Top 10 Food Foreigners should Never Miss In India

India is known for its diverse cultural heritage and natural beauty worldwide. Indian cuisines are as diverse as India, and you will find different food in Northern and Southern India. Similarly, the food of Eastern India is different than Western India.

The basic food that Indians consume is curry with rice or rotis (flatbread) and every state has its own food specialty. From North to South or East to West you will find many stunning flavors and mouth-watering preparation which are a feast for your taste buds. So if you are planning to visit India then there are a few dishes you shouldn’t miss trying.

1. Samosa

One of the favorite Indian pastries can be fried or baked. Samosa is a triangular fried snack prepared by filling the dough with a mixture of spicy potatoes, green peas, and garam masala.

They are notable for their triangular shape and inside the flaky flour shell, you get remarkable potato filling. It is served with tango cilantro-mint chutney and tamarind chutney or you can just eat them with ketchup.

2. Chole Bature

This North Indian cuisine is commonly served as breakfast in the Punjab region. Though it can be eaten at any time of the day but is a heavy meal and common street food.

Chole Bature is a part of Punjabi cuisine where bature is fried bread made of all-purpose flour and Chole masala is chickpeas cooked with spices. You will love the hot crispy batures served with spicy chole masala.

3. Biryani

Biryani is a mixed rice dish that originated from the royal kitchen of the Mughal empire. It is a one-pot meal of rice, meat and spices served with yogurt and salad.

There are both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options available you can get biryani with fish, eggs, meat, or simply vegetables. You will find Biryani in all Indian restaurant menus but the Biryani you get in Hyderabad is just incomparable.

4. Idli / Dosa/ Vada with Sambhar

Idli, Dosa, and Vada are the most popular South Indian breakfast foods. Idli is rice cakes made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils (Urad Dal) and rice.

While Dosa is a thin pancake made from the batter and Vada is a fried snack made with a batter of legumes. These are eaten with Sambar which is a vegetable and toor dal stew with tamarind.

5. Butter Chicken

Also known as Makhan Murg in the chicken dish which is spiced with buttery tomato sauce. This is a very popular dish of Punjabi food where chicken is cooked in Makhan or butter, and thick cream used to make the dish.

Butter chicken often looks similar to chicken tikka masala but the difference is butter chicken is sweeter and milder with a lot of butter. In Butter chicken, the chicken is marinated for many hours in lemon, yogurt, and masalas. The chicken is cooked in tandoor and is served with a mild curry sauce of onion and tomato.

6. Tandoori chicken

Tandoori chicken is an Indian chicken dish full of bold spicy flavors. The word tandoor comes from the cylindrical clay oven in which it is roasted.

This dish was originated in Punjab where raw chicken is marinated in a mixture of yogurt and tandoori masala and roasted in a tandoor oven at high temperature. The high heat of wood or charcoal adds to the smoky flavor of the dish while nowadays instead of tandoor people also cook the dish in the oven.

7. Palak Paneer

Palak Paneer is an Indian vegetarian recipe where Paneer, Indian cottage cheese is cooked in the spinach puree. The puree is cooked with spices and simmered in low heat with paneer. This dish is popular for its green color and also called green paneer and is served with naan, rice, or roti, a must-try healthy dish of India.

Panner dishes are much loved among Indians and palak paneer is a healthy version of paneer. The spinach puree is either made by blending spinach leaves or sometimes mustard leaves are also mixed with it called Sag Paneer.

8. Dal Makhani

Dal Makhani is a butterly lentil and a much-loved dish of north India. You can find Dal Makhani in almost every restaurant in India.

In Dal Makhani Black lentils( Urad Dal) are cooked using Kidney Beans, the dish is served with a lot of butter and is rich in protein and full of calories. The slow-cooked dal simmered with onion-tomato gravy and masalas topped with butter adds a delicious taste and luxurious finishing touch.

9. Rogan josh

Rogan josh is an aromatic Kashmiri dish made with red meat, traditionally lamb or goat. it consists of thin gravy covered with a thick layer of oil on top.

This is one of the signature dishes of Kashmiri cuisine and will take your taste buds on cloud nine.

10. Rasgula/Gulab Jamun/Jalebi/ Gajar ka Halwa

India is renowned for its sweets worldwide, and mithais or sweets are an integral part of Indian cuisines. There are many desserts to try from region to region. But there are a few which tops everybody’s list, and these are Rasgula, Gulab Jamun, Jalebi, and Gajar ka Halwa.

Just forget the number of calories you are taking and just enjoy and indulge to your heart’s content with these never to be missed, Indian sweets.