Indian recipes / Indian cooking

Over the last couple of days, it was pretty hard to avoid Masterchef (a reality cooking competition on Australian TV).

It got me thinking about what is the history behind Indian cooking, what influenced Indian cooking to develop and come out the way it is, and how in the world are there so many different cuisines within India. I think it would be a fascinated topic for research and I am sure there have been many gluttons like me who have already studied this area quite keenly.

One potential topic would be to study the correlation between cooking style and crime since intuitively elaborate and spicy cooking styles would lead to demanding lifestyles, and at some point of time if I am unable to live that life, it may drive me to commit a crime. On the other hand, simple lifestyle brought about by simple cooking would result in being content with what you have and thereby lower criminal tendencies.

That is also the essence of Indian philosophy in which food is categorized as "Taamsic" (inducing desire) or "Saatvic" (leading to simplicity). As generally seen, most of the vegetables like pumpkin, carrots, peas are categorized as Saatvic while the high-heat and high-taste containing items such as Garlic, Onions, Meat are categorized as Taamsic.