India is all about the food. Find one Indian who will disagree! Food stands above all. People are more willing to pay for food than for education, stuff or clothes (Even though in the next chapter I might discuss how obsessive ladies here are with clothes!). If one goes to a wedding, no matter how great the atmosphere is, no matter how greatly it is organized or how posh it is. If the food sucks, then the wedding sucks and people will complain about this horrific experience for another month. It is true, food is simply what most people here live for (or die for). (Just skip the sightseeing! If you didn’t try butter chicken, you basically never visited India). Each state, in some cases even a single city, has it’s own special dish which you can’t find anywhere else but there. Or the only original form of a particular dish can be found only in a particular city. This makes whole India so exciting. When travelling, you will always encounter new things in terms of food. As mentioned previously, I would skip all those bus tours and instead opt for cycle or food tours which take you deep inside of a city.
Now let’s get to the point! It’s been two years for me in India (too long or too short?). During that time I encountered some great foods – most of the cases were really really great. However, I also had not so great experiences. I wouldn’t say that there was something I wouldn’t like at all, it just didn’t match my taste. Street food was and always will be the best! Below I want to mention my 3 favorite dishes and 2 dishes that I didn’t quite understand. Most of the dishes are completely skipped by tourists, sadly. And honestly, even though I love Biryani, I believe if you want to go beyond the mainstream, then this reading might be for you. I am also trying to be as objective as possible, otherwise I would just write – everything with paneer (cheese) and butter is the best 😉 But I will control myself and try to give you a good and objective view.
1. Khaman Dhokla
Oh my god, I can’t explain how much I love this dish. Unlike other dishes that are sometimes too heavy for the day, this one is always a refreshing experience and can be eaten any day. It is like eating a juicy sponge. It has a mix of salty and sweet taste with a little amount of pomegranate seeds sprinkled around and a mysterious sauce that the whole thing is put into. It is a dish that comes from the state Gujarat and it is usually eaten for breakfast. (Well, I think it is a great dish to eat at any point of the day.). Recently, I stumbled over a nice blog called Indian Simmer where they provide with good steps how you can prepare it at home. There is a shop in my area that sells these wonderful “things”. But it opens only at 12pm!!! Now, imagine my cravings when I get to eat it only once a month or so just because of silly timings.
2. Pav Bhaji
The second dish that remains undiscovered by tourists coming to India: Pav Bhaji! Yet, whenever I have a chance to take my foreign friends to taste it they end up dying for it! I even had cases when after visiting me they kept messaging me and asking for that “one dish with tomato sauce, Michelle which one was it?”. It is the great Pav Bhaji. I believe this is the best street food of all and it compliments the taste of all people from all countries as I haven’t experienced anyone who wouldn’t like it – and we know how annoyingly sensitive some foreigners can be with Indian food (Indians will understand what I mean). I think you haven’t visited India if you haven’t tried this one particular dish. While Dhokla is my personal choice pav bhaji is something that should be a universal choice and it will also teach you about the different perspective on Indian street food. It is a South Indian dish but you can find it basically everywhere in India. It is a dish made with love.
3. Mutton dishes
Even though I avoid eating meat in India due to various of reasons, I believe that mutton dishes are highly underestimated by tourists coming to India. Not sure why. In my opinion the best prepared mutton dishes are to be found in India, Pakistan and the Middle East. You can’t compare their mutton dishes with those in the West. The way how they prepare mutton here is miraculous. It can have a light sweat sub-taste, it is incredibly soft and it literally melts in your mouth. The way they spice it up gives it a completely new approach that for us dull-taste Europeans is unknown. If I told you that sweet meat curry is delicious you would roll your eyes first. But once you tasted it, your mind will get enlightened! Mutton Curry, Mutton Tikka, Mutton Something, Mutton Anything are the names you should go after!
Dishes that didn’t really catch me:
1. Pani Puri – Golgappa
Well, I wouldn’t say I hate or dislike it, I just don’t understand this particular dish. It comes in a liquid form and the only liquid form of food we, Westerners have is soup. Golgappa is a high concentration of spices mixed with water and you have to drink the whole thing in one huuuuuuuge sip – and I think that huge sip factor makes it bit disgusting as you have to swallow everything in one go 
The taste itself is quite nice but I guess it is the way how it is eaten that makes it so yak.
Laavy`s kitchen is describing the dish from the Indian perspective and I think it is the best way how to put it:
Pani puri or golgappa has its own style.Unlike in restaurants where it is served in a big plate with all the ingredients, the street vendor serves it in a totally different way. A small bowl is given to the customer and he is all ready for the challenge.I love this style and let me tell you how it works.
The chat vendor/chat walla takes a puri,makes a hole,stuffs the stuffing inside,dips the whole puri in a big earthen pot of juicy pani and fianally puts it in your bowl.All these things happen in a fraction of a second.He moves so fast you can barely notice him doing this.
The challenge of the customer is to eat the whole puri before the vendor gives you another in your bowl.After biting into it,you are so lost in thought that you often forget that you should eat it fast and your next puri is on your way into the bowl.All the sweet and tangy juices fill your mouth and the taste will be heavenly.
You should definitely check out Laavy’s kitchen page. The way she writes about Indian food makes the whole topic more familiar to those who are complete newbies to Indian food.
2. Amritsari Kulcha
Ironic, because I myself live in Amritsar. Now, the reason why I really can’t stand this dish anymore is because it is eaten everywhere here and all the time. I think every Amritsari citizen eats a kulcha every single Saturday AND Sunday. While I enjoyed eating it in the start I got simply so bored of it and by now I really feel it is highly overestimated. Please don’t hate me for that 😀 People from all over India travel to Amritsar to eat this dish, so you can imagine my level of guilt. It is a dry heavy bread dish … that is how I see it. And that is where my story about the Kulcha ends – a dry breakup.
3. Nothing else – I feel I discovered only 2 dishes that I am not so fond of cause besides these I can’t think of any other dishes that didn’t satisfy my taste. I love the fact that in India no matter what you try for the first time it is like a discovery of a new colour and have a reaction: ‘I had no clue food can taste this way!’
michelle's wunder 