Recipes · Region
The tandoor belt and the mountains — wheat breads, dairy-rich gravies, slow Awadhi and Kashmiri cooking, and the warm spicing of garam masala.
33 recipes
Punjab / North India · Indian
The everyday North Indian dry curry: potatoes and cauliflower cooked with turmeric, cumin and ginger until golden and tender. Simple, vegan, and a benchmark home dish.
Punjab / North India · Indian
North India's most comforting breakfast: whole-wheat flatbread stuffed with spiced mashed potato, rolled and griddled with ghee until golden and blistered. Eaten with white butter, yogurt, and pickle — the Punjabi morning, on a plate.
Punjab (North India) · Indian
Whole eggplant charred over an open flame until it collapses, then mashed into a smoky, spiced mash with onion, tomato, ginger and green chile. This is the rustic Punjabi original — every bite carries that charcoal aroma.
North India (Punjab–Delhi belt) · Indian
The North Indian home-kitchen classic: tender okra pan-fried until every trace of slime is gone, then tossed with onions, tomatoes and a bright, amchoor-spiked masala. A non-slimy bhindi masala that stays crisp at the edges.
Editor's pick Delhi / North India · Indian
Delhi's restaurant icon: tandoori-marinated chicken simmered in a silky tomato gravy finished with butter and cream. Mildly spiced, faintly sweet, and built for scooping with naan.
Mughlai (Delhi, Lucknow) / North India · Indian
A royal Mughlai curry: chicken braised in a mild, fragrant sauce of yogurt, fried onions and nut paste, scented with cardamom and saffron. Rich and aromatic rather than fiery.
Editor's pick British-Indian (rooted in Punjab) / North India diaspora · Indian
The British-Indian restaurant icon: charred marinated chicken tikka in a creamy, spiced tomato-onion gravy. A cousin of butter chicken, with more spice and a bit more bite.
Punjab / Delhi / North India · Indian
The North Indian brunch champion: deeply spiced, tangy chole (chickpea curry) paired with bhature — soft, pillowy deep-fried leavened bread. Indulgent, satisfying, and a Delhi-Punjab institution.
Punjab / North India · Indian
The slow-simmered Punjabi classic: whole black urad and kidney beans cooked for hours into a velvety, smoky, buttery dal. Restaurant-rich at home — the patience is the recipe.
Punjab / North India · Indian
The North Indian dhaba classic: soft-simmered toor dal finished with a searing ghee tadka of cumin, garlic and dried red chilli poured over the top. Comforting, protein-rich and on the table in under an hour.
Punjab / North India · Indian
North India's beloved winter dessert: grated carrots slow-cooked in milk and ghee until jammy and rich, studded with nuts and scented with cardamom.
Lucknow, Awadh (Uttar Pradesh) / North India · Indian
The legendary Awadhi kebab said to be invented for a toothless Nawab: spiced minced meat tenderised with raw papaya and enriched with ghee, fried into soft patties that dissolve on the tongue. Lucknow's edible silk.
Editor's pick North India / pan-Indian · Indian
The king of Indian sweets: soft khoya dumplings fried to deep gold and soaked in warm rose-and-cardamom syrup until they swell, juicy and melting. The dessert no Diwali or wedding is complete without.
Kashmir / North India · Indian
The everyday green of every Kashmiri table: leafy haak simmered whole in water with mustard oil, asafoetida, and a single dried red chili, until silky and brothy. Minimalist, soulful, and eaten with rice at nearly every meal.
North India / pan-Indian (and across West and South Asia) · Indian
India's festive sweet: fermented batter piped into spirals, fried crisp, and soaked in saffron syrup. Crunchy outside, juicy inside, and best eaten hot.
Punjab & Delhi (North India) · Indian
Paneer, onions and capsicum in a semi-dry tomato masala built on freshly pounded coriander seeds and red chillies — the peppery, aromatic North Indian classic named for the wok it's cooked in. Nothing like the flat, creamy versions.
North India / pan-Indian · Indian
The elegant, melt-in-the-mouth cashew fudge of Diwali: just cashews and sugar cooked into a smooth dough, rolled thin, and cut into the signature silver-leafed diamonds. Four ingredients, endless festive prestige.
Kashmir / North India · Indian
A jewel of the Kashmiri Pandit table: baby potatoes fried until golden, then slow-cooked (dum) in a glossy red yogurt gravy scented with fennel and dry ginger, and — true to tradition — no onion or garlic. Rich, aromatic, vegetarian.
Kashmir / North India · Indian
The Kashmiri Wazwan classic: lamb slow-cooked in a brick-red gravy coloured by Kashmiri chilies and ratan jot, perfumed with fennel, ginger powder, and warm spices — and, in the Pandit style, no onion or garlic. Aromatic, not fiery.
North India (Punjab & the Mughlai belt) · Indian
The North Indian comfort classic: lamb or mutton mince slow-fried into a deep, spiced masala with sweet green peas. The secret is the bhuna — searing the meat hard until the fat runs and the spices caramelize.
North India (Mughlai-influenced) · Indian
A vegetarian restaurant showpiece: soft paneer-and-potato dumplings in a rich, mildly sweet tomato-cashew gravy. Indulgent, festive, and made for special occasions.
North India (Mughal-era Delhi) · Indian
The original Indian frozen dessert — full-fat milk slow-cooked until thick and caramel-sweet, scented with cardamom, saffron and pistachio, then frozen dense and hard. No churning, no ice-cream machine, just patience.
Punjab, North India · Indian
Soft paneer and sweet green peas simmered in a silky onion-tomato masala finished with kasuri methi and cream — the North Indian home-and-dhaba classic, rich but not heavy, and ready in under an hour.
North India (via Persia and Central Asia) · Indian
The pillowy, blistered flatbread of North Indian restaurants — made at home on a hot skillet or under the broiler, no tandoor required. Soft, chewy, and brushed with butter.
Old Delhi (Purani Dilli), Mughal era · Indian
The legendary dawn stew of Mughal-era Delhi — mutton or lamb shank braised overnight in a deep, spice-laden gravy thickened with wheat flour and finished with sizzling ghee. Rich, silky and unforgettable, eaten with warm khameeri roti or naan.
Editor's pick Punjab / North India · Indian
North India's beloved greens-and-cheese curry: soft paneer cubes in a bright, gently spiced spinach gravy. Vegetarian, quick, and a benchmark of a good home kitchen.
Punjab / North India · Indian
India's favourite vegetarian starter: cubes of paneer and peppers marinated in spiced yogurt and charred until smoky-edged. The veg counterpart to chicken tikka, off the grill or under the broiler.
North India, Punjab–Delhi belt · Indian
The North Indian monsoon snack: slivered onions bound with just enough besan, spiked with ajwain and green chilli, fried into shaggy, shatteringly crisp fritters. No thick batter, no soggy middles — and a cup of masala chai alongside.
Punjab / North India · Indian
North India's ultimate comfort food: red kidney beans simmered low and slow in a deeply spiced onion-tomato gravy until creamy and rich. Served over rice as rajma-chawal, it's the Sunday lunch a whole region grew up on.
North India / pan-Indian street food · Indian
India's most famous snack: a crisp, flaky pastry triangle stuffed with spiced potatoes and peas. Made from scratch, with the secret of a low-and-slow fry for that signature blistered crust.
Punjab / North India · Indian
The Punjabi winter classic: mustard greens slow-cooked with spinach and bathua, thickened with cornmeal and finished with a ghee-and-garlic tadka. Earthy, mellow and made for makki di roti.
Hyderabad / North India (pan-Muslim South Asia) · Indian
The dessert that defines Eid morning: fine vermicelli toasted in ghee and simmered in milk with dates, nuts, and cardamom into a fragrant, festive pudding. Rich, celebratory, and shared with every visitor.
Punjab / Delhi / North India · Indian
The smoky, scarlet-edged chicken that launched a thousand restaurant menus: yogurt-and-spice marinated, charred hard, and finished with butter and lemon. A home oven or grill stands in for the tandoor.