Food · Curated list
Curry, Chutney, Naan and 22 more, ranked by how much of the world has written about each one.
Most written-about first. Each description summarises the dish or drink's Wikipedia article, which its name links to.
1
Spiced Asian-inspired sauces and dishes
A dish with a spicy sauce that began in Indian cooking, was reshaped by contact first with the Portuguese and then the British, and in the end spread all over the world. Many curries are found in the cooking of East and Southeast Asian countries.
2
South Asian condiment
A condiment linked with the cooking of the Indian subcontinent, made in many forms, some raw, as with coriander, others cooked with sugar, such as mango chutney.
Wikidata · Photo: grabadonut, CC BY-SA 2.0
3
Asian flatbread
A leavened flatbread, baked in an oven or fried on a tawa, and also baked in a tandoor, known for its light, fluffy texture and the golden-brown spots left by baking.
Wikidata · Photo: Yosri at ms.wikipedia . Later version(s) were uploaded by PM Poon at ms.wikipedia ., GFDL
4
South Asian unleavened wheat flatbread
An unleavened flatbread from the Indian subcontinent, made from a dough of atta, a whole-wheat flour, and water.
Wikidata · Photo: Ranjithsiji, CC BY-SA 3.0
5
Yogurt-based drink from the Indian subcontinent
A drink based on yogurt with a texture like a smoothie. The word is borrowed from Hindi, first recorded in 1882; where it ultimately comes from is unclear, though Sanskrit lasya (stickiness) or rasah (juice) have been suggested.
Wikidata · Photo: Swami Stream, CC BY 2.0
6
Spiced fritter originally from the Indian subcontinent
A fritter from the Indian subcontinent, sold on the street and in restaurants all over South Asia.
Wikidata · Photo: Rajeeb Dutta, CC BY-SA 4.0
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7
Milk-solid-based sweet from the Indian subcontinent
A sweet, or mithai, from the Indian subcontinent, popular in the cooking of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Burma, and common too in countries with large South Asian populations.
Wikidata · Photo: Cabeza2000, CC BY-SA 4.0
8
Drink containing fruit or fruit juice
A wide range of drinks, with or without alcohol, usually containing fruit or fruit juice. Employees of the East India Company brought it from the Indian subcontinent to England in the late 17th century.
Wikidata · Photo: Shawn Lea from Jackson, MS, US, CC BY 2.0
9
Type of fresh cheese in South Asian cuisine
A fresh cheese set with acid, common in South Asian cooking, made from buffalo or cow milk. Soft, unaged and not melting, it is made by adding lemon juice, citric acid or another acid to milk so that it curdles.
Wikidata · Photo: Sonja Pauen - Stanhopea, CC BY 2.0 de
10
Flatbread from the Indian subcontinent
A crisp snack of the Indian subcontinent, made from black gram bean flour worked into a dough and then deep-fried or cooked with dry heat.
Wikidata · Photo: Windell H. Oskay, CC BY 2.5
11
12
Indo-British dish
A curry of chicken pieces, marinated and roasted, served in a spiced, creamy sauce (masala). Britain is thought to be where it was invented, perhaps by Ali Ahmed Aslam in Glasgow.
Wikidata · Photo: Michael Hays, CC BY 2.0
13
South Indian savoury rice cake
Also spelled idly, a rice cake from South India and Sri Lanka, popular at breakfast, made by steaming a batter of fermented rice and hulled black lentils.
Wikidata · Photo: Randhirreddy at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
14
Sweet pudding dish from Indian subcontinent
Also called khir, payesh, fenni or payasam, a porridge or pudding popular across the Indian subcontinent. It is usually rice boiled in milk with sugar or jaggery, and may be flavoured with saffron, cardamom, nuts and dried fruit.
Wikidata · Photo: stu spivack, CC BY-SA 2.0
15
South Asian frozen dessert
A frozen dairy dessert of the Indian subcontinent, often called "traditional Indian ice cream".
Wikidata · Photo: danchitnis, CC BY 2.0
16
Flavoured Indian tea
A popular drink from India, made by adding fragrant spices and herbs to chai, black tea brewed in water and milk and sweetened with sugar, often aerated by techniques only masters, or "tevanas", perform.
Wikidata · Photo: Miansari66, Public domain
17
South Asian deep-fried bread
A deep-fried flatbread of unleavened wheat dough from the north of the Indian subcontinent, where it is one of the commonest breads and, in parts, a staple food.
Wikidata · Photo: Daiju Azuma, CC BY-SA 2.5
18
Spherical sweet from the Indian subcontinent
Also spelled laddoo, a round sweet of the Indian subcontinent made from various ingredients with jaggery or sugar syrup. It has been called "perhaps the most universal and ancient of Indian sweets".
Wikidata · Photo: Rajdeep Das, CC BY-SA 4.0
19
Fermented rice pancake from South India and Sri Lanka
Also written aappam, a thin pancake of South Indian cooking made with coconut milk and fermented rice batter. It is traditionally made in an appachatti, a deep, wok-like pan.
Wikidata · Photo: Vijayanrajapuram, CC BY-SA 4.0
20
Type of curry
A curry known around the world in its British form, a staple of curry houses and Indian restaurants: a fiery, spicy dish made with a choice of meats. Its name comes from carne de vinha d'alhos, or vindalho, a famous Portuguese dish from Goa made with pork.
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21
Marinated roast chicken dish
Chicken marinated in spices and yogurt and roasted in a tandoor, a cylindrical oven made of clay; it is now popular worldwide.
Wikidata · Photo: Bharat Mirchandani from Mumbai, India, CC BY-SA 2.0
22
Indian street food
A snack of the Indian subcontinent: a round, deep-fried puri shell, emptied out, stuffed, and plunged into flavoured water. Mainly a street food, it belongs to chaat, the family of light snacks.
Wikidata · Photo: Teena Sometimes, CC BY-SA 4.0
23
Mughlai cold dessert
Also spelled faluda, a cold Mughlai dessert made with vermicelli. It goes back to faloodeh, a Persian dish, versions of which exist across West, Central, South and Southeast Asia.
Wikidata · Photo: Kanchana Bose, CC BY-SA 4.0
24
Indian curry dish
Also called murgh makhani, a curry of chicken cooked in a spiced gravy of tomato and butter, known for its rich, creamy texture.
Wikidata · Photo: stu_spivack, CC BY-SA 2.0
25
Type of curry
Also spelled kurma, qorma or qurma, a curry from the Indian subcontinent shaped by Mughlai cooking, later adapted to Anglo-Indian and then British tastes. Vegetables or meat are braised with spices and yogurt, water or stock into a thick sauce or gravy.
Wikidata · Photo: Miansari66, CC0
Every Wikidata item that is a dish, drink, dessert or cheese whose cuisine, on Wikidata, is Indian cuisine, or whose country of origin is India, and that has its own English Wikipedia article, ranked by the number of Wikimedia sites with a page about it — Wikipedia's language editions, mostly, and sister projects such as Wikiquote. That counts how many communities independently thought it worth describing, and nobody can buy a place on it. The top 25 are shown.
Wikidata files these under this list's query, but they are not what the list is about:
Fetched from Wikidata on 2026-09-25. Each description is this site's summary of the entry's Wikipedia article, which its name links to: the wording is ours, the facts are Wikipedia's, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. To correct an entry, correct it there; the next refresh carries the change.
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