame.

A crisp, fried, triangular pastry pocket filled with spiced potato and peas (or other savory fillings).

Tandoori Chicken is a yogurt‑ and spice‑marinated chicken that is traditionally roasted in a tandoor clay oven, producing a charred, aromatic crust with tender, juicy meat.

A South Indian savory porridge of roasted semolina cooked with water and a tempering of mustard seeds, lentils, curry leaves, and vegetables.

A Mumbai street sandwich of a besan-battered deep-fried spiced mashed-potato fritter (vada) nestled inside a soft white bread roll (pav) and served with dry garlic chutney, green coriander chutney, and a fried whole green chili.