Nothing but brief references to the food have been written in this blog. However, we'd like to do an exclusive indian food post, as it has been 2 and a half weeks enjoying it, so I think it's deserved! :)
Along these days, we have tried any kind of dish we have seen in the menus. Menus are divided in veg and non-veg food, because lot of people there are pure vegetarians. In fact, south indian cuisine is basically vegetarian, while northern indian recipes include lamb and chicken among their dishes.
And, of course, the famous tandoori, the well-known clay oven in which some delicious dishes are cooked.
Tikka -marinated-, butter masala -cooked in butter with spices-, and many other "surnames" more can be added after chicken, lamb , paneer -cottage cheese-, aloo -potato-, dal -lentils-, palak -spinach-, etc... we don't remember any bad dish at all, even we used to choose always new things in order to get an overview of the indian cuisine. All of them eaten with rice and the tasteful breads: roti, chapati, and especially, our favourite, the naan. All these preceded by starters like samosa -deep fried veg or chicken paste- or pakora -made of veg, chicken, paneer-... and followed by lassi -yoghourt drink- or sweet cheese balls.
For breakfast, poori bhaji -special round bread with potato and peas- or paratha -stuffed bread, with potato or other ingredients-.
Our passion led us to the already mentioned cooking lessons in Udaipur. In those, we used many spices in order to elaborate exquisite sauces and dishes, such as red hot chili, turmeric, coriander seeds, fresh coriander, fennel seeds, fennogreek seeds and leaves, mustard seeds, cummin seeds, green and black cardamom seeds, curry leaves, asafetida, amapole, ginger, cloves, pepper, mango powder and others. We brought home all these up to 5 kg or something :)!
After each meal, or for breakfast, tea was a must. Our usual picks were the honey ginger lemon tea and the chai masala, aka indian tea. Chai masala is a mix of spices that, when added to the tea -Assam tea better than any- together with some milk and sugar, brings a superb flavour to our mouths.
Now, it's time to go back to our usual food, but we'll try to develop our indian cooking skills, and above all, never forget the flavours that accompanied us in so many good moments along our indian journey.
