South India Cuisine

Since being in India, I’ve tried a bunch of new foods; some of which I liked and others which I could without. In the village, the average meal is white rice accompanied by some sort of ‘samber,’ which is a curry-like sauce with stewed vegetables (onions, tomatoes, and sometimes beans or potatoes. For breakfast, we have something called bhat, which reminds me of fried rice and is full of minced vegetable. Breakfast is usually my favorite meal in the village and we’ll usually walk down the road to get some coffee or tea at the bakery.

We’ve also sampled a variety of Karnataka staples such as Masala Dosa, ‘Idley,’ and Gobi Manchuri. Forgive me for the possible spelling errors. Masala Dosa is like a fried pancake with some curried potatoes. The other interns seem to love this dish because they order it any time they see it on the menu. Most restaurants in the state have this dish. Idley is like a rice bun that has the feel and taste of white bread. It usually comes with chutney and some sort of curry sauce. My favorite is, without a doubt, Gobi Manchuri, which looks like General Tso’s Chicken, an American bastardization of Chinese Food. It’s actually made of cauliflower that’s been chopped up, breaded and deep-fried. It is served in a tangy sweet-and-sour sauce. It is a little harder to find than Masala Dosa, but, in my opinion, is completely worth it.