Foodporn

One of the main reasons for me travelling to the countries I'm visiting is their food. Indian has always been an absolute favourite of mine, and I can't wait to take baths in pho in Vietnam or to eat tubs of thai curry and pad thai... So far I've gorged on yak in Tibet, momos (dumplings) in Tibet, Nepal and India, eaten tonnes of dhal bhat in Nepal and devoured endless bowls of curry here in India.

I'm going to do a cooking course in every country I go to. I did one in Nepal, where I made to different kinds of momos, and I did one when I was in Udaipur. The course in Udaipur was a lot more extensive than the course in Kathmandu, as I made 10 different dishes! I booked it with a guy who owns a spice shop in Udaipur, and his family has a farm outside the city where they grow all of the spices organically. So on a sunny Thursday afternoon I went Vijay's shop, and ten hopped on the back of his motorbike and after a 10 minute ride we were at his home in the suburbs. Vijay then set up a tiny little kitchen on the floor of his bedroom, and that's where I had the 3½ hour lesson with his two daughters and wife buzzing about.

First I made chai, a sweet milk tea that indians drink in abundance. There is not a single food or drink establishment in India where you can't get a cup of steaming masala chai. The aisles of trains are constantly filled with men selling chai, and as soon as bus has stopped someone will be shouting "chai! chai! chai!" and lugging a thermos with them. I love chai, though I prefer it with a lot less sugar than how the Indians like it. The Indians really love their sweets.

After making myself a tasty cup of chai, I made some vegetable pakora, which is a delicious starter of veggies (or paneer or chicken) mixed with spices, chick pea flour and water and then deep fried in small bite sized morsels. So tasty, especially when served with a chutney or a cooling raita. Pakora is widely available on the streets of India, 20 rupees will get you a eart portion and they are delicious! Though I always forgo the chilies they offer with them, as they're usually spicy enough without them.

I made three different curries: malai kofta, a potato ball that's deep fried (Indians love to deep fry their food) and served in a curry sauce with curd (yoghurt) and fresh coriander, aloo gobi, potato and cauliflower in a tomato curry sauce and then a paneer butter masala. Paneer butter masala is my favourite curry; it's cubes of paneer (an Indian cheese) in a rich, buttery tomato masala sauce. Oh my it's delicious. And all of these curries are very simple and easy to make as well fast. All you need are the staples for Indian cooking: oil, spices (the 7 basic spices found in every Indian home are turmeric, coriander, cumin seeds, anis, salt, garam masala and chilli), fresh chopped coriander and onions and garlic, onion and ginger pastes. With those in your kitchen you can pretty much make any curry you desire.

To go with the curry I made 3 different kinds of chapati (types on Indian breads often used instead of rice); plain paratha, aloo paratha (stuffed paratha with potato and spices) and a plain chapatti. All 3 use the same basic dough, made from wheat flour, and fried in similar fashion on a chapatti pan. A chapatti is fried ony using a little bit of oil and then pressed on the pan to puff it up and a paratha is folded with oil inside it and then fried in little oil.

I prepared a rice dish too, Khichdi rice, which is a dish in itself. Very similar to a biryani,  it's cooked rice with tomatoes, peas and potatoes with spices. Easy and quick to make, the veg can easily be substituted for meat. This is a dish that is served at family gatherings and parties as it's super easy to make in large batches.

I also made a pudding, gulab jamun. A basic sweet of solid milk rolled with flour into a dough ball and deep fried before being drenched and served in a sugar suryp is incredibly sweet and of the four balls I made I only ate one. This was also partly due to having gorged on the previous 9 items of food prepared... Indians have an incredibly sweet tooth, sweet shops are on almost every street corner and the variety of products is huge. Once finished I hopped back onto Vijay's bike and he gave me a ride back into town where I proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon nursing the world's largest food baby.

Indian street food is a whole new world of deliciousness. Samosas, pakoras, dhals, puri...The list goes on. At first I was wary of trying them, not due to the poor leve of hygiene that might be used, but due to the fact that most are on the sides of busy, dirty streets and cars and buses are constantly wizing past. But I've gotten over that now and am stopping for snack in the afternoon or having a meal with the local standing by the side of road plate in hand.

Tandoori dishes are also super tasty, especially tandoori chicken. Serve that with some butter garlic naan and you're drooling.

My favourite Indian dish currently is Masala Dosa. A dish that is traditionally a breakfast dish in the South, is eaten at all times of day and pretty much all of the country.  I've had it for breakfast every day for the past 2 weeks, and lot of the times for dinner too. It's a large, thin rice pancake that's stuffed with a spiced potato and onion mix and  served with sambar, a curry gravy and a coconut chutney. The combination is delicious, and it's fast and cheap. So good. Oh my. Another delight is idi vala, a rice cake and deep fried chick pea donught, served with sambar and the coconut chutney.

Lunch in many places is a thali, a dish with rice and lots of different curries and veggies. The best one is in Mysore, served on a banana leaf. Rice, three different kinds of curried veg, sambar, dhal and a coconut curry sauce, curd and onion curd and a papad for the grand total of 85 rupees is just the best lunch of the whole trip. That place is so good I went there every day when I was in Mysore. I also had a masala dosa at the bus stand in Mysore every morning. No shame.

Mysore also had the best market I've ever been to, and I've been to many. Rows upon rows of stalls selling fruits and vegs, spices, rices and pulses... It was glorious! Never in my life have I seen so many bananas in one place. Nor have ever seen someone carefully stack red onions into neat pyramids as they did there.

As tasty as this has all been so far, I've not had fish at all since I left Last Resort in Nepal. And boy do I miss it. On Sunday I'm going to Pondicherry and the first thing 'm going to do after my nap (I get in at 6 am on a bus from Bangalore) is go to a restaurant and splurge on a whole fish.