The North

I’m back up in Delhi now. The food here is very different to that found in the South, but more familiar with that found in UK curry houses. Many of the popular dishes served at home are Northern Indian in origin, or to be more specific, Punjabi

I had lunch earlier in the hotel restaurant (I’ve got the day off and lunch looked more attractive than watching Andy Murray lose again in a major final). Amongst other dishes on offer were chicken tikka, pallak paneer, daal makhani and a tasty 'dry' cauliflower dish with lots of finely shredded ginger

Chicken tikka was subtly marinated, moist and perfectly cooked. Pallak paneer was pureed spinach with big chunks of paneer cheese. Daal makhani is one of the classics of Punjabi cuisine. It’s a type of daal made with urad beans. These take a lot of cooking slowly and the dish ends up thick, smooth and the colour of milk chocolate. It usually has good quantities of cream mixed in before serving (Punjabis love dairy products and there are jokes about them churning yoghurt to make lassi in concrete mixers and washing machines)

I was just starting my second plateful of food (there was a buffet) when the waiter asked if I wanted any fresh bread. A minute or two later he returned with fresh tandoori roti (thin wholemeal bread covered in bubbles after cooking in the hot ceramic-lined tandoor oven), and garlic naan. The garlic naan was light (perhaps a quarter of the thickness of the heavy, crashmat thick apologies for bread served at home) and lightly covered in garlic-infused gee (purified butter)

What was meant to be a light lunch (I’m going to the gym in a while) turned into a real feast. How long is it ‘til teatime?