Hello, hello, hello world travelers! Now the best way to travel around in Europe is by train, but unfortunately for us we do not have time to take the train all the way to our next destination. Once again, pull out your boarding passes everyone and let’s hop on aboard for the 12 hour flight to our final country before we return home.
We have touched down in New Delhi, India! I don’t know about you all, but I think this is the stop I have been looking forward to all semester. Bring it on, India! I’m ready to go to town!
So India is well known for being a very bright, colorful country with pretty good hospitality and sense of welcoming and community. Their movie production industry, known as Bollywood, is the largest in the world and produces the most movies per year in the world (yes even more than Hollywood). They are the second largest country in the world and home to several huge metropolises that boast incredible advancements. Most importantly, to us however, is that their cuisine is daring, but absolutely spot on! Each region in India has their own special spin to Indian cuisine that distinguishes themselves from another. For example, in the region of Kerala, coconut is a very popular ingredient in their dishes, whereas in Kolkata, they favor seafood dishes heavily and include fish or shrimp often in their dishes.
Since we’re in New Delhi though, we will be trying the Delhi region cuisine, which is heavily influenced by the Punjabi communities that live there. Frankly, due to my lack of complete cultural awareness and knowledge (hey, this is an honest space, right?) we will be going to the most common area for “typical” Indian food and taste a little sample of some butter chicken and saag paneer.
As I said earlier, Indian cuisine is daring and bright, so to no surprise butter chicken is a bold, bright orange dish. Alright, alright, hold your horses fam. Yeah we went from black squid to bright orange chicken, but this one, I think at least, looks much more appetizing than the Spanish dish we tried two weeks ago. Anyway, butter chicken is prepared by first marinating the chicken in a yogurt and spice mixture. It is then cooked in a traditional Indian clay over called a tandoor, but also may be pan fried, grilled, or made to whatever way you want your chicken. It’s then served in a butter and curry sauce, often spiced with cumin, cinnamon, coriander, pepper, and other spices.
Saag paneer on the other hand, is probably the opposite of butter chicken, mostly in that it’s a vegetable and it’s not very brightly colored. Saag paneer is a spinach dish with cubes of cheese mixed in. The spinach is first thrown in a food processor until it is made into a smooth puree. The paneer (cheese) is then pan fried on the stove until each piece is browned. Onions, garlic, ginger, and chile are often cooked together and mixed into the saag puree, with the paneer cubes being added in afterwards. I’ll personally be sitting out of this taste sample, because I do not like spinach one bit. I will eat up any butter chicken y’all didn’t eat so don’t worry!
Well I hope you all enjoyed your taste test for today with not one, but two delicious dishes! Now, yeah I do not like spinach, but I can understand why people like the dish and can definitely appreciate it for its taste alone. Both of these dishes have phenomenal flavors and pretty cool colors, which is no shock to the Indian culture. Next week we will embark to our very last stop on our world tour and try yet another bold dish. Do not get comfortable yet, travelmates, because this next dish is sure to be a kicker! Until next time, travelers!
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