Spices are a distinctive feature of the cooking of India and Indonesia. In India, every good cook prepares a curry—a mixture of such fragrant powdered spices as cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, nutmeg, and turmeric. The spice blend is kept in a jar in the kitchen and is used to season all sorts of foods.

The Hindus of India have developed what is perhaps the world's greatest vegetarian cuisine. They use cereals, pulses (lentils, peas, and beans), and rice with great imagination to produce a widely varied but generally meatless cuisine.

Indian cooks prepare delicious chutneys, highly seasoned vegetables and fruits used as side dishes that must be fresh to be fully appreciated. They also make little delicacies such as idlis, cakes of rice and lentils that are cooked by steaming; pakoras, vegetables fried in chickpea batter; and jalebis, pretzel-like tidbits made by soaking a deep-fried batter of wheat and chickpea flour in a sweet syrup. Raytas, yogurt with fruits or vegetables, are another favourite. Other specialties include biryani, a family of complicated rice dishes cooked with meats or shrimp; samosa, a flaky, stuffed, deep-fried pastry; korma, lamb curry made with a thick sauce using crushed nuts and yogurt; masala, the dry or wet base for curry; and a great variety of breads and hot wafers, including naan, pappadam, parathas, and chapatis.

In southern India and especially in the historical region of Telingana, or Andhra, the food is seasoned with fresh chili peppers and can be fiery hot. Lamb is the most important meat served in northern India. It is prepared in hundreds of different ways as kabobs, curries, roasts, and in rice dishes. In pre-independence days the Mughal cuisine there ranked among the most lavish in the world. The Mughal cuisine developed during the Muslim empire of the great Mughal kingdom. It is based, mostly because of religious and geographic limitations, on lamb. The preparations are mostly roasted, barbecued dishes, also kabobs and the so-called dry curries, versus the stew-type cooking of the south.

In India festivals and holidays are marked by feasting and revelry. Among the more prominent festivals are Onam, a rice harvest celebration; Diwali, which marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year; Dashera, which marks the triumph of the good prince Rama over evil; and Holi, the festival of lights, which honours Lord Krishna, an incarnation of the god Vishnu. Feasting and the offering of food to gods and friends are a highlight of these festivals.