Random Indian Food Generator

Press for an Indian dish to cook or order, with what goes into it.

Random Indian Food Generator

  1. AppamA thin pancake of fermented rice batter and coconut milk, from Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
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How it works

This random Indian food generator picks one of 63 dishes from across India: Punjabi curries, South Indian dosas and idli, Mumbai's vada pav, Bengali sweets and more, each with a line on what goes into it.

Read the full guide

Order in or cook tonight

Press once and let the dish decide the takeaway order or the recipe. Most of the list is vegetarian: 53 of the 63 dishes, from chana masala and rajma to palak paneer and masala dosa.

Curries, breads, snacks or sweets

After the first press, the list beside the button keeps the draw to curries and mains (23), rice, dosas and breads (16), snacks and street food (12) or sweets (12). Draw one of each for a full thali.

Tips
  • Pair a curry with a bread: dal makhani with naan, or chole with bhature.

Questions and answers

What is the difference between a dosa and an idli?

Both start from a fermented batter of rice and urad dal. A dosa is spread thin on a hot pan into a crisp pancake; idli are the same kind of batter steamed into soft round cakes.

Which dishes come from South India?

Sambar, rasam, avial, dosa, idli, uttapam, pongal, medu vada, payasam and chicken 65 all come from the South India table of the list we follow, as do bisi bele bath and puttu.

Where are the dishes from?

From Wikipedia's list of Indian dishes, read on 24 September 2026, with a few checked against their own articles. Each line is ours. The vegetarian count follows that list's own column, so check the recipe if you avoid egg or dairy.

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All 63 dishes

Curries and mains 23

  • Aloo gobi Cauliflower and potato sautéed with garam masala and turmeric.
  • Avial South Indian mixed vegetables with coconut paste and curd.
  • Butter chicken Chicken in a mildly spiced tomato sauce. North Indian.
  • Chana masala Chickpeas in a spiced tomato sauce. North Indian.
  • Chicken 65 Spicy deep-fried chicken, first served at a hotel in Chennai.
  • Chicken tikka masala Marinated chicken in a creamy tomato and yogurt sauce.
  • Chingri malai curry Bengali prawn curry with coconut and mustard.
  • Dal makhani Black lentils cooked with butter and cream, from the Punjab.
  • Dal tadka Lentils finished with a tadka: whole spices cooked briefly in hot oil or ghee.
  • Dum aloo Potatoes slow-cooked in a spiced curry.
  • Kadai paneer Paneer and green peppers in a tomato gravy.
  • Kadhi pakoda Fried gram-flour balls in a curry of yogurt and gram flour.
  • Machher jhol A Bengali and Assamese fish curry with spices.
  • Matar paneer Green peas and cubes of paneer in a spiced tomato sauce.
  • Palak paneer Paneer cheese cooked in spinach.
  • Pav bhaji A thick, spicy vegetable curry served with a soft buttered roll, from Maharashtra.
  • Rajma Kidney beans cooked with spices, a North Indian main.
  • Rasam A thin, spicy and sour South Indian soup of tamarind, tomato and pepper.
  • Sambar South Indian lentil soup with vegetables and spices, eaten with rice, idli or dosa.
  • Sarson ka saag Creamed mustard greens, eaten with buttered corn roti in the Punjab winter.
  • Tandoori chicken Spiced chicken roasted in a tandoor, first made in the Punjab.
  • Undhiyu Gujarati winter dish of mixed vegetables cooked with spices.
  • Vindaloo Goan pork curry made hot with red chilli paste.
Show all 63 dishes (40 more)

Rice, dosas and breads 16

  • Appam A thin pancake of fermented rice batter and coconut milk, from Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
  • Biryani Rice layered with spices and meat, seafood or vegetables.
  • Bisi bele bath Karnataka rice cooked with lentils and vegetables.
  • Chapati Unleavened flatbread, a daily staple across India.
  • Chole bhature Spiced chickpeas with bhatura, a puffy deep-fried bread.
  • Dosa A thin, crisp pancake of fermented rice and urad dal batter.
  • Hyderabadi biryani Biryani in the style of Hyderabad.
  • Idli Soft steamed cakes of fermented rice and lentil batter.
  • Khichdi Rice and lentils cooked together, often with vegetables.
  • Luchi Puffed, deep-fried Bengali bread.
  • Masala dosa A dosa folded round spiced potato.
  • Naan Soft flatbread baked in a tandoor.
  • Paratha A flatbread eaten across India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
  • Pongal Tamil dish of rice boiled in milk, made for the Pongal festival.
  • Puttu Ground rice steamed with jaggery and cardamom.
  • Uttapam A thick rice pancake topped with onion, tomato or coconut.

Snacks and street food 12

  • Aloo tikki Fried potato patties, often served as chaat.
  • Chaat Street snacks of fried potato, chickpeas, yogurt and chutneys.
  • Dahi vada Fried lentil balls soaked in yogurt.
  • Dhokla A savoury sponge from Gujarat, steamed from a fermented batter.
  • Medu vada South Indian breakfast doughnut of black lentils, crisp outside and soft inside.
  • Momo Dumplings first from Tibet, a popular snack in India.
  • Pakora Potato or onion fritters in seasoned gram-flour batter.
  • Pani puri Crisp hollow puri shells, filled and dipped in flavoured water.
  • Poha Flattened rice cooked with potato and turmeric, a breakfast in central India.
  • Samosa A fried pastry filled with potatoes, onions, peas and spices.
  • Upma A thick breakfast porridge of dry-roasted semolina.
  • Vada pav Maharashtra fast food: a deep-fried potato dumpling in a bread bun.

Sweets 12

  • Gajar halwa Grated carrot cooked with milk, sugar and cardamom, then ghee.
  • Gulab jamun Fried milk-dough balls soaked in sugar syrup.
  • Jalebi Twisted spirals of fried batter dipped in sugar syrup.
  • Kheer Rice pudding cooked with milk and dried fruit.
  • Kulfi A frozen milk dessert, denser and creamier than ice cream, from Mughal Delhi.
  • Laddu Round sweets bound with sugar syrup or jaggery, served at celebrations.
  • Mishti doi Bengali sweet curd, set with sugar or jaggery.
  • Modak Maharashtrian dumplings of rice flour with a coconut and jaggery filling.
  • Payasam South Indian sweet pudding of rice and milk.
  • Rasgulla Balls of chhena dough cooked in light sugar syrup.
  • Sandesh A Bengali sweet of milk and sugar, often made with chhena.
  • Shrikhand A thick sweet yogurt with cardamom, saffron and nuts.

How this list was compiled: Dishes named in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_dishes (North, South, West, East and North-East tables), fetched through the MediaWiki API on 2026-09-24. Each line is ours, written from that list's description and region; x.veg follows its Vegetarian column. Appam, pongal, medu vada, pakora, pani puri, dhokla, vada pav, kulfi, chicken 65, laddu, rasgulla, sandesh, gajar halwa and dal makhani were checked against their own English Wikipedia articles the same day. Licence: own work