| The Punjab is situated in eastern India and is divided | | | | half of all Punjabis are vegetarian. No one goes |
| by the Indian/Pakistani border. It is very fertile | | | | hungry here and Sikh temples always offer simple |
| because of the rivers that cross here and as a | | | | free meals of bread and vegetable curry to all who |
| consequence, agriculture is central to the economy. | | | | turn up.Bread is the most important part of the |
| Wheat accounts for a large proportion of the crops, | | | | Punjabi diet. Rotis are made from wholewheat flour |
| along with corn, mustard greens, sugar cane and | | | | and water, formed into balls and flattened into discs |
| rice.Buffalo milk which is 3% higher in fat than cows | | | | which are then slapped onto the site of a tandoor or |
| milk, is also important to the Punjabis, who are not | | | | onto a tava (a flat griddle pan like a flat frying pan). |
| prey to worries about cholesterol. Every bit of the | | | | Rotis are commonly eaten for breakfast with butter, |
| buffalo milk is used in some way or other. Some is | | | | fresh yoghurt and pickles, while for lunch or dinner |
| used in tea or evaporated into a much thicker richer | | | | there will be parathas which are much richer, being |
| milk known as bhadoli, which in turn is set into | | | | brushed with ghee, folded and rolled again before |
| yoghurt. The thick cream will be removed from the | | | | being cooked and brushed with more ghee.Unlike |
| top of the yoghurt and churned into butter. Some of | | | | most of the rest of India, rice in the Punjab is for |
| the butter will be saved as is and the rest will be | | | | special occasions only or for making rice |
| warmed slowly and turned into ghee (clarified butter) | | | | pudding.Lunch in the fields will often consist of |
| by pouring off the clear butter and discarding the | | | | paratha and a curry made from onions fried with |
| solid sediment. Yet more of the milk will be made into | | | | garlic, ginger, green chillies, cayenne, garam masala, |
| paneer, the Indian equivalent of cottage cheese. The | | | | tomatoes, turmeric and salt. Potatoes are stirred in |
| milk is boiled then curdled by adding lime juice then | | | | and coated with the spices before adding water and |
| strained of whey, leaving the curds which can be | | | | cooking slowly.Breads may also be served for dinner |
| shaped into solid rounds.The Punjab is predominantly | | | | with small black beans and kidney beans cooked with |
| Sikh, being the home of the Golden Temple at | | | | onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes and garnished with |
| Amritsar, central to the Sikh religion, thus more than | | | | butter. |