Most of the food items which define modern North Indian and Subcontinental cooking have origins inside the Indian subcontinent though many foods that are now a part of them are based on fruits and vegetables that originated outside the Indian subcontinent.

Vegetable origins

VegetableHindustānī name OriginLikely time of introductionNotesBitter MelonkarelaAfricaCabbage Patta GobhīPossibly EuropeanDuring colonial timesDerived from Wild MustardCalabashLaukī/PankajChina/JapanCauliflowerPhool GobhīCyprus1822 CEChili pepperMirchMesoamerica 75 Exciting Vegetables For Your Garden, Jack E. Staub, Ellen Buchert, Gibbs Smith, 2005, pp. 126, , .India, hot peppers were dispersed by the earliest explorers to the Iberian Peninsula ... being cultivated in India by the sixteenth century, with three varieties growing in India by 1542 ...1550 CEindiaCorianderDhaniyaNorth Africa or Mediterranean 1000 AD by ArabsMentioned in ancient EgyptBrinjalBainganIndia/ChinaFenugreekMethīNear East 326 BC Alexander's campaign to IndiaGarlicLahsunpossibly Middle East UnknownLemonNīmbūSouth China or Northeastern IndiaIndian Archaeology in Retrospect: Protohistory, archaeology of the Harappan civilization, Shadaksharappa Settar, Ravi Korisettar, Indian Council of Historical Research, 2002, , ... The only early archaeobotanical evidence for Citrus fruits comes from the Late Harappan (Bara phase) site of Sanghol in Punjab where seeds of lemon (C. limon (L.) Burm. f.) have been reported (Saraswat and Chanchala 1997). This is of great interest as these fruits are thought to have been domesticated somewhere in the area spanning from north-eastern India to south China and South-East Asia, although there remains no firm evidence for precisely where or when ... suggests that lemons diffused westwards, presumably along the Ganga Valley in the early second millennium BC. Further west, in South-West Asia, the citron (C. medical L.) occurs as early as c. 1200 BC, while the lemon arrives later in the first millennium AD ...2000-1000 BCLemon seeds found in the Harappan Bara culture excavations indicate time of spreadMoringaIndiaOkraBhindīHighlands of Ethiopia and india75 Exciting Vegetables For Your Garden, Jack E. Staub, Ellen Buchert, Gibbs Smith, 2005, , ... Ancient varieties of okra can still be found growing wild from Ethiopia to the White Nile in Egypt, and this interesting food plant is believed to have originated in Ethiopia. In the absence of any ancient Indian names for it, modern botanists believe it found its way to India ... about AD 200 ...100-500 CEOnionPyaazIndia Unknown, but present by 500 BCE75 Exciting Vegetables For Your Garden, Jack E. Staub, Ellen Buchert, Gibbs Smith, 2005, pp. 84, , ... In India, as early as the sixth century BC, the famous herbal treatise Charaka-Sanhita celebrates the onion as good for the heart, the eyes, and the joints ...Mentioned in the Charaka SamhitaPotatoAloo (Alū)South America (Peru/Bolivia)1600 CELikely introduced by Portuguese tradersSweet PotatoShakarkandSouth America 1600 CE)Via PortugalTaroArbī / Arwī/ GuhiyaanIndia, Polynesia or SE AsiaTomatoTamatarLatin America (Mexico to Peru)1600 CELikely introduced by Portuguese tradersTurnipShalghamWest Asia or Eastern Europe 1500 BCVery early presence in the South AsiaYamZimikand/Suran/kachalu/bandaAfrica/Asia 7000 BCEDifferent types of yams by taste, colour, size, skin, acidity

Fruit origins

FruitHindustānī NameOriginLikely time of introductionNotesAppleSebCentral Asia (Kazakhstan)UnknownMangoAamIndiaUnknownMango is mentioned by Hendrik van Rheede, the Dutch commander of the Malabar region in his 1678 bookMulberryShehtoot/TootChina/JapanUnknownIts white type is toxic whereas red is very sweetOrangeSantara IndiaUnknownA sweeter Indian variety was introduced by the Portuguese in Europe (ca. 15th century)PlumAloo Bokhara ArmeniaUnknownTamarindImlī Hunase Hannū AfricaUnknown Known for savourish taste, the fruit has mention since Harappan times TangerineNarangīChinaUnknown

See also

Indian cuisine North Indian cuisine

References

Further reading "Domestication of plants in the Old World," Daniel Zohary and Maria Hopf, Oxford University Press, 2000. "History of Food," Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, Blackwell Publishing, 1994. "Culture and Cuisine: A Journey Through the History of Food," Jean François Revel, Doubleday, 1982. "The Agrarian History of England and Wales," Edward John T. Collins, Stuart Piggott, Joan Thirsk, Cambridge University Press, 1981.