5 American Foods and their South Asian Counterparts
Food is love for most people. There is nothing better to do at the end of the day than to sit down with a nice drink and gourmet meal that fulfils the cravings of your taste buds. Each country has different dishes that have different tastes which are suited to the taste buds of that country’s nationals.
On a closer inspection of these foods though, it is clear that there are some foods that are similar more than you’d expect them to be. This blog will take a look at 5 American foods and their South Asian counterparts and highlight their uncanny resemblance in taste and in presentation.
1. Snow Cones and Gola Gandas
Rainbow colored shaved ice treat in a white cup with a black background. This snow cone has red, yellow and aqua green syrups on top arranged into a rainbow of colors.
Everybody loves to lay their hands on one of those delicious juicy syrup coated shredded ice snow cone that can make the heat go away. Snow cones are made by shredding the ice and putting it on a cone for a delicious snow cone which is then loaded with layers and layers of different syrups that add taste to it. Similarly, in South Asian Countries like India, Pakistan, etc. street vendors have their own version of this popular American food, called the Gola Ganda. Despite not being in a cone, this shredded ice is presented in paper cups and made the exact same way snow cones are.
Shaved Ice Machines “Snow Cones”
Gola Gandas
2. Onion Rings and Crispy onion bhaji or kanda bhaji or fried onion pakore or pakode
crispy onion rings with ketchup on parchment paper
A popular side dish at almost every burger joint in America, onion rings are simply delicious. The soft moist onions are coated in a batter and deep fried until a crispy layer coats the onions. They are then presented to people with yummy dip sauces that make it an even more appealing prospect. In South Asia, people have their own version of onion rings that is called Crispy onion bhaji or kanda bhaji or fried onion pakore or pakode. These are made the same way onion rings are only there is no ring of onion here, instead the onions are chopped square and coated in batter and left to fry until they have a crispy coating above.
Crispy onion bhaji or kanda bhaji or fried onion pakore or pakode, delicious street food, favourite indian snack in monsoon served with hot tea or ketchup
3. Crab Cakes and Shami Kebabs
Crab Cakes or patties, with lemon and parsley, isolated on white background.
Crab cakes are made into flat circular shapes. They are a common dish to serve to guests when they come to visit someone’s home and even as side dish at large family dinners, crab cakes are made of crab meat. On the other hand, a popular Subcontinent dish that resembles in the crab cake in presentation is Shami Kebabs. They are made from different meats from goats to chicken to beef and look exactly the same as crab cakes.
Shami Kebabs Minced meat and chana dal patties stuffed with red onion pickle and served with salad, lemon wedges, chilli sauce and mint raita, South Asian & Middle Eastern cuisine.
4. Lentil Soup and Daal
Lentil Soup with potatoes, carrots and parsley
There is a large number of people that enjoy the taste and delicacy that lentil soups have to offer. They are light, they are healthy and they are the fastest to cook. Its South Asian counterpart is no different. Daal as it is counterpart is called is one of the most popular dished in South Asia and most people prefer to eat it with rice or bread instead of eating it in a standalone capacity as a soup.
Lentil Soup
Masoor Daal. Red lentil Indian soup with flat bread on a wooden background.
5. Mashed Potatoes and Aalo Bharta
Bowl with mashed potatoes decorated with potatoes.
Mashed potatoes much like onion rings is another famous side dish that people love to eat when they are watching their favorite shows or visiting a burger joint. Its South Asian counterpart is called Aalo bharta and looks and tastes exactly the same. Sometimes the south Asian dish may be high on spices (Just add curry!) because that just how the people on that side of the world love to have their food taste.
Curries
(Just add curry!) Vegetarian Curries – Selection of South Asian vegetarian curries in white bowls. Paneer Makhani, Palak Paneer, Aloo Matar, Baigan Bharta, Chilli Potatoes and Bhindi Masala, Pilau Rice and Chapattis.
A Selection of Food Quotes
“I’m still living the life where you get home and open the fridge and there’s half a pot of yogurt and a half a can of flat Coca-Cola.” ~ Alan Rickman
“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” ~ Charles M. Schulz
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien
“This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.” ~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet
“I love you like a fat kid loves cake!” ~ Scott Adams
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” ~ Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
“Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what’s for lunch.” ~ Orson Welles
“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.” ~ Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance
“Listen to the people who love you. Believe that they are worth living for even when you don’t believe it. Seek out the memories depression takes away and project them into the future. Be brave; be strong; take your pills. Exercise because it’s good for you even if every step weighs a thousand pounds. Eat when food itself disgusts you. Reason with yourself when you have lost your reason.” ~ Andrew Solomon, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.” ~ Ruth Reichl
“Popcorn for breakfast! Why not? It’s a grain. It’s like, like, grits, but with high self-esteem.” ~ James Patterson, The Angel Experiment
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