Year after year, traditional Indian dishes continue to climb to the top of must-try food blogs and are featured on television shows and social media pages worldwide.
India is known for its traditional cuisine, which consists of popular dishes, spices, and cooking techniques that vary from region to region. Traditional Indian food is made with a blend of spices, ingredients, herbs, and flavors, and the recipes are passed down through generations. See the top 10 traditional Indian foods you must try in 2024 and why they are so popular below.
TRADITIONAL INDIAN FOODS
INDIAN FOOD TRADITIONS vary by region and recipe, providing a unique culinary history that has crafted a list of must-try traditional Indian dishes and snacks.
Pakoras
PAKORAS are believed to have ORIGINATED in the Punjab region of India and are popular Indian snacks found on most street corners. They are savory, deep-fried snacks made with vegetables such as potato, cauliflower, eggplant, or meat of choice. People have grown to love their texture and can’t get enough of it.
Chef Bombay offers high-quality, authentic Indian food prepared, cooked, and served traditionally. Our pakoras, which are vegan, gluten-free, and crafted from natural, whole ingredients, are a testament to this.
Butter Chicken
BUTTER CHICKEN is a popular dish known around the world. In the 1950s, in post-Partition India, TWO PUNJABI HINDU MIGRANTS from Peshawar named Kundan Lal Jaggi and Kundan Lal Gujral created butter chicken. This dish is cherished in homes and restaurants around the world. At Chef Bombay, our traditional BUTTER CHICKEN is made with tender pieces of chicken breast in a rich, creamy sauce. We bring the authentic and traditional dish everyone loves to your table. Butter chicken is one of our best-selling frozen meals.
Naan
NAAN is the flatbread that perfectly complements all Indian dishes. It is an oven-baked flatbread native to India. It is like pita bread but way softer because it’s made with ingredients like yogurt, milk, sometimes eggs, and butter.
PANAJI NAAN is an authentic Indian Naan brand built on quality ingredients. They use natural, whole ingredients to make their delicious naan, which tastes like you made it at home.
Aloo Gobi
The ALOO GOBI recipe ORIGINATED in the Punjab region of India. This vegan and gluten-free dry curry dish is made with potatoes (aloo), cauliflower (gobi), and traditional Indian spices. The color is yellow-orange because it contains turmeric. It’s deeply nourishing and comforting, easy to make, and budget-friendly.
Dal Tadka
DAL TADKA is one of the most popular vegetarian dishes in India. It is made of lentils cooked in ghee or oil and spices. India has a LARGE AND CONTINUOUSLY GROWING VEGETARIAN POPULATION, so most traditional dishes incorporate legumes like lentils and chickpeas as a source of protein. This dish is comforting, nourishing, and hearty, and it is very common and easy to COOK AT HOME.
Biryani
BIRYANI is a classic Indian dish POPULARIZED BY MUSLIM COMMUNITIES and a staple across Indian cultures. It consists of meat, fish, and vegetables. The rice is cooked separately before being layered and cooked together. Regional and seasonal variations include nuts or fruit. Biryani can be served with chutneys, raita, pickles, or salad.
Samosas
SAMOSAS are deep-fried or baked golden-brown pastry triangles, and you never know what they could be filled with. The fillings of samosas tell you the history of the region in which they came from in India. These snacks are commonly filled with spiced potatoes, onions, peas, and lentils. They are traditional Indian street food.
Chef Bombay started with samosas in a tiny 3000-square-foot plant in Sherwood Park, AB. In 2000, no one knew what samosas were, but once they tried Chef Bombay’s, they were obsessed. We offer two kinds of Mini Samosas, VEGETABLE that are multi-layered light and crisp pastries filled with authentically spiced vegetables:
We also have our MINI CHICKEN TIKKA SAMOSAS, that are multi-layered light and crisp pastry filled with chicken tikka masala:
Tikka Masala
One of the most popular Indian dishes is TIKKA MASALA, which did not originate in India. It is believed to have been created by a BANGLADESHI CHEF in GLASGOW, SCOTLAND. This dish is slow-roasted and marinated boneless chicken in a creamy, bright orange, tomato-based curry made with coconut milk and a blend of Indian spices.
Another best-seller and a well-known traditional Indian food dish Chef Bombay offers is CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA. This dish is made with real, whole ingredients, and the chicken is cooked in a perfectly spiced tikka masala sauce. The tikka masala sauce will leave you wanting to dip everything in it.
Rogan Josh
The ROGAN JOSH dish originated in Kashmir, just north of India. It is traditionally made with braised lamb, mutton, or goat and is spiced with bold Kashmiri chilies. It is a traditional favorite that competes with BUTTER CHICKEN, TIKKA MASALA, and TANDOORI.
GUY FIERI, known for his famous show DINERS, DRIVE-INS, AND DIVES, reviewed a restaurant whose specialty dish was Lamb Rogan Josh. Fieri received step-by-step lessons on how to cook this traditional Indian dish and tasted IT, describing it as “next level” and “that this dish is cooked from the heart, making it very precise.”
Tandoori
This dish typically consists of pieces of bread or meat seasoned and cooked in a TANDOOR OVEN at high temperatures. TANDOORI chicken is the most well-known dish that uses this cooking technique. It results in succulent meat with a smokey flavor. The meat is tender, and the chicken is beautifully spiced with traditional, flavorful herbs.
For those new to Indian cuisine, deciding what dish to try first can be confusing. With a guide on where to start and some well-known traditional Indian food insight, trying Indian food can be an incredible experience. Chef Bombay can help you try some of the top traditional Indian dishes in the comfort of your home, too! Our authentic frozen meals are found at Target, Walmart, and Wegmans.
