How are kitchens in India? (A foreigner's perspective)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- For the past four months, we have been cooking in India... are kitchens over there the same as the kitchens we were used to? Not quite... Find out why in this video!
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We are Ale (Alessio) & Ela (Emanuela), two adventure lovers who decided to quit their job and their life in London to travel for a while. After visiting Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia and Bulgaria by motorbike (our Suzuki V-Strom 650), we are now exploring India in an auto rickshaw. Every week, we share the places we see, the food we eat and the people we meet. We don't know where we will end up yet, but we are sure we'll have fun along the way! Follow us and get in touch if you happen to be close by.
Typically baking is not done very often in India. That is why you see lack of ovens.
Which is kinda weird we always had one,,tho we don't use it often
Most people use ovens (ofc I'm talking about microwave), it's just that we carry it with us when we move in. It's not provided to you.
@@Damian_HENRY baked foods are hardly a part of South Asian Cuisine.
Our version of an oven is a tandoor.
@@pdas_cgr correct
I see you haven't discovered the time saving, energy saving gem of Indian kitchens - the pressure cooker!
Amen brother. Amen
or maid :)
I too was expecting she would show a pressure cooker. Can't imagine Indian kitchen without a pressure cooker
Yes. Pressure cookers are the best
We do love our pressure cooker, don't we.
I even took one with me when i left India for job.
The best part of the video is that Ms. Ela explained the differences without putting an air of superiority on the European style.
Yes, I really loved how she explained it neutrally and I even smiled at her expressions through the video. Instead of criticizing, she accepted and tried to understand the reason, like she said the lack of handles in the pots actually saves space while storing.
Baking is not part of an Indian cuisine tradition, especially in urban setups. Not only does it take up space, it is also consumes a lot of energy. Baking, bath tubs, heated water and toilet rolls are a few of the things you won't find in India. However you may find earthen clay ovens in rural villages. Wood fired earthen clay ovens are used for making bread in some northern rural villages in India.
Fair enough 👍
Heated water is necessity in many parts of India idk why u said that no one in delhi is showering with cold water in winters
@@iliketurtles9719 I meant to say centralized heating system for water. That is expensive, energy intensive and not a thing in India.
@@san-chil no use of it in our country it's mostly used in countries where it snows in winter and summer are not that hot
In my state it's common to find water heater in bathrooms. They are highly needed during the winter. But except that you've mentioned over here you won't see them in Indian house. I'd say micro oven is getting really popular in kitchens in our country.
Those tongs are specifically made for lifting hots items off stoves ,and we have 2-3 variety of it
It is ironic that it takes a foreigner to remind us INDIA IS SIMPLICITY AND FUNCTIONAL.
What most people forget is that simple looking ideas take more thought process than complex over engineered ideas.
Jay Hind Jay Bharat 🙏
Tone it down, dude. This isn't patriotism.
@@burgerbobbelcherit’s true though, why are you harping like a jealous peacock?
World over...it is simplicity and functionality. Just the needs are different. Nothing uniquely indian about it.
In India baking is very rare.
We fry almost everything by adding spices in them.
Our cook baked aubergines regularly under the live kitchen fire. Finally, it would be mashed with ghee and a touch of spices. Delicious! Innovation is the motto of the day in Bharat.
And boil,and pressure cook.
It is because we have pressure cooker or handi that you can cover outside with clay and use as oven. And we do have earthen tandoori in village homes. Ever heard of Naan, Undhiyu, Umbadiyu, Kuttu, Bakarkhani, Handi mutton or chicken, Bharta, Patradi, Handvo, Khichiya? These are the few Indian dishes within clay pots cooked slowly to perfection. Too bad if you never experienced that in life.
so, when Indians move abroad for a job or get citizenship, Especially Gujarati people... One checked-in suitcase always has to be full of utensils. Because these same utensils you get in USA or UK or Australia, but at 50 to double the price. Most popular ones are of course the prestige cooker, Tupperware containers, Tawa, Slotted Spoons, Rice Serving spoon and so many more.
Love the content you share❤❤❤ We just moved here to India and it is soooooo different than the United States! My siblings and parents have so much fun when we go out and explore new things ❤❤❤ Keep up the great work!
Ur kindly heartedly thnxxxx for exploring our histroy and our Country 😊😊🙏🏻🙏🏻😇😇
Such a short yet informative video! Straight to the points
We are glad you liked it!
Indian oven is a tandoor & that's usually outdoor, a lot of people have outdoor kitchens for barbeques & stuff because of the smoke.
I’d say what you find in a kitchen in India will depend on what kind of place you’re renting, the location and the rent itself. If you’d like one with ovens, and Teflon cookware and dishwashers and hobs, there will be many! Nevertheless, most households all over the world will have items based on functionality… whether it’s the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom or living room! Nice vdo though!!
This is a very good piece of information for foreigners looking to live long term in India.
Yes, we do not bake much/ at all, and hence, don't need ovens. All our cooking is done in pots/ cookers.
We had an oven purchased many years ago but it was under used and found it's way to the loft though nothing was wrong with it's working. It was discarded after fifteen years.
And the mixie is a must for us.....
U have not used Indian freezer
Indian mixture, Indian flour mill, utensils made of copper, iron, bronze are BEST
Those handleless pots are beginning to show up here in the US. While only on cheap “TikTok influencer” type cookware, it’s only a matter of time before more established brands like Calphalon, Cuisinart and All-Clad start releasing lines of their higher-end stainless steel cookware with this feature.
Cool video! The more affluent households in India tend to have kitchens that resemble the West, with built in appliances and thick bottom pots with handles
I love the pots with handles and the sturdy tongs!!
Those pots are not for cooking. They are usually for serving or shifting hot food into. For cooking you got to use cooker, pan and chinese pan ( kadai) which have handles. The steel pots like the one you showed can be put on induction cooker though. For tea and milk, there is a separate long-handle pot.For dosa we have a flat pan and for idly, respective cooker. We also use earthen pots. We don't use the oven usually unless somebody is seriously into baking. Baking is western style of cooking. By the way, you can use tap water directly for drinking in most parts of kerala since it would be well water and soft( but we don't do it, we always boil). We used to drink well water directly in olden times.
Our Indian way of cooking is very different.we don't bake,our breads are different.your ways are different food habits are different.that is all.
Our bread is chapati/poli/roti and we don't eat it without sabzi/bhaji
We use Kadai even for baking. Kadai is multipurpose like belan😂
Pressure cookers in various measurement and for deferent uses you could find in Indian utensils(with whistle or hiss sound). For example milk, dal, rice, chicken, vegetable separate cookers.
I love the simple straight forward Indian kitchen.Bought a cooking range many years ago but never used the Oven.
The pigeon all in one pressure cooker, doesn't have long handle too. It is convenient for cooking, serving & storing.
One thing you find is pressure cooker
Dal
Yes this is very typical in India.
Most people never have a traditional western style oven, even if they did in house it won't be used for cooking rather storing pans etc honestly. (Coming from Indian overseas).
Some people may have a microwave though, although still not too common. In India culture is of eating fresh food, made soon to eat soon generally.
Also idk if you noticed this as a foreigner or not, but most importantly a lot of indian kitchens are closed, and often have that kinda exhaust fan, so all harsh cooking smells etc get out of kitchen to environment quickly rather than inside home.
We use a thick napkin to lift pots with no handles. It is much safer than the pot holder you shown.
There are different types of utensils with handle easily available. In India oven are there but you have to spend money but more than other countries & for 60- 150 dollars 💰 you can get latest kitchen stove.
That was a brilliant comparison... Would love to see more such videos
Cheers
I love those pots. They are much better than using Teflon coated pots with plastic handles. And like you said, they stack so neatly in the drawer and take less spaces than pots with handles. But I can’t use them in Finland because those have a curved bottom and most stoves in Finland are either induction or hot plates (flat surface).
1:35 the multipurpose tongs
And there are verity of them.
There are ovens, hobs and all these stuff but it depends if the owner wants to keep it.. We don't prefer ovens (as it's easier to buy a cake) and we rarely heat food in oven.. We don't prefer hobs cause it's just extra headache for maintenance.. Rather these stoves (which we have on multiple options with ranging from 1000 to 50000 INR and more and it goes better with price are the easy maintained ones
Indians normally don’t bake much but if you need one you can buy them separately … ovens and OTG are widely available everywhere online or in stores
1:00 That finger wave 😂
Well many cities have upgraded to piped natural gas
We in India do use pots with handles and lid. The houses you are.renting may not be providing to save money or they expect you to cook anything other than tea and instant noodles😊
Thank you for explaining it in a respectful way, most foreigners don't do that , they mock us instead 😊😊❤
Cast iron and earthen pots for cooking are the healthy options rest for serving can use bellmetal plates and pots rest for water brass glass n hugs can be used
You do have hobs and chimneys but in more upmarket areas. This looks like a standard rental. Indian cooking is more cooking, steaming and stewing over baking.
The pans also seem standard. We do use cast iron, glazed clay and a traditional brass-coated cookware with handles.
I'm having one of those tongs sitting in my kitchen drawer for nearly 30 years now, since a friend who went to India for vacation brought it to me as a present. Or more precise: she'd asked what I wanted her to bring me from India and I'd asked for a chapati pan. I had eaten chapati in an Indian restaurant in London and I loved it, so I wanted to try make it myself. She came home with some sort of a rough iron disk, a bit concave, that they had given her in a shop when she asked for a chapati pan. It looked more like a bit of scrap metal than a pan... but it came with one of those tongs.
I never managed to make chapati, but the tongs are still there in the drawer, along with the "pan".
Pots with handles are also available in market.
Even after using the water filter a lot of people further boil the water to then consume it for drinking especially in the cities.
Very interesting observatiins
India cooking can be slow cooking. We don't waste time in baking , its too resource taking with inefficient output/ quantities
You normally wouldnt find ovens unless the family has taken to baking or is a family that has had some british influence. My family for example in the 50s and 60s had several british friends who would invite us over or we would invite them over. As a result our family got kinda used to european food. As a result we have always had an oven in our house. However never a built in oven, we still use the stove like the one you showed, but 2e do have an electric oven ehich has been with us sine the 80s ( which was probably bought as a replacement). In our house we still have dinners where we will make roasts, casseroles, lasagne, and other sorts of baked foods
I understand u didn't know about those things , so u didn't utilize them at start. But why would u burn your hands to catch and rotate the hot utensils lol, can hold cloth in hands to touch the hot utensils to hold and turn them around instead of bear hands 😅
As a Non resident Indian
I always wonder Tamil Nadu kitchen utensil shops with 1000s of cooking tools other than electrical gadgets which came before few hundred years.
Just add one of those nifty hissing pressure cookers and your kitchen will be complete
No you're not fully right about cooking utensils. May be you haven't came across this but in most families we do use pans and pots with handles and they are readily available in market almost every part of the country
Nonstick garbage is not part of traditional Indian cookware. And most Indian homes still don't use them.
@@NostalgiaforInfinity i never said non stick. I'm saying pans with handles
@@NostalgiaforInfinitythere are steel pans and pots with handles dude. Haven't you seen them? For eg: the milk boiling pan or pot or whatever it is, it has a handle.
Mother cooked in mud pots, fire wood stove.
Batter prepared using stone grinder.
Those stainless steel utensils with no handles are easy to clean and consume less water. They can last for 30+ years.
In india we fry dont bake.. so the lack of oven.. doesnt make sense in indian kitchen..
Fry and roast. Our breads are roasted (roti, chapatti) with the exception of naan (which almost no one makes at home).
If there is no aquaguard AKA water purifier you just need to boil water. Most of the kitchens don't have water purifier because of the increased electricity bill. It's why people use the stove to heat the water and then drink it. Otherwise you can just buy a 25 Litre bisleri water jar where you need to put a 100 rs deposit and then buy it for everytime for 100 rs if you don't want to boil water. This can be found in your local store not in amazon.
Oven most people don't bake so no oven.
Utensils without handle. People have ones with handle but those are too expensive and are usually on homes where the people own the home not in a semi furnished one.
Guys - Baking is same as cooking on stove top except that it is dry heat. So Chill.. But ovens consume too much of power - India given its population and reliance on imports for gas wisely does not encourage ovens. Also India does not believe in the unattended cooking that baking does. I live in US and I tried to use oven - I find it too long and time consuming and I also feel the need to add spices along the way - so it’s boring to find oven mitts and open and struggle with the contraption - so I barely use it. Most Americans confuse thinking that ovens are so clean and so Indians don’t cook. No - Indians don’t see the need to use that big oven UNLESS it’s for a party. Yes, ovens are surely helpful that time. So hotels do use ovens - not individual homes. Pls compare the gas stove/ gas cylinder size/price and compare with oven cost/ power consumption and convert to rupees. You will know why India does not use oven.
we do Steaming but not Baking so you won't find any oven
The way we cook in India is different from Europe. And normally everything is absolutely freshly cooked everyday
Thank you so much for being respectful towards other's culture and not being judgemental. 🙏🏻
You are more than welcome! 😊
So, they haven't discovered the marvels of the toaster oven.
😂
You missed one thing at least, the tea or Chai kettle and filter. 😊
We do have best ovens in India too.
We use pressure cookers,and we dient bake anything,even we lots of people doesnt no how to use oven
The only "oven" you will find in India is clay tandoor, unless you're in a luxury hotel or restaurant.
I think you haven't explored markets pls madam go n watch the end number of varities
I was thinking where is the tongs, and then you brought it out...
This is a basic Indian kitchen. Indian cooking doesn’t require baking, so you won’t find a full oven in Indian kitchens. However, as more Indians develop an interest in baking, some kitchens are equipped with an OTG (oven toaster griller), which serves as a compact oven suitable for occasional baking. Indians would also have a mixer grinder; every Indian woman aspires to have one mixer and grinder at home. In urban cities, you would find gas pipelines instead of cylinders. For example, in Delhi, most areas have gas pipelines, while some still use cylinders. However, pipeline connections are increasing. In urban cities, you would also find microwaves. In cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and other high-income cities, you would see modern kitchens with modular designs and installed hobs, the kitchen in video is the basic kitchen setup, and it tends to get upgraded as income levels rise.
Boiled and cooled water is best
Hobs are not that suited for Indian cooking as is a simple stove. Interior designers are actually installing hobs a lot now-a-days, but they do mention this slight disadvantage. But aesthetically, hobs look so much better!
Houses will have microwaves but very rarely ovens. Another thing different from the West is the presence of pressure cookers.
For my personal experience the most simple your lifestyle, the more happier you will be .......
And zero maintenance....... zero headaches.... BINDAS life ..
Oh! nooo.. she got our kitchen tricks
Indian food is hardly baked 😂
Its either deep fried, pan fried or baked directly on fire...
We still follow hundreds years old way of cooking..
Because this is the way Indian food can be made.
Also, packed or stored or frozen food is a big no no for Indian kitchen 😅
We want everything fresh.
Indian utensils are majorly made up of Iron, Copper and aluminium. In 90% Indian homes, you will still not find non stick cookware.
Indian pressure cooker is also very convenient way of cooking btw...💯
Non stick is the biggest scam
@@mverick5444 I don't like non stick too
who says indians don’t bake? i am a rajasthani and our food was always baked in charcoal directly- heard of baati?
You will have to see more Indian kitchens.. most of the info on the video is incorrect
Hello! We have shown our experience after 4 month travelling across India. Those were the most common features across the kitchen we have used. We bet there are other types of kitchen, India is so big and diverse!
If you rent a cheap flat, you will get something like this and if you spend more money, you will get a luxurious house.
Sure in every country you’ll get any type of kitchen depending on how much you pay. Thus, we have shown what we have experienced the most across the country after 4 months travelling.
😊❤🙏
Baking is not a part of Indian Cuisine. If anyone knows baking they can always buy oven from market.
Everything is available but at a cost. Water provided by the municipality is world class and potable, the RO is for germaphobes. If the city is flooded once a year, that is when you need to filter your water for 3 4 days. There are places with fixed pipes gas and built in hobs, centralized HVAC residencial buildings too.
1:13 thats not used for cooking. Cooking vessels have handles. Those are not pots. Those are silver vessels. To carry foods. A steel version of bowls. I dont know why every foriegners take everything wrong and promoting wrong things. Just simply check how indian kitchens are. Or just check any home cooking indian videos. You ill get an idea, that how we cook food. We use oven. People buy things like that according to their requirements. How you cook in your country. That the same here. Indians are living in the same planet. We are not alien's.
This is a kitchen from a lower middle class house .You should show a kitchen in a middle class and a kitchen from a rich house .They are much much bigger and have all amenities you can think of of ,european or American .
Don't boast of affluent they keep all these as a showcase of their money & seldom used.
At the end of the day they too it Roti sabji dal.
@@rameshsharma-hb5in these days mixers ,microwaves ,chimneys ,teflon coated utensils etc are common in middle class homes .I am not boasting .She hasn’t shown these but basic utensils which aren’t used much .
Abe jahil she's talking about kitchens you find flats that they usually rent. Not upper middle class and rich Indian houses.
@@rameshsharma-hb5in lmao what do you mean boast? Even bachelor's have more equipments in their kitchen. Microwave, pressure cooker and handle wale pots are common.
@buntysodhi you're correct - and Ale&Ela themselves look like they are lower middle class people (no offense meant - most lower middle class people are extremely nice humans - which is not something I'm always able say about the upper classes)
Baking isn't a big part of Indian cuisine except for some regions like Kashmir.
Tap water is 100% drinkable madam, but it's business.
You can buy Microwave Ovens in India
So, until you found the tongs you kept burning your hands......you should have used a napkin instead......indians get such ideas instantly
😂 You said it! 😂😂
We indians use tap water it's the cleanest, water purifier are for those reason when water comes less clean. Your facts are misleading, I'm 24 and never had a purifier like tha.
Piped gas nowadays in most kitchens
🙂👍
Bada hi kamzor. Leg piece hai
There hobs in India built in ovens for baking n microwave...
This is basic kitchen
Plz don't spread false info
We have updated kitchens even better than ur country 😢
why do you burn your hands use a waste cloth, tongs i dont think most indians use it
Be careful while using tongs
nice roast big sister
I think the pressure cooker is another thing that is unique to Indian kitchens
Absolutely not. They're very common in Spain and were invented in Europe. When I married 40 years ago my friends told me to make sure I bought a large pressure cooker and a quality stick blender.