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Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
6 Min
03/12/2025
If every winter gets your brain seeking something new in terms of food plus comfort, then this article is for you. While mainstream minestrone and manchow soups are perfect for winters, how about something more hyperlocal but equally delicious? These soups and stews are the underrated side-heroes (Nick Fury, Jarvis, Wong, if you’re thinking Marvel) of any film, who are finally getting their share of the limelight.
Winters in India bring with them a certain nostalgia and a desire for slow-cooked meals, warm spices, and bowls of comfort that feel like home. While dishes like rasam, paya, and gajar ka halwa dominate the season, most regional kitchens are full of lesser-known winter soups and stews that rarely make it to mainstream food conversations. From coconut-based stews of the South to noodle soups of the Himalayas and ancient royal broths from the Deccan, each of these soups and stews below brings warmth and history in equal measure.
Marag, from Hyderabad, is a mildly spicy mutton soup served as a starter and prepared from tender mutton with bone. This dish has become a quintessential element of Hyderabadi weddings and feasts, with Mughal influences evident in its preparation. It’s usually paired with local flatbreads like sheermal and rumali roti. The soup relies heavily on spices like cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and black pepper, and its silky texture and taste come from the combination of ground almonds and cashews.
Molagoottal is a South Indian stew with coconut and lentils as a base, unique to Kerala. Unlike its cousin, sambar, this dish is notably less spicy and contains no tamarind, offering a milder, more soothing flavour. Typical vegetables include winter melon (white pumpkin), drumstick, squash, cucumbers, sprouted pulses, yams, root vegetables, spinach and green leaves. The stew uses toor dal or urad dal, coconut, cumin, and red chillies ground into a paste that gives it its characteristic creamy texture.
In Telugu, horse gram is known as ulava and rasam as charu, so ulavacharu is simply horse gram rasam made in the traditional Andhra style. This thick lentil soup sits somewhere between a rasam and a stew in terms of consistency. It’s made with horse gram, tamarind and spices, with the horse gram soaked overnight, then slow-cooked. A paste of coconut, red chillies, cumin, and garlic is added, along with the tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves. Former US President Bill Clinton was said to have tasted and appreciated this dish at TANA meetings.
If you love tomato soup, then this Maharashtrian tomato saar is a must-try. It’s a spicy tomato soup made with curry leaves and chillies, commonly slurped just on its own or with some steamed rice. Unlike South Indian rasams that rely on tamarind and lentils, this saar emphasises the richness of tomatoes and is made with fresh coconut. It does not use any onion or garlic, and is completely oil-free in traditional preparations. The soup is light and a perfect summer accompaniment as part of the meal, though it's equally comforting in winter.
Pandhara rassa has roots in Maratha royal cuisine from medieval times, and comes from the days when the Maratha kings loved hunting and cooking the hunt into flavourful dishes. While Kolhapur is famous for fiery red dishes, pandhara rassa stands out for its mild, elegant white appearance – pandhara means white in Marathi, and rassa means gravy. The dish features poppy seeds, sesame seeds, fresh coconut, and a blend of whole spices, including green cardamom, cinnamon, and star anise.
Gyathuk specifically means ‘Chinese noodles’ in Tibetan, referring to the type of noodles used. This filling and tasty dish consists of vegetables, meat (usually yak or mutton), and broad, hand-pulled noodles. This soup, from the heart of Tibet, is a warm and filling dish and is perfect for keeping oneself warm and hydrated during harsh and dry winters in these regions. The dish has numerous variations, including thenthuk (hand-pulled noodles), bathuk (hand-rolled noodles), and drethug. In places like Ladakh, it's a staple food consumed daily, while in metropolitan cities, it has become popular street food during winter evenings.
This is a mixed vegetable stew made in Goa, which is usually made during festivals and religious occasions. Different types of vegetables like pumpkin, colocasia root (known as mundli in Goa), and raw banana go into this dish and are cooked in a coconut-based gravy. The secret ingredient in this stew is teffal or tirphal (Sichuan pepper), which provides a unique lemony warmth. It is completely oil-free and vegan, making it remarkably healthy. The dish is similar to Kerala's avial but doesn't use yoghurt.
Each of these bowls carries the imprint of its landscape and makes the best use of local ingredients. These dishes defy trends, restaurant menus, or Instagram aesthetics; they were shaped by climate, scarcity, celebration, and the quiet genius of home cooks who understood flavour long before ‘food culture’ was a phrase.
