Popular Indian foods

Here are 20 popular Indian foods with brief descriptions:

1. **Biryani:** Fragrant rice dish cooked with aromatic spices, herbs, and meat or vegetables.

2. **Butter Chicken:** Creamy and rich tomato-based curry with tender pieces of chicken.

3. **Chicken Tikka:** Marinated and grilled chunks of chicken, usually served with mint chutney.

4. **Masala Dosa:  Thin, crispy rice crepe filled with spiced mashed potatoes, often served with coconut chutney and sambar.

5. **Paneer Tikka:** Cubes of marinated and grilled paneer (Indian cottage cheese), a popular vegetarian appetizer.

6. **Samosas:** Triangular pastries filled with spiced potatoes, peas, and sometimes meat, deep-fried until golden.

7. **Chole Bhature:** Spiced chickpeas (chole) served with deep-fried bread (bhature).

8. **Tandoori Roti:** Unleavened flatbread cooked in a tandoor (clay oven), popularly paired with various curries.

9. **Rogan Josh:** A flavorful and aromatic curry, often made with tender pieces of meat like lamb or goat.

10. **Palak Paneer:** Creamy spinach curry with chunks of paneer (Indian cottage cheese).

11. **Aloo Paratha:** Stuffed flatbread with spiced mashed potatoes, cooked on a griddle.

12. **Dal Makhani:** Slow-cooked black lentils and kidney beans in a rich and creamy tomato-based sauce.

13. **Vada Pav:** Mumbai's iconic street food - a spicy potato patty in a bun, served with chutneys.

14. **Idli Sambhar:** Steamed rice cakes (idli) served with a flavorful lentil soup (sambhar).

15. **Pani Puri:** Hollow puris filled with spicy-tangy flavored water, tamarind chutney, potato, and chickpeas.

16. **Hyderabadi Dum Biryani:** A layered and aromatic biryani with marinated meat and basmati rice, slow-cooked.

17. **Malai Kofta:** Deep-fried dumplings made of paneer or vegetables in a rich and creamy tomato-based gravy.

18. **Pav Bhaji:** Mixed vegetable curry served with buttered and toasted pav (bread).

19. **Rajma Chawal:** Kidney bean curry served with steamed rice.

20. **Gulab Jamun:** Deep-fried milk dumplings soaked in sugar syrup, a popular dessert.