The food in India absolutely rocked. We hardly had a bad meal all the time we were there, and it's incredibly cheap.
Curries
We ate so much curry - for breakfast, lunch, dinner - it's hard to separate between the different ones. But some favourites along the way were butter masala, kholapuri, and kormas (which, in south India, were amazing and so different to kormas in England).
Interestingly, every time you order a curry the waiter will ask how spicy you want it - as opposed to England where each curry type comes with a certain amount of spice.
Thali
This is the traditional Indian meal - consisting normally of rice, chapatti, a dal dish, and a few different curries. All in one massive plate. It's so cheap in restaurants - normally around £2 - and we had some lovely ones during homestays.
Malai Kofte
These little balls of goodness were sooo tasty. I think it was made up of potato and paneer balls, coated and then deep fried, and served in a bowl of thick, creamy sauce.
Chilli Paneer
Speaking of paneer, we ate lots of the Indian cheese - it's perfect in a curry, and has the texture of really tender chicken (in north India, meat isn't on the menu much, but paneer was a great alternative). One of our favourite dishes was chilli paneer - where the cheese is fried with chillis, onions, pepper, and garlic. It comes with our without sauce, too.
Masala Dosa
You can't go to India and not have a masala dosa. The best ones are made on big grills, sometimes on the side of the road next to restaurants. While the pancake is cooking, an already-made mix of spiced potato and onions in some sort of yellow sauce is chucked in the middle, before the pancake is rolled up and served with two separate curry sauces for dipping. Super cheap breakfast!
Chicken Kati Rolls
I think this is a type of India streetfood, where a paratha roll is stuffed with the filling of your choice (chicken is by far the best). We found the best restaurant in Kochin for these rolls. It was so good after I had a chicken one, I also had to try one of their mutton katis.
Mutton Kheema
This is spiced minced meat, served in a oily sauce and I think with a large slab of white bread - normally eaten at breakfast time. We found one of the best places in India to eat this (according to our guide book) called Olympia in Mumbai. Super cheap and super tasty.
Naans
We regularly bypassed rice and would order a naan with our curries instead. There are so many options - garlic, cheese, olive, spinach, butter - we couldn't stop eating them. Best served with a …
Tandoori chicken
Meat was pretty much unheard of in the north of India - but when we arrived in the south, particularly Goa, tandoori chicken - cooked infront of you in a massive clay oven - was sold everywhere. In Goa you could get a half tandoori chicken for about £2, which was so good there wasn't a bit of meat left. Also lots of chicken, paneer and vegetable tikka options, which came on a massive kebab stick. YUM.
Chai tea
This is a staple of the Indian diet - everywhere you go you'll see locals standing next to chai stands sipping the tea. It's a traditional Indian tea, normally taken with milk and lots of sugar. Freya said the best chais were to be had from the tea sellers who board the trains and walk up the aisles singing 'chai, chai, chai' so fast it's pretty much inaudible.
