In a nation as vast and as varied as India, you expect to find regional variations in the cuisine. Different dishes and different styles of cooking have evolved across the country’s many states over millennia, with each locality influencing and being influenced by its national and international neighbours. This results in a nation of infinite culinary complexity.
However, nowhere are regional variations more clearly seen than in the divide between Northern and Southern Indian cuisine. For many Westerners, North Indian cooking is the style they are most familiar with, with many Indian restaurants in the UK and US having menus that are modelled around rich, creamy, and deeply spiced Northern classics.
However, Southern Indian cooking with its light, fragrant, and frequently plant-based delights is enjoying a growing popularity internationally. This is driven in part by a global increase in vegetarian and vegan diners, in a world where sharing recipes across borders has never been easier.
There is, of course, plenty of common ground between North and South Indian cuisine. In modern day India, families and chefs can travel and experience other styles of cooking far more widely than many older generations would have been able to. Nevertheless, despite the blending of food cultures, techniques, and recipes, it is still possible to trace the outlines of two vibrant traditions with their own proud ways of keeping people fed!
Today, we’re going to take a look at these two ends of the culinary compass, their differences, their similarities, as well as a few trademark recipes from each corner of the nation.
A History of North and South
The history of India, as well as its geography, has played a significant part in the development of different culinary styles throughout different regions.
One of the biggest and most visible differences between Northern and Southern Indian cooking is their reliance on different staple crops. The North has historically been a wheat focused food culture. Various breads, naans, rotis and chapatis frequently make up the carb fix of a Northern meal.
The South, on the other hand, has historically been a culture based on rice production. Many of their dishes, including fried foods such as dosas and vadas, are built from rice rather than wheat.
This difference has been driven by different ecosystems. Rice requires regular irrigation and does well in moist, tropical climates. The South of India tends to be more humid and has historically, therefore, been agriculturally better suited to rice production. Northern regions of India, such as the Punjab and Kashmir, tend to be more arid. The conditions there have historically been more suited to growing wheat and other staple crops such as sorghum.
The Malabar coast along the Western edge of South India has also played a huge role in the evolution of food. Seafood and fish, for this reason, feature more prominently in many Southern dishes. Some have also pointed towards influences of ancient Dravidian culture, particularly in the use of local ingredients such as coconut, banana, and jaggery.
In the North, it is possible to trace more prominent Islamic influences on the cuisine, with Middle Eastern and Persian recipes having been brought in and expanded under the Mughal Emperors. Mongolian invaders also would have brought culinary influence to the region.
Finally, religion in India has always played a large role in shaping people’s diets. Although a variety of faiths can be found up and down the nation, there are regions of the south, such as Tamil Nadu, which have higher proportions of Hindus than elsewhere. In some Northern states, there are larger Muslim minorities.
Hindus and Sikhs often avoid beef, with some orthodox Hindus and Jains also declining to eat onion or garlic, particularly during certain holy festivals. Muslims and Jews do not eat pork. Adherents to Buddhism will often err towards vegetarian and vegan diets. In this sense, India is as much a melting pot of religious practice as it is culinary styles.
What Are Some of the Main Differences Between North and South Indian Cuisine?
Main Crops
Even though raw ingredients today are more mobile than ever, the North still holds onto its tradition of using wheat as its primary food crop, whereas Southern dishes more regularly feature rice as the main carbohydrate.
Root vegetables are also often hardier and easier to grow in drier climates. For this reason, many vegetable dishes in the North have evolved to include potatoes, yams, turnips, and other tough crops. In the south, leafy green vegetables, spinach varieties, and tropical fruits are more readily available, and so have worked their way into the cuisine over generations.
Vegetarian and Non-vegetarian
Although North and South both have a delectable range of plates to suit all dietary requirements, the North has historically been more meat focused. It is here that you will find sumptuous, slow-cooked curries of lamb, chicken and goat.
Vegetarian travellers to the South are often pleasantly surprised by the vast range of traditional fare that comes without animal products. Seafood is also a popular element of many Southern states, particularly in coastal regions such as Kerala and Goa.
Cooking Fats
Another primary difference between the two cuisines, and arguably one of the most noticeable, is the different cooking fats that are often utilised.
North Indian cooking frequently uses ghee (clarified butter) and will thicken sauces using milk, cream and yoghurt. Paneer, a type of cheese, is also often used.
In the South, coconut milk is more often utilised to add richness to curries and sauces. This often gives dishes of the South a lighter touch. The coconut is a crop native to the area and readily available in tropical, humid zones. It is likely to have been used in Southern cooking for countless generations.
Herbs and Spices
South Indian cuisine is often known for its reliance on fragrant whole spices, with North Indian curries relying on deep, earthy ground spice blends to add richness and depth.
Garam masala, an all-round spice mix added to numerous sauces, marinades, and dishes, is very popular in the North. Different cooks, both home and professional, will have their own favourite (and sometimes secret!) recipe.
In the South, fresh curry leaves are often used to bring fragrance to a dish, along with fresh chilis for heat. Of course, traditional Indian ingredients are no longer available only in the regions within which they are grown. You can now find Southern spices and Northern produce available up and down the nation.
Taste and Texture
How does all of this combine to create different taste combinations? Well, different people will point to different features of the cuisine, but many agree that Southern cooking tends towards lighter dishes. The North is often known for heavier, creamier, thicker sauces, particularly in its curries and meat-based plates.
Both North and South utilise sourness and sweetness in different ways to bring variety to a meal. In the South, tamarind is the main ingredient used to bring a sour tang to dishes, and is what gives spicy rasam its distinctive flavour. This sourness can sometimes be more pronounced in Southern dishes than with Northern taste profiles.
In the North, amchoor (dried mango powder) is often a sour ingredient. This is also widely used in chaat dishes, a tasty style of street food that tries to combine multiple tastes and textures into a single bite.
Two Trios of Classic Dishes – North vs South
Let’s take a look now at some heavy culinary hitters of the North and South. Indian chefs will often talk of the friendly rivalry that exists between the different regions, a rivalry that plays out in private and professional kitchens across the world.
You might recognise some of these Indian classics, particularly those originating in the North. As already mentioned, traditional British Indian cuisine has historically been influenced more by the North than the South, and is therefore more commonly recognisable to Western diners.
We recommend you give all these a try in the comfort of your own home!
Nothern Plates
Palak Paneer
You might come across this on British menus as ‘saag paneer’. This is an international favourite with its origins in the North of India. Creamy blocks of paneer cheese are fried before being cooked in a thick paste of pureed spinach. Different versions can also include other leafy green vegetables, such as mustard greens.
Paneer is used because, even when cooked in a sumptuous sauce, it still manages to hold its texture and taste. This is a great dish for vegetarians looking to taste the richness of the North without opting for meat.
Aloo Gobi
For vegans and vegetarians alike, this often underrated side dish is another classic of the North. At its most humble and effective, it involves potatoes and cauliflower being gently cooked in a warming spice blend. Its distinctive yellow colour comes from the use of turmeric. You can also add black pepper, mustard seeds, or curry leaves for additional fragrance.
Rogan Josh
This is a sumptuous, rich, slow-cooked curry of Kashmiri origin, and one that has transferred seamlessly to British menus. Traditionally it is prepared with red meat such as lamb, mutton, or goat. It is then given heat with kashmiri chilis as well as a deep blend of spices. The sauce is often thickened with ghee and, in some instances, milk or cream to really give it depth and calorific goodness.
Southern Plates
Dosas
I would humbly suggest that dosas are South India’s greatest gift to the world. These thin, rice and lentil-based pancakes are versatile and delicious. Served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, they can be dipped in chutneys, sambals, and curried sauces, or filled with slow cooked, spiced vegetables like potato or dahl. A slight fermentation adds a distinctive edge to the batter.
They are extremely common in South Indian cuisine but in recent generations have spread in popularity to the North and abroad.
Rasam
This is another characteristically Southern dish. It is a light, fragrant, spicy, sour soup, given its distinctive tang by the use of tamarind. Although it can be served on its own, it is also frequently served as a side dish along with rice, dosas, idli, or bread. You will also find rasam in any self-respecting Southern thali. You can even find prepared rasam pastes to aid with home cooking.
Keralan Prawn Curry
For those looking for a recognisable curry, but Southern style, why not try a fragrant Keralan broth? Rather than using cream, ghee, or dairy to thicken the sauce, coconut milk is used to give a lighter, but still complex base to the plate. Curry leaves, black pepper, and mustard seeds can also be used to bring out the flavours of the sea.
Kerala-style prawn curries are also versatile dishes – if you haven’t prawns to hand why not use other forms of seafood and fish? Salmon, flaky cod, mackerel, mussels, and squid can all be added to simmer and soak in the taste.
Final Thoughts
The wonders of Indian cuisine really do stretch to all points of the compass – and the North and South are no exception. These two great, interlapping, yet also distinctive traditions have given the world some of Asia’s most exciting and flavoursome cooking. Although North Indian cuisine has, up until now, enjoyed more favour with Western diners around the world, the South is swiftly catching up.
Why not bring some of this variety and flavour into your own kitchen? Ingredients commonly found across both Northern and Southern dishes are readily available in most large supermarkets and Asian grocery stores, and a wide range of Indian cooking utensils are available for sale on Karahi Shop. Bon appetit!