Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Indian Subcontinent recipes. This page provides links to all the Indian Subcontinent recipes presented on this site, with 823 recipes in total.

These recipes, for the major part, originate in the Indian Subcontinent. Otherwise they are fusion recipes with major Indian Subcontinent influences.

The Indian Subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia, mostly situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it spans major landmasses from the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Although the terms 'Indian subcontinent' and 'South Asia' are often used interchangeably to denote the region, the geopolitical term of South Asia frequently includes Afghanistan, which is not considered part of the subcontinent.

Geologically, the subcontinent originates from Insular India, an isolated landmass that rifted from the supercontinent of Gondwana during the Cretaceous and merged with the landmass of Eurasia nearly 55 million years ago, forming the Himalayas.[7] Historically, as well as to the present day, it is and has been the most populated region in the world, holding roughly 20–25 percent of the global population at all times in history. Geographically, it is the peninsular region in Southern Asia located below the Third Pole, delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Indo-Burman Ranges in the east. The neighboring geographical regions around the subcontinent include the Tibetan Plateau to the north, the Indochinese Peninsula to the east, and the Iranian Plateau to the west and the Indian Ocean to the south.

In many historical sources, the region surrounding and southeast of the Indus River was referred to simply as 'India'. Historians continue to use this term to refer to the whole of the Indian subcontinent in discussions of history up until the era of the British Raj. During this period, 'India' came to refer to a distinct political entity that later became a nation-state.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term subcontinent signifies a 'subdivision of a continent which has a distinct geographical, political, or cultural identity' and also a 'large land mass somewhat smaller than a continent'. Its use to signify the Indian subcontinent is evidenced from the early twentieth century when most of the territory was either part of the British Empire or allied with them. It was a convenient term to refer to the region comprising both British India and the princely states.

The term has been particularly common in the British Empire and its successors, while the term South Asia is the more common usage in Europe and North America. According to historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, the Indian subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia 'in more recent and neutral parlance'. Indologist Ronald B. Inden argues that the usage of the term South Asia is becoming more widespread since it clearly distinguishes the region from East Asia. While South Asia, a more accurate term that reflects the region's contemporary political demarcations, is replacing the Indian subcontinent, a term closely linked to the region's colonial heritage, as a cover term, the latter is still widely used in typological studies.

The Indian subcontinent was formerly part of Gondwana, a supercontinent formed during the late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic. Gondwana began to break up during the Mesozoic, with Insular India separating from Antarctica 130-120 million years ago and Madagascar around 90 million years ago, during the Cretaceous. Insular India subsequently drifted northeastwards, colliding with the Eurasian Plate nearly 55 million years ago, during the Eocene, forming the Indian subcontinent. The zone where the Eurasian and Indian subcontinent plates meet remains geologically active, prone to major earthquakes.

Physiographically, it is a peninsular region in South Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east. It extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast. Most of this region rests on the Indian Plate and is isolated from the rest of Asia by large mountain barriers. Laccadive Islands, Maldives and the Chagos Archipelago are three series of coral atolls, cays and Faroes on the Indian plate along with the Chagos–Laccadive Ridge, a submarine ridge that was generated by the northern drift of the Indian Plate over the Réunion hotspot during the Cretaceous and early Cenozoic times. The Maldives archipelago rises from a basement of volcanic basalt outpourings from a depth of about 2000m forming the central part of the ridge between Laccadives and the Great Chagos Bank.

Food and Cuisine

Chapati, a type of flat bread, is a common part of meals to be had in many parts of the subcontinent. Other staples from many of the cuisines include rice, roti made from atta flour, and beans.

Foods in this area of the world are flavoured with various types of chilli, black pepper, cloves, and other strong herbs and spices along with the flavoured butter ghee. Ginger is an ingredient that can be used in both savory and sweet recipes in cuisines from the subcontinent. Chopped ginger is fried with meat and pickled ginger is often an accompaniment to boiled rice. Ginger juice and ginger boiled in syrup are used to make desserts. Turmeric and cumin are often used to make curries.

Common meats include lamb, goat, fish, chicken and beef. Beef is less common in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka than in other South Asian cuisines because cattle have a special place in Dharmic religions. Prohibitions against beef extend to the meat of (water) buffalo and yaks to some extent. Pork is considered as a taboo food item by all Muslims and is not taboo but avoided by many Hindus, though it is commonly eaten in some regions like Northeast India and Goa where Christianity is wide-spread. A variety of very sweet desserts which use dairy products is also found in cuisines of the subcontinent. The main ingredients in desserts of the subcontinent are reduced milk, ground almonds, lentil flour, ghee and sugar. Kheer is a dairy-based rice pudding, a common dessert

Many foods from the subcontinent have been known for over five thousand years. The Indus Valley people, who settled in the northwestern subcontinent, hunted turtles and alligator. They also collected wild grains, herbs and plants. Many foods and ingredients from the Indus period (c. 3300–1700 B.C.) are still common today. Some consist of wheat, barley, rice, tamarind, eggplant, and cucumber. The Indus Valley people cooked with oils, ginger, salt, green peppers, and turmeric root, which would be dried and ground into an orange powder.

Indians have used leafy vegetables, lentils, and milk products such as yogurt and ghee throughout their history. They also used spices such as cumin and coriander. Black pepper, which is native to India, was often used by 400 A.D. The Greeks brought saffron and the Chinese introduced tea. The Portuguese and British made chillies, potatoes and cauliflower popular after 1700 A.D. Mughals, who began arriving in India after 1200, saw food as an art and many of their dishes are cooked with as many as 25 spices. They also used rose water, cashews, raisins, and almonds.

The Indian Subcontinent is a geographic rather than a regional definition, and is typically considered to include all the countries listed below:

Indian Subcontinent

Arms	Flag	Name of Territory	Capital	Name in Official Language(s)
		Burundi	Dhaka	গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ (Gôṇoprojātôntrī Bāṅglādesh)
		Bhutan	Thimphu	འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་ཁབ (Druk Gyal Khap)
		India	New Delhi	Bhārat Gaṇarājya
		Maldives	Malé	ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ (Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa)
		Nepal	Kathmandu	सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल (Saṅghīya Lokatāntrika Gaṇatantra Nepāla)
		Pakistan	Islamabad	اسلامی جمہوریہ پاكستان (Islāmī Jumhūriyah Pākistān)
		Sri Lanka	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (legislative) Colombo (executive and judicial)	ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජය (Srī Laṅkā Prajātāntrika Samājavādī Janarajaya) இலங்கை சனநாயக சோசலிசக் குடியரசு (Ilaṅkai Jaṉanāyaka Cōcalicak Kuṭiyaracu)