Kachori is a spicy Indian snack shaped like a round flattened ball, consisting of a flour-based shell with different fillings. The most popular filling consists of yellow moong dal, besan flour, pepper, chili powder, cumin seeds, and other spices.
Kachori is most popular in Indian states such as Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab. The snack has numerous variations in each state, so dried fruits, nuts, and coconut are sometimes added to kachori in order to enhance its flavors.
In Delhi, it is typically served with curd, tamarind chutney, and onion rings.
MOST ICONIC Kachori
Churma is a north Indian dish that is mainly prepared with various types of crumbled bread. It is especially popular in Rajasthan where it is made with baati (bati) bread, and Haryana, where the locals opt for roti, paratha, or puri.
The fine crumbs are then mixed with ghee, sugar, cardamom, and (often) various nuts or, occasionally, dry fruits. The dish is usually finished off with melted ghee. In Rajasthan, churma is mostly enjoyed as a part of a dish named dal bati churma—a delicious combination of churma, dal, and baati bread.
MOST ICONIC Churma
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Vada pav is one of Mumbai's favorite sandwiches, its name referring to the key ingredients: vada, or spicy mashed potatoes that are deep-fried in chickpea batter, and pav, or white bread rolls. This iconic street food is said to have originated from a street vendor named Ashok Vaidya, who worked near the Dadar train station in the 1960s and 1970s.
He thought of a way to satiate the hungry workers, and concluded that the ideal dish should be portable, affordable, and easy to prepare. Ashok made vada pav, and its popularity skyrocketed, especially after the Shiv Sena, a Marathi-Hindu nationalist political party, started to promote the sandwich as an ideal working class snack.
MOST ICONIC Vada pav
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Idli is a traditional, savory Indian cake that is a popular breakfast item in numerous South Indian households, although it can be found throughout the country. It is made with a batter consisting of fermented lentils and rice, which is then steamed.
These savory cakes are commonly served hot and consumed on their own, dipped into sambar or chutneys, or seasoned with numerous spices. With its huge popularity in India, there are also many other versions of idli, such as rava idli, which uses semolina instead of rice in the batter, or malli idli, which are idlis fried with curry leaves and coriander.
MOST ICONIC Idli
Indian tikka is a dish consisting of boneless meat, usually chicken, that is cut into smaller pieces and marinated in yogurt and traditional Indian spices such as turmeric, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, chili, garlic, and ginger. The meat is roasted over charcoal in a tandoor, the traditional cylindrical clay oven.
To remain tender and juicy, the meat is repeatedly brushed with oil or butter. Tikka is typically cooked and served on sizzlers, but the plain varieties are also common. It is often wrongly associated with tandoori chicken, a variety baked and served with the meat left on the bone.
VARIATIONS OF Tikka
MOST ICONIC Tikka
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Khakhra is a popular, crispy flatbread originating from the Indian state of Gujarat. Made with wheat flour, moth bean, and oil, the crackers are typically consumed for breakfast, providing a healthy snack that is best enjoyed when accompanied by chutneys or curries.
Since khakhra is very similar to chapati, another popular Indian flatbread, it is believed that a cook in Gujarati roasted leftover chapatis on a griddle and served them with tea for breakfast, creating khakhras in the process. Khakhra can also be transformed into a sweet snack by spreading some ghee and sugar on top of it.
MOST ICONIC Khakhra
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Panipuri is a street snack that is extremely popular in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal. Small in size, it consists of a hollow puri that is fried until crispy, then stuffed with a combination of flavored water called pani, tamarind chutney, chaat masala, potatoes, onions, hot chillis, and chickpeas.
In North India, panipuri is known as golgappa, gol referring to the crispy shell, and gappa referring to the eating process, since these small snacks are typically eaten one at a time. It is believed that panipuri originated in Uttar Pradesh and gradually spread in popularity throughout the country and outside of it.
MOST ICONIC Panipuri
Laal maas is a traditional curry variety originating from Rajasthan. This curry is prepared with mutton (often marinated in kachari cucumbers), yogurt, and Mathania red chili peppers. Other common ingredients include onions, garlic, coriander seeds, ghee, ginger, cardamom, and cinnamon.
Once prepared, laal maas can be thick or more on the liquid side. It's traditionally accompanied by wheat flour chapatis and steamed rice. In the past, the curry was prepared with wild game meat, hence the abundance of chili peppers in the dish that are used to mask the gamy aromas, but nowadays it's prepared with mutton, especially during festive occasions and festivals.
MOST ICONIC Laal maas
Golden-brown in color, flaky and layered, paratha is a type of Indian bread that is typically consumed for breakfast. The name comes from a combination of words parat and atta (flour), referring to the cooked, layered dough. It consists of whole wheat flour that is baked in ghee (Indian clarified butter) and comes in round, triangular, square, or heptagonal shapes.
Parathas are often stuffed with ingredients such as boiled potatoes, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, chili, paneer, or radish. They are sometimes accompanied by pickles, yogurt, homemade chutneys, or meat and vegetable curries. In Punjab, paratha is traditionally paired with lassi, a popular yogurt-based drink.
VARIATIONS OF Paratha
MOST ICONIC Paratha
Due to their crunchy texture and a variety of different flavors, samosas provide a perfect introduction to the world of Indian cuisine for newcomers. These deep-fried, triangular pastries are filled with a variety of ingredients ranging from vegetables to meat, such as onions, lentils, spiced potatoes, peas, or ground meat.
It is said that the popular, golden-brown snack travelled to India along the old trade routes from Central Asia, which is why samosas are also prevelent in Middle Eastern countries where they are typically served for Ramadan. In Saudi Arabia, for example, they are typically filled with meat or cheese and can be shaped as triangles, squares, and rolls.
VARIATIONS OF Samosa
MOST ICONIC Samosa
