Punjabi

What it is

Punjabi cuisine, shared across the Indian state and Pakistan’s largest province, is the cooking of one of the world’s great wheat belts. Farmer kitchens here lean on butter and ghee from buffalo milk, hand-rolled flatbreads, and the smoky tandoor oven that became the engine of “Indian restaurant” cooking worldwide.

How it tastes

This is bold, comforting food. Onions are browned slow and deep; garam masala is added late; finishing knobs of butter or splashes of cream round off the curry. Punjabis tend to favor pronounced heat without losing the dairy backbone.

Signature dishes & techniques

Butter chicken and dal makhani — both invented at Delhi’s Moti Mahal in the 1950s — turned tandoori cooking into a global cuisine. Punjab’s winter table belongs to mustard-green sarson da saag with cornmeal makki di roti; the spring belongs to chole (chickpeas) ladled over puffy bhature.