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INDIAN FOOD: WHAT IS COOKED IN INDIA? 

Energy rich rice has been the staple food of India since the earliest times. It is easy to cook and blends well with vegetables, pulses and meats. There are three main varieties of rice: the short grained colam rice, used in most of East, West and South India; the long grained Basmati, used mainly in North India, and the parboiled rice used mainly in the coastal regions of South India. 

There are mainly two recipes - one, Plain Rice and the other, Rice with Potato and Cauliflower. However, you can prepare Pulao with almost all vegetables (carrots, French beans, peas etc.) following the basic method.

Pulses: Protein rich pulses are a must in the Indian meal because they offer much of the nutritional material required for the upkeep of our body system at a lower cost - they are substantially cheaper than meats. The word pulses actually include both whole and split pulses like sabat urad (whole black gram), Chana dal (split Bengal gram) with or without skin, lentils like arhar dal (red gram) and dried beans like rajma (kidney beans). Whole pulses and dried beans take considerable time to cook.

Hours of open pot cooking are just reduced to mere minutes when cooked in a pressure cooker- the most common way it is cooked in an Indian home. The rich variety of pulses and different methods of preparation give you a wide choice for selecting the recipe suitable to your taste. Because of their distinct flavours and soft textures, pulses can also be used as a base for delicious vegetarian soups. There are recipes which use pulses individually or in combinations, ranging from Chana Dal and Rajma to Panchratan and Ma-ki-Dal.

VEGETARIAN DISHES 
Vegetables are valuable chiefly because of their mineral and vitamin contents, notably Vitamin A and C. However, most of this vitamins and mineral content is lost in the conventional open pot cooking; however, the use of pressure cooker is immensely beneficial vegetables retain their nutritive elements better when pressure cooked. This is because a minimum of water is used and the cooking process is barely a few minutes. In addition the vegetables retain their bright natural colours and rich flavours.

Most vegetables tend to cook very fast because of their soft and succulent structure. Hence, follow the timings of the recipes precisely. If you are adapting your own vegetable recipes, it is better to undercook rather than overcook. Overcooking not only ruins the taste but also cannot be reversed. The best way would be to open your cooker one or two minutes before the expected time, check the tenderness of the vegetables, and if not done, bring the cooker to full pressure and cook for a minute or two longer than the expected time.

Remember that you can cook more than one vegetable at a time provided the vegetables have the same cooking time. If the timings are slightly different, you may slow down or speed up cooking by either cutting the vegetables thickly or thinly. If you are using vegetables that have already lost moisture, pre-soak them in cold water for a few minutes so that some of the moisture is restored.

Given below is a list of commonly used vegetables

1. Beetroot
2. Bottle Gourd
3. Brinjal
4. Cabbage
5. Carrots
6. Carrots
7. Cauliflower
8. Cauliflower
9. Corn on Cob
10. French beans
11. Peas
12. Potatoes
13. Spinach  

NON-VEGETARIAN DISHES 
Non-vegetarian food is loved by a large number of North Indians.

CHICKEN: The chicken is rendered both succulent and delectable. Before cooking the typical North Indian dishes, the chicken should be skinned, washed and wiped dry. This allows spices to penetrate into the flesh. Both broilers and fresh farm chickens are used. 

Recipes are of both the dry type like Murgh Hyderabadi as well as the curry type like Rasedaar Murghi.While curry type goes well with rice, chapaties or naans, the dry chicken tastes best with tandoori rotis.

MEATS: Some typical North Indian favourites like Mutton Curry, Saag Gosht and Rogan Josh. Meat combined with rice or vegetables as in Yakhni Pulao and Kheema Matar is also very popular. As the meat available is generally of varying tenderness, cooking timings may vary in the degree of “doneness” desired, depending on the

thickness and tenderness of the meat and the extent of prefrying. The meat should be washed and wiped dry before cooking.

FISH: North Indian cuisine generally contains fish that is fried or of the tandoori type. Fish Curry typical of Goa and a Fish in Mustard and Curd recipe - the Iilish Sarso Bata -a hot favourite amongst Bengalis. You will also find a few other non-vegetarian items like Beef and Pork (Beef Curry - Mangalorean Style and Pork Vindaloo - Goan Style) in the Indian cousine. 

SWEET DISHES: Sweets of all kinds are very popular in India and are eaten at the end of a meal. In some parts of India, they are one of the items for breakfast. And when one thinks of an Indian festival, one cannot but conjure up visions of a variety of multi-coloured mouth watering sweets. The sweet dish must complement and even compete with all the items that have gone before it. It may surprise you but it is a fact that a wide variety of delicious sweets and desserts are cooked. Kheer and other milk based puddings are also considered as sweet dishes in India. 

If you turn to the Other Indian Recipes, you will find 3 more sweets to choose from: Lapsi - a novel presentation of broken wheat or dahliya, Rasogolla - the famous Bengali delicacy that is fresh cottage cheese balls in syrup, and Semiya Payasam: a South Indian variation of the North Indian Kheer.