Your guide to traditional food

What comes to mind when you think about traditional food? The kind of food that is made using local produce, local spices, and distinct methods of cooking generally lands in the category of traditional food. In many parts of India, a simple ingredient like fish is made using variably different methods. Eg, In the south, fillets of fish are marinated with coconut milk, cumin, red chillies and other such spices, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. In the north fish is grilled using different spices, while in Maharashtra there is an outstanding use of ginger, garlic, coconut and ample amount of frying.

Non-vegetarians generally boast of having a lot more choices than vegetarian counterparts. This claim isn’t even half as right.

Take for example, gujarati food. This cuisine makes use of local flours like gram, wheat, and the process of fermentation to produce some delectable recipes that are the representation of the state’s love for sweets, food, and colour! Gram floor is made into a batter seasoned with chilli, turmeric, coriander, salt, and a pinch of soda is added for achieving a light as air result. This is steamed and later cut into squares. What a pretty picture these sunny yellow pieces make against the mint green sauce offered at the table! Another very famous dish includes flattening the batter against an even platform and cutting long strips that are later rolled into little bite sized rolls!

Take rajasthani food as another instance! Bright coloured curries made with generous doses of yogurt and a tempering of fierce red chillies, mustard seeds, and coriander to put out the fire.

Basically, the point of traditional food is making the most out of traditional produce from the fields and the spices that are locally produced and combined in the kitchens. Fields of red chillies lie out to dry as women scamper about drying them, cleaning, and grounding them into powder. The fresh vegetables, grains and spices that form an intrinsic part of the food culture of a state are the essence of traditional food everywhere.

Restaurants, who boast an in-house vegetarian thali like the rajdhani thali, are those who offer a host of delicious vegetarian fare for the foodie to tuck in and enjoy. A typical thali includes one lentil preparation, two vegetable preparation one dry and one curry, fragrant rice, the India flatbread, pickles, and a dessert depending on season. If you are lucky enough on barge in a restaurant in the mango season, you will be served mango pulped and flavoured with saffron and cardamom, a dessert so dense in flavour and so heady, you will leave a soul drenched in happiness and mango satisfaction!

Whoever says vegetarians don’t have as many options as the non-vegetarians has certainly never been to the right restaurants. Given a chance, the simple vegetarian fare can impress the staunchest of advocators of meat and make the hardest of chocolate pudding fans to acknowledge the gorgeous egg-less flourless chocolate cake. Go ahead, celebrate!