Indian · regional cuisine

Punjabi

The farmhouse food of the 'land of five rivers': wheat breads, slow-cooked pulses, mustard greens, generous dairy and the tandoor, much of which became India's restaurant food after 1947.

Flavour character: Rich, earthy and buttery: onion-tomato-ginger-garlic bases cooked down in ghee, whole spices, kasuri methi, amchur or anardana for sourness, and butter or cream to finish. Heat is moderate; Kashmiri or deggi chilli gives colour.

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History

Punjab is an old wheat, barley and dairy region on the Indus tributaries; the province was divided between India and Pakistan in 1947. Villages traditionally shared a communal tandoor (the sanjha chulha) for baking rotis. Sikh langar, the free communal kitchen of every gurdwara, made dal, roti and kheer the food of daily hospitality. After Partition, Punjabi refugees opened eateries in Delhi; the Moti Mahal restaurant in Daryaganj (Kundan Lal Gujral and partners) is commonly credited with popularising tandoori chicken in restaurants and with inventing butter chicken, though competing claims exist. The Green Revolution of the 1960s made Punjab India's main wheat and rice granary.

Commonly told; not firmly documented

Geography and influences

Fertile alluvial plain watered by the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi on the Indian side; hot summers and cold winters, so heavy winter dishes (sarson da saag, makki di roti, pinni) contrast with summer lassi and raita.

Agrarian dairy and wheat farming
Sikh langar tradition
Mughal and Afghan routes through Lahore and Peshawar
Partition and the refugee restaurant trade in Delhi

Regional variations

Majha (Amritsar): Amritsari kulcha cooked in the tandoor, fried Amritsari fish in an ajwain-spiced gram-flour batter, lassi in steel tumblers.
Malwa and Doaba: Village dairy cooking: saag, makhan, lassi, kadhi and dal on the chulha.
Delhi Punjabi (post-1947): Restaurant dishes: butter chicken, dal makhani, tandoori platters, chole bhature from Delhi's Punjabi refugee community.
West Punjab (Pakistan): Shares breads, saag and lassi but is far more meat-centred: Lahori chargha, fish, nihari and paye. See the Pakistani profile.

Festive and seasonal food

Lohri (13 January): sarson da saag with makki di roti, gajak, rewri, til, peanuts and popcorn thrown into the bonfire
Baisakhi (April harvest): kheer, meethe chawal (sweet saffron rice), chole bhature
Gurpurab and every gurdwara service: kada prasad, made from equal parts wheat flour, ghee and sugar
Winter: pinni and gajar ka halwa