This is a personal take on modern Indian homefood – whether cooked for the family or for guests. There is no such thing as ‘Indian cuisine’, but rather there are various ‘cuisines of India’.

The scope of Indian cooking is vast and encompasses a wide range of geographic and climatic conditions, centuries of history and many religions and cultures. However, home food is also heavily influenced by the dishes of restaurants, cafes, and street stalls, so there are plenty of recipes here that have their origins in commercial kitchens.

The art of spicing and choice of ingredients varies from region to region as well as from one cook to the next. Indian food cannot be separated easily from its social and religious context. India has more languages than any other country, and with 31 states and territories and 15 languages, each spoken in different dialects, it’s no wonder that this diverse culture is reflected in the country’s cuisines. The states have different climates, enjoy different natural resources, and follow different agricultural patterns. Consequently even the taste, colour, texture, and appearance of the same delicacy changes from state to state.

The two religions that have the most influence on Indian food are Hinduism and Islam. The Hindu vegetarian tradition is widespread in India, although many Hindus eat meat now. Strict vegetarianism is mostly confined to the South and the state of Gujarat in the west. Beef, from the holy cow, is strictly taboo for Hindus, and pork is equally taboo for the Muslims.

India also has an extraordinary ability to absorb and make use of foreign gastronomic influences, and each state has a legacy of foreign influences on its food. Among the most notable are Arabian, Iranian, Mogul, and Chinese. Of these, the Moguls, who invaded India, arguably made the deepest impact. They brought with them exotic spices, dried fruit and nuts. The Indians combined these with milk and cream to make rich Mughlai dishes, including creamy kormas and fragrant biryanis and pulaos (spiced rice dishes). Iranian settlers, known as Parsees, are perhaps best known in culinary terms for their introduction of the ‘dhansak’ style of cooking, in which chicken or lamb is cooked with lentils and spices. From the Middle East came new ingredients, such as asafoetida (a dry resin from a tree – see feature on asafoetida), pistachio nuts, and coffee, and new ways of cooking, including the tandoor (clay oven). The Chinese offered kitchenware such as woks, knives, and plates in return for Indian pepper, and typical Chinese soups, chow meins, chop sueys, and fried rice and vegetables are particularly popular in East India.

Indian cooking combines six basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, spicy or pungent, bitter, and astringent. A well-balanced Indian meal will contain all six elements. Spices contribute many of the flavours, and the most important spices include chillies, mustard seeds, cumin, turmeric, fenugreek, ginger, coriander, and asafoetida. In sweet dishes, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and saffron are popular. Besides spices, the main flavouring ingredients are milk and its products, such as yogurt and cream. Onions and garlic are used in many savoury dishes, but they are prohibited in certain Hindu sects. Coconut oil ghee (clarified butter), sesame oil, and mustard oil are the most common cooking oils, although olive oil is used in the Portuguese-influenced Goa region.

Lentils or dals are common across the country, although there are regional variations. The word ‘dal’ or ‘dhal’ denotes not only the ingredient, but also the dish made from it. There are at least five dozen varieties of pulses, the most widely used of which are chickpeas (kabuli channa), black lentils (urad dal), gram lentils (channa dal) red lentils (masoor), yellow lentils or pigeon peas (toor, tuvar or arhar), kidney beans (rajma), black-eyed beans (lobia, rongi or chawli), and mung beans (green moong dal). Methods of cooking dal vary: in the North dals are quite thick, while in the South they have a more soup-like consistency. Some lentils require overnight soaking before cooking, while others can be prepared within minutes.

Indian breads are varied. The simplest bread is the chapati or roti, which is made from a dough of water and wheat flour and then heated on a griddle or tawa. Baste the chapati with butter or ghee and it becomes a paratha. If deep-fried, it is called a poori in the North and a luchi in the East. Another type of deep-fried bread with a stuffing is the kachori. Bake the bread in an oven and it becomes a naan. And poppadums are crispy deep-fried wafers often served with a set meal in a thali.

The best Indian rice is the famous basmati. It is predominantly grown in the Dehra Dun Valley, in the foothills of the Himalayas. Served on special occasions, it has long grains, is yellowish in colour and has a slightly sweet fragrance.

A thali is the all-purpose Indian vegetarian dish. Although it belongs to South India, it is found in the West and North too, and there are regional variations. The name comes from the ‘thali’ dish in which it is served, which consists of a metal plate with a number of small metal bowls known as katoris on it. Sometimes the bowls are replaced by small indentations on the plate itself. Often the plate is a big banana leaf. The food on a thali would be a variety of vegetable curry dishes, relishes, a couple of poppadums, puris or chapatis and a lot of rice. A deluxe variety would include a patta (a rolled betel leaf stuffed with fruit and nuts) and may also include yogurt and one or two desserts. The thali is replenished with any of the dishes until is satisfied.

Feeling peckish should never be a problem in India, with a wide variety of snack meals and finger foods to choose from. The great snack meal of the South is masala dosa, a potato and vegetable curry wrapped in a crispy rice pancake. More portable snacks include samosas or shingaras (meat and vegetables in a pastry triangle, fried) and pakoras found all over India. Bhelpuris (puffed rice with tamarind sauce), panipuris (the same puris filled with peppery and spicy water), chana (spiced chick peas served with puris) and bhajis (deep fried cakes of vegetables in gram flour) are also popular in most cities, and are often sold in peddled carts in the night. Farsans (crispy spicy fried snacks, like Bombay mix in Britain) can be bought in shops and wayside stalls throughout the country. Kababs are common in the North, while kababs rolled into griddle-fried bread, known as kathi rolls, originated in Kolkata (Calcutta), but are now widely available in other cities.

Milk is the basis for many Indian desserts. Kheer (rice pudding), shahi tukra (bread pudding), and seviyan (vermicelli pudding) are common throughout the country, although kheer is called payasam in the South. Kulfi, a sort of Indian ice cream, is widely eaten. Milk dishes are usually boiled until the liquid has been removed and then the various ingredients are added to desserts such as barfi, which has coconut with almond or pistachio flavouring. Sandesh is a variety of milk dish popular in Calcutta. Phirni is a rice pudding dessert with almonds and pistachios. Bebinca is a festive favourite in Goa made up of layered pancakes.

India boasts of a wide variety of fruits, from tropical delights in the South to apples, and apricots in the North. Cherries and strawberries are plentiful in Kashmir; mangoes, bananas and melons, particularly watermelons, are widespread; and there are pineapples in Assam, oranges in Kerala, and tangerines in Central India.

Tea is the most popular drink in the North, while southerners prefer to drink coffee. Coconut milk, straight from the young coconut, is a popular street drink and soda is also widely available. Finally there is the ubiquitous lassi, the cool, refreshing, delicious iced yogurt drink.

An Indian meal is rounded off with an after-dinner paan – a collection of spices and condiments such as aniseed and cardamom chewed with betel leaves.