11 Popular Winter Delicacies

Ruffled in mufflers and snuggled in quilts, bone-breaking foggy chill—what on earth can be more comforting than a hot bowl of soup, piping-hot dimsums, stuffed vegetable paranthas, butter-goaded chicken. Steam swirling up to your nose in invitation already? You guessed that righ—it’s that time of the year when every household is busy stocking up the kitchen with soothing comfort food. It is the stocking time, not just for kitchen but our body too—to fight the chilling cold and its associated issues (flu, cough etc.) Personally, winter is our favourite season, for the yummy and finger-licking food it offers.

Though this season is loved by few and scorned by many, we are sure the comfort food listed below will soothe your soul and repose your brain to wade through the dark and gloomy winter season

So, here are 11 popular winter delicacies for tingling your taste buds:

1. YAKHNI SHORBA:

A flavoursome soupy recipe spiced with whole condiments or khada masala is a winter exotica for non-veg lovers—especially, meat lovers. Boneless lamb meat and lamb shanks cooked to tender in water, with aromatic spice potli to flavour the dish. It is simmered and cooked till meat is done. Later beaten curd is added along with saffron to get the perfect punch. A nutritional packed dish, it is ideal to beat the winter winds.

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2. RASAM:

A traditional South Indian soup, with or without veggies is an ideal choice to keep winter cold at bay. Red lentils, which boast of many nutritional benefits, is the main ingredient. Rasam is spiced with curry leaves, coriander, mustard and cumin seeds with pepper corns, garlic, asafoetida and tamarind. This dish is a regular at an Andhra household, but it has found a special place in the north as well due to its medicinal and healing benefits during the chilling months. Eaten with rice or had as soup, the benefits don’t cease to diminish. It helps soothe sore throat or open blocked nasal passage and even aids in digestion and maintains a healthy bowel movement. In fact, Amitabh Bachchan should have tried this in the movie Piku for a happy morning. :)

Image Courtesy: Flickr Creative Common- Lavanya Kumara Krishnan

3. MOMOS (DIMSUMS):

A native Tibet delight, is a regular all year through dish. But imagine a plate of steaming hot Momos with red fiery sauce. Slurp! Whether you are in a hill station or anywhere else, this finger food is any day a foggy winter thing. Steam swirling up your nose filling u flavours emanating from this simple flour dumpling. This can be stuffed with minced veggies or minced chicken/meat or pork and laden with garlic and other spices. They do carry some nutritional value as well because steamed dumplings with fresh veggies or boiled flesh is the key ingredient.

4. METHI AALOO:

Another veggie to exhilarate your gloomy afternoon is the fenugreek and potato mix. The bitterness of methi is balanced well with the earthiness of the humble potatoes. This easy-to-cook recipe needs minimal ingredients, namely, potatoes, a couple bunches of fenugreek, cumin, green chillies. Chopped leaves and potatoes are sautéed in some mustard oil or butter, seasoned with spices for the punch. Bingo! Fenugreek is a winter leafy veggie rich in minerals, vitamins and poly nutrients helps to keep the cold away. Tastes ideal with tawa parantha or simple roti.

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5. METHI CHICKEN:

A hearty non-veg delicacy is just ideal to complete a gastronomic winter hunt. Either fresh or dried fenugreek can be used to stir up this easy recipe. Ideally winter offers a fresh produce of methi, so that is a healthier pick. Includes boneless medium-sized chicken pieces, cooked to tender with assorted spice mix–coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilly powder, in an onion-tomato gravy. It tastes best with roti or naan and even rice.

Image Credit: Fat Les, Source: Flickr

6. BUTTER CHICKEN:

This is an all-time favourite and a soul comforting delicacy. Includes boneless (or with bones) chicken cooked till tender in spiced tomato and creamy gravy. There can no better option than a portion of piping hot butter chicken with butter and cream to calm your restless winter-stricken mind. Previously marinated chicken chunks are simmered to tender in simple tomato gravy spiced with basic condiments like cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and pepper with ginger and garlic. Tastes best with Tandoori Roti or Naan. Bruaaahh!

Image Credit: Sean Carter, Source: Flickr

7. SARSON DA SAAG WITH MAKKI KI ROTI:

This seasonal green originally from Punjab is every body’s favourite, especially the North Indians. To make this comforting winter delight, you need mustard leaves, some spinach-fenugreek and bathuaa/chenopodium album sautéed with onion, ginger and garlic, mashed well with a churning staff or mathni (though it tastes equally delightful when blended in a mixer). Tastes best when topped with oodles of clarified butter (ghee) or white butter. A well-cooked corn-meal flat bread or makki ki roti is its best accompaniment, along with a chunk of jaggery/gur. Now! Who wouldn’t melt at the sight of this fresh green culinary marvel?

Image Credit: Vinay Patel, Source: Flickr

8. MAC AND CHEESE:

Globalisation has bought various recipes to our kitchen from around the globe. This Western cheesy delight, is savoured in many Indian households during the winter as scrumptious comfort food. This lazy day recipe found a spot in our winter delight for the cheese goaded macaroni eases us in dried winter chill. After cooking the macaroni, just toss it in basic roux or white sauce and add two cheeses- cheddar and parmesan. Season to taste and just dig in to taste one divine dish.

Image Courtesy: Flickr Creative Common

9. CARROT HALWA:

This one pot crimson sweet is a quintessential winter delight, owing its origin to Punjab. Nothing can be more soulful than a bowl of gajar ka halwa and a cup of warm milk on a spine-chilling winter night. Sweet red carrots are grated and pressure cooked with milk till soft and done, loaded with nuts and flavoured with pounded green cardamom to complete the dish. It’s a dish to die for! Carrots are rich in beta carotene and helps strengthening the immune system.

Image Courtesy: Flickr Creative Common

10. BADAAM KA HALWA:

How can we complete the list without one of the tastiest of desserts! This rich ghee soaked luscious delight can be had all year through, but it’s mostly enjoyed during the winter months. A spoonful of this delicacy is consumed as a morning ritual in many households and it keeps u warm and full through the day. Soaked and de-skinned almonds are blended to coarse in a mixer with milk, and cooked on low flame in clarified butter. Finally milk, water, saffron and sugar are added to complete the dish. Garnished with cardamom powder and almond silvers—that is all one needs to have people drooling.

Image Credit: Eiichi Yamaguchi, Source: Flickr

11. UNDHIYU:

Is a vegetarian, one pot winter delight straight from the land of temples, Gujarat. Bursting with flavours and packed with nutrition, Undhiyu is derived from Gujrati word Undh which means upside down. The vegetables (yams, brinjals, green unripe bananas, gourds, flat beans, peas and more) are originally cooked in earthen pots with methi muthia (preparation of fenugreek and chickpea flour) and the pot is sealed and placed upside down in a fire pit. It brings an earthy rusty flavour to the dish. Now, in contemporary households it is called a one pot/ casserole dish-the process is done in stew pots or pressure cooker, the cooking is faster but the flavours still retained.

Image Courtesy www.vishwagujarat.com

These were our selected popular winter recipes to keep you warm and nourished. If your favourite or regular has found a spot do tell us….and also the ones missing. Till then happy stocking:! :)