What famous dish in India has the most interesting history behind it?

Samosa

This extremely popular deep-fried hot street snack, that is almost synonymous with Indian food, actually originated in Persia/Middle East and was Indian-ized in taste over the decades.

A trip to India would be incomplete without munching on a few Samosas!

Even its basic ingredient ‘potato’ was introduced to India by the Portuguese.

Hard to imagine what our ancestors consumed before potatoes!

One would be surprised to know how huge is the list of food items not native to India.

Is there any popular dish people think originated in India but actually did not?

Jalebi

Jalebi is one of the most popular desserts from Indian subcontinent. Similar to Gulab jamun, jalebi too makes its appearance during weddings, celebrations & festivals. They are much popular as a street food and is also sold in Sweet shops or mithai shops.

Jalebi is adored by most of the Indians but surprisingly it is not native to our country; it’s a West Asian dish. This was also an introduced to the Indian cuisine by the Mughals. Originally, it was called Zalabiya, but later, it got the local pronunciation, Jalebi.

PANEER!!!

I don’t know why no one mentioned this dish till now Paneer also known as Indian Cottage Cheese is cleary one of the most famous food items when it comes to Vegetarian Indian food.There are very tasty dishes of Paneer available like Butter Paneer,Palak Paneer,Paneer Tikka Masala,Paneer Changezi, etc.This dish holds a special place in our hearts.

But what if I told you that Paneer has come to India very recently maybe 100–150 years ago .Many people might be wondering people of India love milk and items made of it so it’s an old dish but it’s not like that.

There are many theories about arrival of Paneer in India. Amongst the most popular and accepted theory is that as Indian Hindus consider Cow and milk holy, curdling of milk was considered as a disrespect to milk . So it was never practiced .But when imperial forces(British,Portuguese) came to India they taught us how to do it and with time it became a common practice.

We started to make it with our own spices with different flavours and recipes .Soon Paneer became a popular household dish and today we can make hundreds of dishes of Paneer.

Just ask your parents or any elderly whether paneer was famous as it is today in there childhood? You will get your answer.

Samosa

I used to think it was a Gujrati dish, but it’s not even Indian. Probably brought over around the 12th century from east Asia or the Middle East.

Rajma (Kidney Beans)