Recommend One Indian Cuisine A First Time Tourist Should Definitely Eat When They Get There

Say you have a first time tourist in front of you. They will come to India for the first time, and wants something unique in India. What specific food would you recommend them to eat that would definitely describe India's culture, heritage, and taste?

 

Hmmm... It's definitely hard to recommend just one meal since Indian cuisine is very varied and has a lot to offer. But if I have to choose one, it has to be Saag Paneer:

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When trying out a country's local cuisine, you better start with something close to your heart. And for me, Saag Paneer is just that, a creamy, cheesy but equally delicious vegetarian meal. Saag is a generic word for all kinds of greens, from broccoli, to spinach and even to kale. Paneer means fresh, white, unsalted cheese. Sometimes, this dish is called Palak Paneer. Palak just translates to spinach since some recipes has this as its main ingredient.

The recipe also calls for some garlic, onion and ginger to give more flavour and spice. Other possible ingredients to use are cumin, fenugreek, green chile, chill powder or even coriander. It depends, but I find that no two Saag Paneer tastes the same because different restaurants serve different levels of seasoning as well.

Taste-wise, it's like cream based spinach soup but with bits of cheese here and there. I could eat this all day, every day and not get tired of it. Haha!

Yum, yum and yum! I'm looking forward to other member's recommendations.

 

I would say Biryani and Momos will be good choices for a first timer in India. Biryani is a spiced rice dish that consists of only a few toppings like meat and maybe some vegetables. Momos are dumplings classified as dim sum are familiar to those who like Asian dishes. This would help one ease his or her tastebuds for other Inidan tastes. Perhaps those who have a a bit of an adventurous personality would care to try some dishes that are spicier and definitely contain more exotic ingredients.

 

Indian cuisine is that varied that it's always going to be hard to recommend one dish. A lot of places these days will offer a platter of various dishes for a person to try so they can then pick and choose what's to their taste.

People tend to think that Indian food has to be hot and spicy but there's also a lot of more sweet and creamy dishes to try aswell.

 

For me, my absolute favorite is Aloo Gobi, which is a dish with potatoes and cauliflower with Indian spices. To me, it's just such a delicious dish, but I guess an added bonus is that it can be for vegetarians or meat eaters. I'm not a vegetarian by any stretch, but this particular dish is just so flavorsome that I don't even notice the absence of meat. It's my go-to dish any time I eat Indian food!

 

I haven't been to India, but in my hometown, there's this local restaurant that specializes in Asian-Fusion food. One of my favorites at Spice Fusion is called Dry Chicken Curry. This recipe is said to be made with authentic Indian spices. While I'm not a big fan of curry, this dish however makes me forget about it. The taste is just simply different from our usual home-cooked fried chicken. It's yummy and the flavors are very distinct! I like eating it with my favorite naan!
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