Biryani, butter chicken, dal makhani most searched Indian food globally

Everyone loves a plate of biryani, even though the vegetarian option hardly qualifies for a kind of biryani. While the eternal debate goes on about vegetarian biryani being a biryani or a pulao, a study has found that chicken biryani was the most-searched Indian food globally in 2019. The top 10 most searched dishes were butter chicken, samosa, chicken tikka masala, dosa, tandoori chicken, palak paneer, naan, dal makhani, and chaat.

Butter chicken, a favourite Indian dish, was searched at an average almost four lakh times, while the samosa which is ubiquitous across North India and beyond, was searched an average of 3.9 lakh times. Chicken tikka masala, another favourite, was searched an average of 2.5 lakh times, the SEMrush study showed.

The quintessential South Indian dish, the dosa was searched an average of 2.28 lakh times. The next five food on the list: Tandoori chicken, palak paneer, naan, dal makhani, and chaat were also much searched. Interestingly, dosa’s counterparts, idli and sambhar were found to be the most nutritious breakfast choice according to a study called the India Breakfast Habits Study.

The study also shows that a significant global audience equates Indian food with Punjabi food.

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In the snacks spicy and aromatic samosa and chaat ranked among the ten most searched food online. People who searched for these dishes likely comprised of those familiar with North India as both foods are among the most popular snacks in that region. Palak Paneer and Dal Makhani were the only vegetarian dishes on the list. Their presence on the list indicates once again that global audiences’ familiarity with Indian cuisines is skewed in favour of foods common in North India. The only bread that made it to the list was the mighty naan, with newer versions of it being often introduced at restaurants.

- with inputs from IANS

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