1 Avadhi
Galauti and kakori kebabs as well as the dum biryani found centrestage after ITC initiated research into this cuisine and successfully brought it out of Lucknow, installing master chef Imtiaz Quereshi at its Delhi hotel. The rest as they say is history. Dumpukht has proved to be a steady brand?though not quite as popular as Bukhara/Peshawari. From five star kitchens to standalone ones, this is one big example of non-Punjabi food dominating the Indian F&B market. It is more complex to do this cuisine since food needs to be slow cooked on dum, the gravies and kebabs are also complex.
2 Punjabi
The ‘north Indian’ food that gets served in most generic restaurants is essentially Punjabi?though it is not the food that you may find in Punjabi homes. Post-Partition, refugees came to Delhi, some with just their tandoors in which they would make their breads, but their enterprise saw the oven being put to a totally different?and revolutionary use. Country chicken was grilled and thus the advent of the tikkas began, which soon got dunked in a tomato gravy, heavy on cream to give us our national dish: butter chicken, claimed to have been developed by Kundan Lal Gujral of Moti Mahal restaurant in Daryaganj. Since the Punjabis were the only community in the subsequent decades who liked to spend on eating out, this food got increasingly restaurantised and spread to other parts of India too. The popularity of allied dishes such as the Amritsari chole and fish can also be credited to the phenomenon of restaurateurs putting Punjabi dishes on their menus to appeal to the lifestyle of this community that drove the F&B business till the 1970s and 1980s.
3 Kashmiri
There may be just a few wazas, or master chefs left. And the food may be fat rich, subtle on spices, big on red meat, but Kashmiri Muslim food seems to have found a distinct following. It can be a case study of ‘exoticising the local’, with Wazwans (albeit simpler ones) in tramis still looked upon as a novelty.
4 Hyderabadi
Popular practitioners of the kachchi gosht biryani (called so because the rice and meat are cooked together) these day even use MSG to highten the taste. And this biryani will feature anywhere on Indian restaurant menus, along with, sometimes, baghare baingan, mirchi ka salan and khubani ka meetha. But while these may be the most popular Hyderabadi dishes, along with the haleem, many heritage recipes are unaccounted for. Check out the likes of narangi (orange) keema, doodh ka pulao, cooked in milk, kofte biryani, and even warqi samosas?though one is unlikely to come across these in commercial restaurants.
5 Udupi tiffin
With the legendary southern Indian reserve and frugality, most communities, especially the Brahmins, did not like to eat out. But the savvy Mangalorean restaurateurs made Udupi-style dosa-idli our national fast food. First catering to the large ‘south Indian’ population of Bombay, the Udupi-style eateries soon proliferated all over. Ironically, people may still label the food as Madrasi, though it is not. The style of sambhar and dosa is different from the TamBrahm versions. However, there is more to a lavish temple breakfast than just the smattering of idli-dosa-vada we know.
6 Gujarati, Marwari
The most popular thali cuisines, their commercial success is no doubt due to the commercial acumen of the communities. With the trading communities spreading throughout and traveling extensively, these vegetarian thalis too started gaining popularity all over.
7 Chettinad
Everything non vegetarian and south Indian gets dubbed Chettinad. Need we say more. The cuisine is supposed to be hot and spicy and is inextricably linked with chicken for some reason in the north. Yet, while brand Chettinad may be popular, its true delicacies are unknown? even in its own state!
8 Kerala, Rajasthan, Goa
India?s most popular tourist destinations need to thank Western travelers for popularising their cuisines. Appams, stew and meen moilee (the generic Malabar/Kerala fish curry) dal-baati, lal maas, and the vindaloo have their followers, but there is more to these cuisines that stereotypes.
9 Bengali
A surprising winner really. Only in the past five years have we seen Bengali restaurants making an appearance in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Their success gives hope to many other rich regional cuisines.