India has a wildly colourful kaleidoscope of often-sticky and squishy mithai (Indian sweets), most of them supersugary. You’ll find fruit inventively fashioned into a chatni (chutney) or pickle, and flavouring lassi, kulfi (flavoured firm-textured ice cream) and other sweet treats. Himachal Pradesh produces crisp apples in autumn, while plump strawberries are especially good in Kashmir during summer. Citrus fruit, such as oranges (often yellow-green in India), tangerines, pink and white grapefruits, kumquats and sweet limes, are widely grown. Mangoes abound during summer (especially April and May), with India offering more than 500 varieties – the pick of the juicy bunch is the sweet Alphonso. Along the southern coast are superluscious tropical fruits such as pineapples and papayas. Something a little more unusual is the bumpy-skinned karela (bitter gourd), which, like the delectable bhindi (okra), is commonly prepared dry with spices. Also popular is saag (a generic term for leafy greens), which can include mustard, spinach and fenugreek. Baigan (eggplant/aubergine) can be curried or sliced and deep-fried. Fresh green peas turn up stir-fried with other vegetables in pilaus and biryanis and in one of North India’s signature dishes, the magnificent mattar paneer (unfermented cheese and pea curry). Heads of cauliflower are usually cooked dry on their own, with potatoes to make aloo gobi (potato-and-cauliflower curry), or with other vegetables such as carrots and beans. Onions are fried with other vegetables, ground into a paste for cooking with meats, and served raw as relishes, but are avoided by Jains. Potatoes are ubiquitous and popularly cooked with various masalas (spice mixes), with other vegetables, or mashed and fried for the street snack aloo tikki (mashed-potato patty). They’re generally cooked sukhi (dry) or tari (in a sauce), and within these two categories they can be fried, roasted, curried, stuffed, baked, mashed and combined (made into koftas) or dipped in chickpea-flour batter to make a deep-fried pakora (fritter).
Vegetables are usually served at each main meal across India, and sabzi (vegetables) is a word recognised in every Indian vernacular.
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