Buddh Races and a Nation of Kitchens

India hosted three Grands Prix at the Buddh International Circuit, and its food is a family of regional cuisines held together by grains, pulses and spice.

Three Indian Grands Prix were held, from 2011 to 2013, at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, and all three told the same story: Sebastian Vettel won each one for Red Bull, in the run of seasons when he also took the world title. It was a short chapter with a very consistent ending.

Two Indian drivers appear in our records. Narain Karthikeyan made 46 starts between 2005 and 2012, with fourth as his best finish, and Karun Chandhok started eleven races in 2010 and 2011. Both were racing in the years when their country had a Grand Prix of its own.

To speak of Indian cuisine is to speak of many cuisines at once, regional and ethnic, gathered into one national identity and shaped by religion, culture and a climate that runs from the tropical south to the Himalayas. Meals rest on rice or wheat with savory dishes of pulses and vegetables. Lentils, from red masoor to mung beans, are central, and dal, the split lentil, turns up everywhere. Cumin, turmeric, cardamom, mustard seed, ginger, coriander and garlic are layered with care, often beginning with onion, garlic and ginger sizzling in oil, and Mughal rule added pilau, biryani and kebabs to the repertoire.

The circuit lies in Uttar Pradesh, where a typical North Indian main meal brings wheat bread such as chapatis with dal and vegetables, sometimes with a meat curry instead. The Indo Persian method of dum pukht, cooking in a pot sealed with dough over low heat, gives the region its famous biryani and rewards any cook patient enough not to peek. Further afield, Kashmir's wazwan banquets feature rogan josh, the south cooks with coconut and steam, and Karnataka serves bisi bele bhat, a spiced mix of lentils, rice and vegetables.

A taste of India

• Murgh makhani, Butter chicken
• Palak paneer, Fresh cheese in spiced spinach sauce
• Aloo tikki chaat, Crisp potato patties with yogurt and chutneys
• Samosa, Spiced potato and pea pastries
• Chole bhature, Spiced chickpea curry with puffed fried bread
• Tehri, Uttar Pradesh spiced vegetable rice
• Arrack punch, Spiced lime, tea and arrack punch
• Masala chai, Spiced milk tea
• Chawal ki kheer, Slow cooked cardamom rice pudding

Circuits

• Buddh International Circuit

Drivers

• Narain Karthikeyan
• Karun Chandhok