The recipe index
41 recipes, seven culinary regions
Everything here is a household dish first and a restaurant dish second. Filter by where it comes from, what grain it leans on, and how much heat you want.
41 recipes
75 minRajma Chawal
Kidney beans simmered until the gravy turns silky
90 minSarson da Saag
Mustard greens slow-cooked with maize flour and white butter
180 minDal Makhani
Black urad simmered overnight over dying coals
55 minKashmiri Dum Aloo
Baby potatoes in a yoghurt and fennel gravy, no onion or garlic
45 minIdli with Sambar
Fermented rice cakes and a tamarind lentil stew
35 minAvial
Nine vegetables in coconut, cumin and raw coconut oil
60 minBisi Bele Bath
Karnataka's 'hot lentil rice' with its own dedicated masala
50 minChettinad Pepper Chicken
Freshly roasted pepper and stone flower, dry-fried
40 minRagi Mudde with Saaru
Finger millet balls, swallowed not chewed
30 minMeen Moilee
Fish poached in gentle coconut milk with turmeric
35 minMalabar Prawn Curry
Chemmeen in a kudampuli-soured coconut gravy
45 minKolambi Bhaat
Konkani prawn rice cooked in one pot with goda masala
30 minShorshe Ilish
Hilsa steamed in raw mustard paste and mustard oil
45 minCholar Dal
Bengal gram with coconut, raisins and panch phoron
30 minAloo Posto
Potatoes in a raw poppy-seed paste
45 minDalma
Odisha's temple dal cooked with vegetables and no onion
90 minUndhiyu
Surti winter vegetables slow-cooked upside down
100 minDal Baati Churma
Rajasthan's baked wheat balls drowned in ghee
50 minMisal Pav
Sprouted matki under a fiery kat gravy
35 minGoan Fish Curry
Coconut, Kashmiri chilli and a shot of tamarind
30 minMasor Tenga
Assamese sour fish curry, light as broth
70 minSmoked Pork with Bamboo Shoot
Naga hearth-smoked pork, raja mircha and fermented shoot
70 minChak-hao Kheer
Manipuri black rice pudding, deep violet
20 minIndori Poha with Jalebi
Flattened rice, fennel-sweet and topped with jeeravan
30 minBhutte ka Kees
Grated corn cooked down in milk, an Indore street classic
55 minBajra Khichdi
Pearl millet and moong, the desert's winter bowl
25 minJowar Bhakri
Hand-patted sorghum flatbread, no rolling pin
150 minHyderabadi Kacchi Biryani
Raw marinated meat and rice sealed and cooked together on dum
12 minKadak Masala Chai
Boiled hard with ginger, cardamom and full-fat milk
60 minMasala Dosa
Fermented rice crepe wrapped around turmeric potatoes
30 minTomato Rasam
Thin, peppery tamarind broth drunk as much as eaten
100 minChole Bhature
Dark tea-stained chickpeas with a balloon of fried bread
80 minButter Chicken
Tandoori chicken folded into a tomato and cream gravy
110 minRogan Josh
Kashmiri lamb in a red, fennel-scented gravy
45 minAloo Paratha
Potato-stuffed griddle bread with butter and pickle
45 minPav Bhaji
Griddled mashed vegetables with buttered soft rolls
35 minKhaman Dhokla
Steamed gram-flour squares, sweet-sour and spongy
75 minLitti Chokha
Sattu-stuffed wheat balls with smoked brinjal mash
90 minPuran Poli
Jaggery and chana dal sealed inside a paper-thin flatbread
45 minBaingan Bharta
Fire-roasted aubergine mashed with onion and tomato
60 minGulab Jamun
Milk-solid dumplings soaked in cardamom-rose syrup