Best Drinks To Have With Taste Atlas’ Best Of Indian Cuisine List - Part 3
Indian cuisine is a vibrant mix of a lot of diverse ingredients and flavours that come together to produce some really exciting dishes. From sweet and spicy to umami and tangy, the sheer range of taste and textures that make up the cuisine of this subcontinent is absolutely marvellous. There are a number of dishes like the dal makhani, butter chicken and naan which have become famous the world over for their distinct taste and recipes that have been passed on through generations.
Taste Atlas has curated an extensive list of some of the best dishes that are part of Indian cuisine. And each of these numbers can be paired really well with lots of different alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks when you sit down for your meal.
We have curated a series of essays for you which recommend the best drink to have with all the items on this list.
Here is part three of this ten-part series highlighting the cocktails and mocktails you can pair with recipes like pav bhaji, palak paneer, aloo paratha and more!
Misal And Sweet Lassi
You can either opt for the quintessential misal pav or simply choose to have the stew or curry on its own but misal will retain its charm as a spicy, tangy and mouth watering dish popular across several Indian regions. That’s why it has managed to appear as a separate entry in Taste Atlas’ list! Pair this dish made out of lentils and legumes with chilled sweet lassi, whose thick creaminess and sweetness helps to balance the heat of the spicy curry.
Phirni And Lemonade
Phirni is a delightful pudding made from rice and milk, garnished with lots of vibrant ingredients like nutmeg, rose petals and cardamom. You can pair this rich dessert with a simple lemonade because the dish can be a bit heavy on the stomach and the acidic content in the citrus fruit will help to counteract this effect.
Rasgulla And Jeera Soda
With origins in Bengal, rasgulla is a thoroughly indulgent dessert dipped in the goodness of sugar syrup. You can pair this decadent treat with a spiky jeera soda whose tang and acidity helps to nicely balance the sweetness of the rasgulla that can sometimes be overpowering.
Pakora And Ginger Tea
One of the best snack dishes to gorge on during monsoons, pakoras rank very high in the list of Indian cuisine favourites. You can pair warm pakoras made from potatoes and onions with lip smacking mint chutney and munch on this with some steaming ginger tea by your side. The slightly zingy notes of ginger well balance the spicy quality of the pakoras.
Palak Paneer And Ginger Beer
Indian cuisine boasts of many curries and a celebrated dish is palak paneer, known for its pleasing dark green hue and succulent pieces of cottage cheese that make the dish very hard to resist. You can pair palak paneer and butter naan with ginger beer so that the carbonated zingy drink can help to counteract the slightly bitter and spicy notes of the spinach curry.
Raita And Jaljeera
Any full meal with curry, rice and flatbread in Indian cuisine is incomplete without the raita indulgently doused in curd. Beside a plate which features this stellar item, do keep a glass of jaljeera at the ready. The minty, tangy and sour notes of the drink are the perfect accompaniment to this cooling side dish.
Pav Bhaji And Sauvignon Blanc
A trip to Mumbai is incomplete without a plate of spicy and buttery pav bhaji savoured with large helpings of chopped onion and lemon. You can pair this thoroughly popular street food with a luxe sauvignon blanc whose sweet and slightly textured quality goes really well with the zesty, spicy sabzi that makes up the bhaji.
Nihari And Burgundy Chardonnay
With origins in Lucknow, nihari is a delicious curry made by slow-cooking meat with tons of aromatics that give it a very decadent quality. The succulent meat drops off the bone as you take a generous bite of the curry wrapped in a piece of naan. Pair the nihari with the slightly dry and oaky burgundy chardonnay that goes well with the curry’s spicy, yet tender textures.
Aloo Paratha And Whisky Highball
This flatbread is best enjoyed with raita or curd and lots of pickle and can be made by stuffing mashed potatoes and spices into kneaded dough. You can pair a crispy, warm stuffed aloo paratha with a simple whisky highball which can be a rather quirky way to enjoy the intense spirit and this equally yummy flatbread.
