KASHMIRI WAZWAN:

If you know only one thing about Kashmiri food, it's probably the word wazwan-that splash of up to 36 courses that serves as a wedding banquet. The extensiveness of this veritable feast isn't the only thing that defines this centuries-old cuisine: not less than at least half these courses are meat-based, each distinct in lavour and preparation. Travelers to India's most northerly state will in fact encounter two cuisines: one influenced by the brahminical tradition of the Kashmiri hindus, and the other a proudly muslim cuisine, which carries the mark of various central asian cultures that followed timur's campaigns. Part of the culinary experience is going out to the dal lake early in the morning to the floating vegetable markets. In Srinagar: mughal darbar and ahdoos on sherwani road; ruby on lambert lane.

 

PARSI PLATTER:

When the Zoroastrians arrived 1,000 years ago from Persia on the shores of Gujarat, they adopted not only its language and saris, but also its cooking techniques and ingredients. Local spice transformed the bland Persian pulao, desserts employed rosewater for flavouring and the irani meat and lentil dish benefited from the copious vegetables available to form flavouring and the irani meat and lentil dish benefited from the copious vegetables available to form dhansak, a dish now synonymous with Parsi cuisine. Today, some of the best examples of this cross-cultural cuisine can be sampled in Mumbai. Britannia stores and restaurant for berry pulao, Sali boti and Bombay duck; paradise for dhansak and kid gosht.

PUSHKAR FARE:

With its glittering lake and grand Rajasthan architecture, it's no wonder that the stunning desert city of pushkar has become a favorite with international travelers. This colonization by the backpackers has given rise to a distinct gastronomic culture that caters to the foreign visitor. There are german bakeries, henrew offering everything from gado gado to the arab spice za'atar for your lebeneh, pastas FLAVOURED WITH curry patta, hummus partnered with naan, enchiladas with a cumin-laden saag, zucchini daal.a cuisine born out of multiple interpretions of multiple cuisines to comfort the homesick traveler. And everything's vegetarian! Moon dance for its honey nut cake and pastas.

 

GUJARATI FOOD:

Carnivores may scoff at Gujarat's vegetarian cuisine, but a trip to Ahmedabad is bound to make them reconsider.for the uninitiated, agashiye and vishalla restaurants offer the best introduction to this subtle, dlicate cuisine. Here, you realize that Gujarati food isn't restricted to the ubiquitous dhokla and khandvi. Neither does its flavors came purely from an overgenerous hand of sugar. Gujarati cooking also has a taste for sesame seeds and peanuts, for asafetida and mustard seeds, whole red chillies and curry leaves. Amative for its batata shaak, kadhi and rotlis and vishalla for its thalis.

ROYAL CUISINE OF SAILANA:

Michelin chefs can have their foie gras and beluga caviar but there's nothing quite food cooked by a maharaja. In Rajasthan surajgarh fort, HRH vikram singh of sailana has revived the secret recipes of his royal house and presents them in an elaborate banquet that evokes the grandeur of an era bygone. Feast, as the maharajas did, on meat cooked fresh rose petals-rare dishes and an even rarer experience that you won't get anywhere else.

 

CHETTINAD:

Say the word chettinad and the first thing that comes to mind is food. Not the place with its magnificent palaces and mansions or its business-savvy community. It's the cuisine-spice-laden and rich, but never too fiery or oily. On the outside, chettinad cuisine may seem no different from its other south Indian siblings, but dig a little deeper and you'll nitice distinctive variations that set it entirely apart. Partake of a typical chettnad meal and you'll see it won't have more than three fried items and one meat item; its side dishes ill always be in odd numbers; that colour is important. Karaikudi: the bangala for authentic chettinad food served on banana lesves.

SOUTHERN COMFORT:

Imagine a plave where you can savour kongunad, chettinad's, arcot, Andhra, Hyderabad, mappila, udupi, travancore, Syrian and many more regional speciality south Indian cuisines. That place is Chennai. From the traditional tamilian idli-vada tiffin and the perfectly crisp karimeen fry of kerala to andhra's spicy drumstick mutton curry and udupi favorites such as bise bele bath, medu vada and diamond masala dosas- there's more than one restaurant for each cuisine. And if you're pressed for time, look no further than dasshin at chennai's ITC Park Sheraton, a restaurant that allows you to sample a variety of rural from all the four state of south India.

 

GOAN FLAVOURS:

A visit to goa is a culinary experience that's hard to match four and a half centuries of Portuguese rule have resulted in a cuisine infused not only with Iberian flavors, but also with those from Portuguese colonies in Africa, Malaysia, latin America and arab countries. Today, while goa's shack-lined beaches are gaining as much popularity for offering every conceivable international; cuisine from Japanese to Greek as they are for their moonlit parties, its indigenous flavours-spiceladen, aromatic and earthy-continue to reign supreme. O'cozinheiro close to panjim, for it sorpotel, sannas and seafood; longuinhos in margao for its chorizo- and-eggs breakfast.

MAPPILA CUISINE:

Many great cuisines owe their creation to a meeting of cultures. So it is with mappila-the cuisine of kerala's Muslim community. The Arabs came to kerala's coast for its spices, and brought with them their Islamic culture. As a strong Muslim settlement established itself on the coast, a distinct cuisine evolved that drew heavily on ingredients and cooking styles from both local and Arab cultures without bearing any resemblance to its predecessors. The best place to acquaint yourself with Malabar Muslim food is Calicut; zain's hotel for biriyani.

 

NAWABI FEAST:

Even those unfamiliar with lacunaria or awash cuisine would have heard of its edges sealed with dough, and left to simmer for hours over burning charcoal. Influenced by the mughal style of cooking, this largely meat-based cuisine forms an integral part of Lucknow's culture-one that still baars the stamp of its royal and aristocratic past. Today, in the labyrinthine lanes of Te old city of Lucknow descendants of the cooks from the royal kitchens still prepare wedding banquets replate with kababs, qormas, and pulaos and speciality breads. Mohd idris for its mutton bityani; rahim for its sheermal and kulchas.

 

ILISH

For Bengalis, the magic of the monsoon in kolkata isn't only about the rains; it's also about a certain culinary treat that they bring them-plump, butter-textured ilish. While purists argue that finer specimens can be found across the border in Bangladesh, a trip to this country in search of ilish could prove futile-the best stuff is all exported to kolkata, among other places. Fried crisp and eaten with rice, steamed in banana leaves, cooked in milk and mustard oil-no fish is prepared in more than ilish.

TIBETAN:

When the Dalai Lama sought refuge in dharamsala, not only did thousand of Tibetans find a new home-their cuisine did too. Some of the best example of Tibetan food can be found in mcleodganj, India's little Lhasa, where scores of restaurants set up by Lhasa's elite serve this cuisine in its truest form. Bu that is the magic of Tibetan cuisine-where humble vegetables such as the cabbage and potato combine with simple spices like garlic and ginger and transform into some of the most spectacularly flavorsome dishes known to the palate.

 

BUNT FOOD:

Travel to the western shores of south India and you'll encounter an enterprising community of landowners called bunts, natives of a strip of coast that stretches southwards from kundapura in Karnataka to kasargod in kerala. The food of these people is a zestful fare: drenched in coconut, spiced with locally grown cinnamon, cumin, red chilli and further flavored with tamarind and onte puli. What's more, the eating habits of these people vary with every season, resulting in a cuisine neither so rich in diversity that even a year may nor be enough to understand it. Mangalore.