Ayodhya travel guide

Prasad

Temple food elevated to a blessing—sweets, nuts, fruits or cooked food offered to the deity and redistributed to devotees as an act of grace; each temple's prasad is specific: Tirupati's ladoo, Golden Temple's karah prasad, Vrindavan's pedas

Poori sabzi

North India's celebratory morning meal—deep-fried puffed golden bread served with a spiced potato or chole preparation; eaten on Sundays and festivals; the poori must be eaten immediately as it deflates; the combination at the ghats in Haridwar before a Ganga aarti is architecturally Indian

Pedha

See Peda sweets—the sacred confection of Mathura-Vrindavan and other devotional towns; also the word for similar milk-reduction sweets throughout India; the Dharwad pedha of Karnataka is a distinct GI-protected version; Agra's peda is yet another distinct preparation

Simple satvik food

Ashram and temple vegetarian food—dal, rice, roti and vegetable sabji cooked without onion or garlic; served at Rishikesh's riverside ashrams and Haridwar's dharmashala guesthouses; nourishing, simple and surprisingly satisfying after days of rich restaurant food

Lassi

Punjab's legendary yogurt drink—churned with sugar or salt, topped with a thick layer of cream and sometimes kesar (saffron) or rose petals; Amritsar and Ludhiana versions are poured into clay kulhads; heavy enough to be a meal in the summer heat