Dhansak them the tradition of cooking meat with lentils and/or vegetables. However, tomatoes, chilies, pumpkin and potatoes are native to the Americas and were unknown in India until some time after the Portuguese (who in turn got them through trade with Spain) brought them to India in the 16th century CE. The dhansak is flavoured with a spice mixture called "dhansak masala", which is similar to "garam masala" except that the spices chosen are more aromatic and sweet rather than pungent. Cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, dried ginger, coriander seed and cumin seed, as well as a pinch of asafetida, are among
Nyanya (dish) black porridge, brains, and other things. "What niania this is!" he added to Chichikov. "Never would you get such stuff in a town, where one is given the devil knows what." The dish is also mentioned in the Saltykov-Shchedrin's novel "Old Years in Poshekhonye". Nyanya (dish) Nyanya or niania () is an ancient Russian dish. It consists of a sheep’s abomasum stuffed with mutton brains, head meat, legs, onion and buckwheat porridge. The dish is known from the 9th century. Nyanya was forbidden by the Russian Orthodox Church because pagan Slavs used the dish in their rituals. The nyanya is