Regional cooking in India

Ask many people what they think of as typical Indian cuisine and they are likely to reel off the old favourites served up in their local curry house: chicken tikka masala, lamb rogan josh and so on. However, just as spaghetti bolognaise is traditionally from Bologna and paella from Valencia there is a huge regional variation in Indian cooking. To tell the truth, chicken tikka masala’s provenance is in fact the UK. It is a dish concocted by restaurant owners here catering to the palates of the average Brit who wanted a sauce to go with his chicken tikka.
If you have ever wondered why you don’t see much beef or pork on the menu in Indian restaurants it is because the majority of Indians are Hindu and not allowed to eat beef. The second most common religion is Islam which forbids the consumption of pork and so it is that chicken and lamb are far more common on the menu than beef and pork.
West Bengal and Kerala are the only two states in India where it is permissible to buy and sell beef and pork and so dishes such as beef bhuna and pork vindaloo are commonplace.  States such as Goa and Tamil Nadu have a long coastline and so seafood appears there in its various guises. Rajasthan is famed for its hunting, and game such as grouse and venison are therefore popular ingredients there. Gujarat is predominantly vegetarian and home to many of the popular vegetarian dishes that are served in Indian restaurants.
There are many Indian recipes on the internet and in cookery books by chefs such as Madhur Jaffrey so next time you fancy trying your hand at cooking a curry don’t just stick to the old favourites but try something new. If you are short of time, companies such as Schwartz do blends of spices for curries but if you have longer it is well worth cooking your curry completely from scratch using the many different spices available in supermarkets or Indian grocers.