Food, glorious food...The way to a man's heart is through his stomach...
Indian food is different from rest of the world not only in taste but also in cooking methods. It reflects a perfect blend of various cultures and ages. Just like Indian culture, food in India has also been influenced by various civilizations, which have contributed their share in its overall development and the present form.
I have a deep love for regional food. Being Maharashtriyan, I would love to share maharashrtiyan Traditional Recipes on “ khawaiye Giri”.
In the states like Maharashtra, the food is usually a mix of both north as well as south cooking styles. Here people use both the rice and the wheat with same interest.
Maharashtrian meals are scientifically planned and cooked. Different regions of the state offer a rich and varied variety of dishes, many of which have become are a rage all over the country. A blend of Malvani, Gaud Saraswat, Brahmin and Goan style in the coastal Konkani cuisine is as enchanting as the Varadi cuisine of the interior Maharashtra.
From the Konkan coastline to the Vidarbha regions every delicacy has a different process of preparation of receipies and spices.
The people of Maharashtra are known for aesthetic presentation of food. In formal meals, the guests sit on floor rugs or red wooden seats and eat from silver or metal thalis and bowls, placed on a raised chowrang, a short decorative table. To avoid mixing of flavors, each guest is given a bowl of saffron scented
water to dip fingers in before starting to eat the next delicacy.
A short decorative table, known as 'chowrang', is kept in format of every person and it is on this table that thalis (plates) as well as the katoris (bowls) are kept. In the earlier times, the area around chowrang or the thali used to be decorated with rangoli designs. Since the meals comprise of a number of courses, each person is given a bowl of water, scented with saffron. He dips his fingers in the bowl after every course, to ensure that its flavor doesn't get mixed with the next.
Even an everyday meal consists of several accompaniments that are set out in a particular manner in the taat (platter). The taat vadhany (method of setting food on the platter) is an art. It starts with a bit of salt at the top center of the taat. On its left is set a small piece of lemon. Then follows the Chatani(spicy accompaniment made of ground coconut and green chilies), koshimbir (salad), bharit(lightly cooked or raw vegetable in yogurt) in that order. The vegetable with gravy never precedes the dry vegetable because the gravy will run into it. Once everyone is seated the woman of the house will serve the rice, pour a little toop (clarified butter) and varan (lentil) on it and then the meal begins after a short thanksgiving.
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