Do you like Indian food?

[AngryDem001]

I LOVE it. Esp. Chicken Makhani or "Butter Chicken". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_chicken

I also LOVE Naan bread as well. Does anyone else have a taste for Indian cuisine?

[bigwillq]

1. No.

I don't like it.

[a kennedy]

2. Funny you should ask that......had my VERY FIRST Indian dinner last Friday....

LOVE IT. and that is what we had also, Butter Chicken, with a mild sauce though. But we did try some beef dish with a tad hotter sauce and I loved that too. Will be adding Indian to my list of love, love, love, food. My brother suggested these items for our first attempt at Indian, and he laughed at me when the tad hotter sauce gave my mouth and lips a thrill. He of course being the "seasoned" diner, requests only the hottest of hot sauce. Usually the waiters/waitresses just stare at him in awe as he enjoys their hottest fairs. Yikes, don't think I'll ever be able to do the hot, hot sauce. Here's where we ate, they just received the Best Of Madison again for 2015 http://swagatindianrestaurant.com/

[Recursion]

6. Oddly enough, my friends here find even a modest amount of horseradish unbearably spicy

My spice tolerance has grown by leaps and bounds in the past year and a half, but I still can't just sit there and eat a chili pepper as a palate cleanser like my friends do. But, I made some horseradish sauce for a sandwich and they nearly vomited and spent the next five minutes wiping their eyes and blowing their noses. I guess we get used to different kinds of spicy...

[a kennedy]

7. I'm laughing at this,

spent the next five minutes wiping their eyes and blowing their noses this was one of our friends with us trying the food. Laughed then am laughing now...... it really does differ widely on the term spicy. I did really enjoy it, and am looking forward to the next time we go. Yummmmmmm

[femmocrat]

3. I have never eaten it, except for curry seasoning.

Never had Thai either. One of the disadvantages of small-town living, I guess.

[catbyte]

32. Indian curry is light years away from curry powder used in Chinese recipes. I was shocked when

I had my first Indian food. I hope you're able to try it sometime. It is deelish!

[davidpdx]

4. Yes, I do

In fact my first experience with Indian food was very bad. I was at a wedding in Portland a number of years ago. I don't remember what was served but it was awful. After I came to South Korea I went to an Indian restaurant and found the food to be wonderful. There are two Indian restaurants nearby our house and we sometimes make it at home as well (you can buy the sauce packets at the store and then add either crushed tomatoes or tomato paste). We just have to make sure it's not made too hot.

[Recursion]

5. What gets called "Indian" food in America is mostly Pakistani

And what gets called "Indian" in the UK is mostly Bengali.

The whole "chunks of meat or paneer, possibly in a rich gravy, with rice or flatbread" is awesome, but is only a small fraction of Indian cuisine. Both coasts have an amazing seafood repertoire that almost never gets explored in the US, for instance.

South of the Punjab/Rajasthan area which makes the food that gets exported as "Indian food", you have Gujarat. Its cuisine is almost entirely vegetarian (even the Muslims there are generally veg except for ceremonial meals). There's a lot of reliance on ghee for the protein, and use of roots, tubers, and legumes as the staples.

Where I live, Mumbai (a.k.a. Bombay), has an extensive vegetarian cuisine from the Marathi inhabitants as well as a lot of great saltwater seafood from the Korli indigenies. In addition, the Parsees (Iranian immigrants) have imported Persian cuisine, the Jains have a separate cuisine that is not just pure vegetarian but excludes any roots, tubers, or legumes, and the English influence remains strong with the ubiquitous sandwiches that are sold from street carts and stalls.

A little south of me, in Goa, the food is Portuguese-influenced, with pork as the main meat. Farther south, you run into Keralan and Karnatakan food, which with its coconut milk base is reminiscent of Thai food. It also has a lot of tamarind, vinegar, and shellfish.

As you continue around the south tip of the subcontinent, you come to Tamil cuisine, possibly better known from Sri Lanka, which uses cinnamon rather than cumin as its base spice. North of that, inland, you have Hyderabad with its incredibly spicy chili-based rice dishes (side note: chilies are not indigenous to India, and were unknown in the subcontinent before the Portuguese arrived in the 1520s). If instead of going north you continue up the east coast, you come to Pondicherry, the one French-influenced area of India, with a wonderful south Indian/French hybrid cuisine.

Farther up, you come to Bengal (the cultural area; larger than the political state Bangladesh) with a freshwater seafood based food tradition. Prawns, river fish, and crabs are served with rice and a spice combination that is much more "eastern" than the rest of India: cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, bay, poppyseed, mustardseed, nigella, and star anise. If you're in Calcutta, you're actually physically closer to Bangkok than to Mumbai, and it shows in the flavor profile.

If you'd like to expand your Indian eating habits, here are some ideas:

1. Try different biryanis (sort of like pilaf). Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Luknow have famous styles, and are probably going to be the easiest to find
2. Street food! Mumbai and Kolkata in particular have great street food cultures that you can, with effort, find in the US. From Mumbai, look for "vada pav" or "wada pau" (a sort of fried potato patty slider), "frankies" (a kind of wrap), and "bombay masala sandwiches" (I posted the recipe in the lounge a bit ago). From Kolkata, try "momos" (basically a pot sticker) or kathi rolls (like a frankie, but with egg on the bread).
3. I cannot stress this enough: look for Indian seafood. Indian seafood is absolutely underappreciated in the US, so if you find a place that serves it that usually means they serve the local Indian population, which is always a good sign. It's wonderful.
4. Finally, desserts! Most Americans skip these at Indian restaurants, and shouldn't. Good starter deserts are gulab jamun (kind of a fried donut hole, but better) and jalebis (sort of a funnel cake that was then soaked in syrup).

[a kennedy]

8. Wow.....you sure know your stuff.....thanks for this information.

I know I've only scratched the surface of what's available to eat, and here in our area we've got nothing, so have to go to Madison, or Minneapolis for the "real" deal. Will be looking for the Indian seafood as you suggest and I'm keeping your information for further use.

[eppur_se_muova]

12. Ras malai is my favorite dessert. Kheer I make myself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_sweets_and_desserts

I've eaten in Indian restaurants in many US cities, and there is significant variation -- not just reflecting different Indian cuisines, but variations in what's popular locally and (often a limiting factor) what ingredients are available locally, or affordable if imported. Of course you get the best variety and (usually) best restaurants in large cities, especially port cities, but you can be surprised at just how good the Indian restaurants are in some small towns. And of course, good chefs are where you find them -- even in small towns in Georgia and West Virginia.

I eat vegetarian whenever I'm in an Indian restaurant, because there's no better place for it. Malai kofta is my favorite dish. Of course most Americans look for the meat dishes first, and you have to explain to them why a restaurant run by Hindus doesn't feature big fat steaks ... ... then they fill up on tandoori chicken and don't try any of the other delicious dishes because, well, there's no meat in them. So it's tandoori chicken and a (very Western-style) salad for them, plus maybe sour and dessert.

American restaurants generally don't serve good seafood unless they're REALLY close to the coast -- something about the economics of our supply chains must be different. Or maybe it's just lack of established tradition. Favoring vegetarian dishes myself, I don't really miss it -- though if someone serves me a good shrimp or fish dish I don't turn it down.

[WinkyDink]

19. Thank you for the info! Had never heard of "Gujarat," but this restaurant opened near me:

http://www.spiceindia.us/allentown/menu.php?cat_id=14&page=1

[Recursion]

20. Ooh! That menu has a lot of variety

From that menu, I would definitely recommend trying:

Goan fish curry
Dosa of any sort
Goat curry or saagwalla
The Gujarati Thali (it's a platter)
And the gulab jamun

[NJCher]

22. Wow, thanks for that, recursion

I love Indian food, but had no idea of the "geography" of it. I'm planning a visit to an Indian restaurant right after the New Year, so I'm sending your post to my dining companion. Plus saving it.i

The things you find on DU.


Cher

[OriginalGeek]

28. I KNEW I was missing out

We frequently visit some Indian buffets near work for lunch and I like the flavors but I always wondered if I was getting tourist food. (I work near the heart of tourist country in Orlando, FL). It's almost exclusively what you describe - chunks of meat in a gravy plus rice and naan. And the British pub that had chicken tiki masala.

I'm taking notes and going on a hunt for something more authentic. The seafood sounds fantastic.

[Recursion]

71. In a year and a half in India the only place I have had chicken tikka masala was a British pub

It was good, incidentally. But it's not desi. (In fact, Anglo-Indian cuisine is amazing, but virtually unrecognizable on the subcontinent.)

The seafood is great. If you're in Orlando and up for a road trip, try Mobile/Biloxi/Pass Christian; there's a large Bengali diaspora there.

[Ramses]

38. good information

Thank you for this.

Hardly ever eat Indian food, but always interested in reading about food in different cultures

[Blue_In_AK]

41. That's what I love about Indian is the many included cuisines.

I do a lot of Indian cooking and have made up probably 10 or 12 different masalas to use depending on the region. The whole science of it is really fascinating to me.

[kwassa]

43. I like it, though I don't feel like I understand it.

The cuisine is so vast from this entire subcontinent that I don't feel like I am ever more than scratching the surface. I would love to find Indian seafood.

My current local fave:

(actually a bakery that also serves southern Indian street food):

Chaats, dosas, uttapam, kati rolls, roti, puri, biryani, and my favorite vegetarian thali.

[HeiressofBickworth]

51. So THAT explains it!!!

Thank you so very much for this post -- it all makes sense now. I love Indian food but found vast differences between restaurants which caused me to designate them "good" or "bad" rather than merely different. The information that foods are related to specific regions explains the differences. One of the best restaurants I've been to is Annapurna Cafe in Seattle. It is Indian/Tibet/Nepal cuisine. (it just struck 12 -- Happy New Year to all of you on DU). I like nearly everything that I've tried, except for the goat -- I found it to be mostly small bones and very little meat. It must have been a special the day I had it because I don't find it on their current menu. My favorite is the saag tofu. And Naan - plain, no garlic or other stuff.

[pipi_k]

9. Can't say

I've ever had any, to be honest.

But...if it's spicier than a piece of cardboard, I probably wouldn't like it.

I have an insanely low tolerance for spicy food.

[nic1]

10. yah

yah definitely

[marble falls]

15. What's your favorite? I love lamb with Naan bread!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. Yes, very much.

[Avalux]

13. Yes, I love it too. Chana Masala is my favorite (vegetarian).

I love samosas and naan - there's a little family owned spot near my house that makes the BEST garlic naan. I'll eat any dish that's meatless.

[LiberalEsto]

14. I love it, but only eat the vegetarian kind

Saag paneer is my favorite.
Puri, garlic naan, aloo paratha.
Cucumber raita.
Lime pickle.
Rice pudding

[WinkyDink]

18. Lime pickle is the BEST!

[RebelOne]

23. Same here. I love saag paneer.

I am a vegetarian and find there are many choices for me in an Indian restaurant.

[Recursion]

72. Vegetarians love Indian food. Vegans hate it.

It's odd. Vegetarianism is very common here but veganism is essentially unknown except among the 1% (most of people's protein here comes from dairy).

[Xyzse]

16. Absolutely!

Love Butter Chicken, Biryani and Samosas.

[WinkyDink]

17. LOVE it. I credit England for my introduction to it!

[MrScorpio]

21. I don't know...

But maybe if you'd hum a few bars...

[CBGLuthier]

24. it is the primary cuisine we cooked at home and we like it so much

We left america and moved to a primarily Hindu country. We cook more authentic dishes like dahls and gatte and such than the typical indian restaurant fare.

[cemaphonic]

25. Love it

Mostly, I'm familiar with the Anglo-Punjabi stuff that you tend to find in Indian restaurants in the US, but I have a few Indian friends, and a couple cookbooks, so I've tried a few dishes from the other regions in India as well.

[IcyPeas]

26. I Love It

They have so many vegetarian options (some vegan too).

I love:

pakoras, cauliflower pakoras
veg samosas
onion bhaji
mint chutney
raita
daal
naan bread
papadums
aloo ghobi
channa masala
saag paneer
mattar paneer
saag aloo

I've been enjoying Indian food since the 70s.

[catbyte]

27. It's my favorite.

Tandoori chicken, chickpea stew, channa dal. Poori bread, yum!

[Enthusiast]

29. I love it!

But we have never really had the real thing. We get the jars of simmer sauce. We simmer cut up chicken breast in the sauce and pour it over rice. Wild flavors! The spicier the better.

[catbyte]

30. I have an awesome recipe for samosas ztuffed with potatoes from Madhur Jaffrey's "World of the East"

vegetarian cookbook. Let me know if anybody wants the recipe.. They are to die for, seriously!

[ballabosh]

31. I don't like it

I love it. It's my second favorite food after anything Caribbean, especially Jamaican. I live only a few blocks from Devon Avenue in Chicago. I've found some great undiscovered restaurants there.

ETA: There's a very funny English movie from the 80s called "Getting it Right," about a young adult looking for love. His mother is spectacularly bad cook and one day makes a curry with a mix. Instead of following the directions, she puts the entire pack in and it's inedible because it's so hot. It's really funny: &quot paraphrasing) If you follow the directions, you get no taste. A pinch of this and a pinch of that. If I buy something I put the whole thing in."

Don't know why I edited just to add that, but it just popped into my head.

[Recursion]

74. Oddly enough, Caribbean cuisine is highly influenced by Indian cuisine

Jamaica, Trinidad, Bermuda, etc. all have a huge Indian population (or did during the Empire, at least), and they strongly influenced the food there. Cumin, for instance, came to the Caribbean (including Mexico) by way of Indian civil servants.

[NV Whino]

33. Love Indian food

Best Indian food I've had was in Scotland. But I gotta say, even bad Indian food, which wasn't available, would have been better than Scottish food at the time. I hear that Scotland actually has a cuisine these days.

[sendero]

34. I love the stuff..

.. but the nearest restaurant is over 50 miles away so I don't eat it often.

Favorites include the standards, naan, lentil soup, samosas, tandoori chicken, vindaloo (not really Indian but good anyway), chana masala, saag paneer, etc.

We have tried making Indian food at home with decidedly mixed results. It is not an easy cuisine to master!

[hay rick]

35. I prefer cowboy food. nt

[blogslut]

36. Yes :)

I don't know enough about it to name dishes but I love the spices and the use of mint. I've been playing with spices I get from the Asian market. I add cardamom to my coffee before brewing. And I make a yummy incredible chicken/vegetable/noodle soup using garam masala.

I need to visit the local Indian eateries more. They are lovely.

[GoCubsGo]

37. I love it!

I'm especially fond of saag paneer, gulab jamun, and masoor dal. And, any kind of vindaloo--as hot as it comes. I love going to restaurants that have buffets, so I can try a bunch of different dishes.

[Blue_In_AK]

39. Love it,

and I cook it really well, if I do say so. I'm such a fanatic about it that I even have a curry leaf tree growing under lights in my basement. It's gotten so tall it grows across the ceiling.

Here's a pic of my spices, dals, etc. all labeled and in alphabetical order.

[NCarolinawoman]

42. Okay, now that is impressive.

I do well if I can keep track of the spices that have gotten old. Like the chili powder that's dated 2008 and smells like nothing but room air. i.e., it is odorless.

[Blue_In_AK]

44. My husband built this for me.

I got tired of digging around in my cupboards to find what I was looking for. With everything alphabetized, I can put my hands on what I need instantly. I could find the black pepper with my eyes closed. LOL.

[a kennedy]

46. Ok, like OCD possibly?

Sorry, have never seen anything like that, and good for you for doing it.

[Blue_In_AK]

48. Oh, yeah, I'll admit to a little of that.

It's not debilitating, but I do have "routines." And since I love to cook, this is perfect for me.

[Enthusiast]

53. Wow! Happy New Year, Blue!

I am interested in learning more about Indian cuisine/cooking.

As I said, we only use the Indian simmer sauces available in the grocery store.

Is there a specific online information source that you would recommend so we could learn more?

[Blue_In_AK]

57. I use cookbooks more than on line for my recipes,

specifically 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer and Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni and Lord Krishna's Cuisine by Yamuna Devi, which is great for the vegetarians. Indian Food Recipes is a good Facebook group to follow. They post new recipes every few days. I haven't made any of them, but they look pretty yummy.

[Enthusiast]

60. Thank you!

[Recursion]

73. Damn. I thought I took spices seriously.

I bow to you, ma'am.

[Blue_In_AK]

78. Thank you very much, sir.

I've been interested to read your perspective on the different Indian cuisines, since you're there, and I'm glad to have my "book-learning" verified by an expert. I love the way a different spice combination or method of prepation can completely transform a simple dish. And the health aspects are interesting, too. I always feel really good after eating a home-cooked Indian meal.

I admit to being a spice hoarder. There are probably some of these I could get rid of, but every once in a while I'll get the urge for a different flavor, and then I'm glad they're there, even in their weakened state.

[WhiteAndNerdy]

40. I love Indian food!

I'm a vegetarian, and I like India's rich range of vegetarian options. I didn't care for it when I was younger because I preferred bland foods, but I acquired a taste for kimchi about ten years ago, and since then I've been able to eat spicier foods. One of my very favorite dishes is aloo mattar.

[sakabatou]

45. Sometimes

[MicaelS]

47. Hate it.....

I think the smell of Indian curry is revolting. I love to eat just about anything, but Indian cuisine, anchovies, sauerkraut are off my menu.

[MADem]

49. Love it--it's like a drug!!

The spices have many healthful properties--turmeric is especially good for one.

I like food from the southern Asian sphere, anyway...Persian food is delicious as well!

[DFW]

50. Absolutely love it!!

A new Indian place just opened in our tiny suburb of Düsseldorf, and we are thrilled!

[Codeine]

52. I love it, but I refuse to cook it at home anymore.

The smell of the spices lingers in everything; my apartment is shaped strangely and doesn't ventilate as well as I'd like. Come warmer weather I'm going to buy a small outdoor range so I can make daals and aloo gobi without making my furniture smelly.

[Recursion]

76. If I can make a recommendation, get a tandoor

They're relatively cheap, and nothing gets that seared flavor like them.

[Codeine]

79. I don't make meat items.

Would it be worth the effort to purchase and learn to use a tandoor for preparing vegetarian dishes?

It would be great to make proper naan, though.

[NewJeffCT]

54. No

Most of the Indian food I know is pretty spicy, and I can't handle spicy foods at all - be it Indian, Chinese, Mexican, etc.

[kentauros]

55. Yes, and sometimes go to the Mahatma Gandhi District in Houston to get it.

One of the best ways to find vegetarian cuisine in Texas

Top 10 Restaurants in Houston's Little India

[Recursion]

68. Houston has the third largest Indian diaspora in the US

After NYC and SFO.

[kentauros]

69. I knew it was up there.

I'd read years ago that we had the second-largest, but could never find that info again, so thanks for that supplemental fact. And we have surpassed NYC as the most diverse city in the country. The restaurants here are one way to discover that, too

[mucifer]

56. Lots of good vegan Indian food Yes!

[Recursion]

75. Err... vegan? Not so much.

Veganism is very, very hard to maintain in India because dairy is in just about everything. (This is specifically in India; it's probably easier to find vegan Indian cuisine in the West...)

[Codeine]

80. Be careful. Clarified butter is absolutely ubiquitous in Indian cuisine, as is yogurt.

The place I go to stopped using them because we have so many vegan university students in the area that omitting those ingredients just makes good economic sense, but popping into your local Indian buffet and assuming that because there's no meat or paneer in a dish that it's vegan can be risky.

[mucifer]

81. There are a few vegan Indian restaurants here in Chicago.

There is a fairly large Indian population in the Roger's Park neighborhood.

[AgingAmerican]

58. Paneer

[olddots]

59. So whats not to like ?

I love it any time ~~mmmmmmmm.

[Skittles]

62. no, but I've only tried a few dishes

did not like it at all

[Blue_In_AK]

63. If the northern India/Pakistani Indian dishes aren't to your liking,

you might try some of the Southern India dishes. The spice mixtures are a little more on the sweet side - more cinnamon, cloves, cardamom - and less cumin, coriander, etc. Vedic vegetarian doesn't use any garlic or onion.

[Recursion]

67. +1. Southern Indian food will take off when it finally hits the US

Honestly I think whoever starts a fast casual dosa place along the lines of Chipotle will make a billion dollars.

[Blue_In_AK]

70. You're probably right.

It's so delicious. We just have basically one Indian restaurant here in Anchorage (of the northern variety) and one Himalayan, which is similar but not quite the same, which is why I've been doing my own cooking. At least we have a fairly comprehensive Asian market where I can find most spices, frozen methi, etc., and, as I said, I have my own continuing supply of fresh curry leaves. But, yes, a Chipotle-style franchise would be awesome.

[Initech]

61. There's a great Indian place by my work that has all you can eat lunch buffet.

They also include garlic naan and have things like chicken tikka, simosas, palak paneer, and lamb curry, what's not to like?

[dilby]

64. Love Indian food, especially their goat dishes.

Lamb and Goat are my favorite meats and finding goat in a restaurant can be hard unless I am at an Indian, Mexican or African restaurant.

[yuiyoshida]

65. I love Asian Curry ...

Chinese, Japanese, Thai, even Indonesian Curry, but Indian Curry, is too much for me. I do like some Indian dishes, but avoid their curry dishes.

[Wolf Frankula]

66. My Favorite Indian Style Dish is Bunny Chow

It's a Durban, South Africa dish and is made with chicken or vegetables, no bunny.

Wolf

[Enthusiast]

82. No bunny? Wabbit season!

[Wolf Frankula]

84. Duck Season!

Wolf

[Manifestor_of_Light]

77. I'm not into spicy and can't handle it.

When I eat Indian food, I don't get sick and get an "encore performance" as they say on TV about reruns.
However, it leaves a heavy, weird taste in my stomach.

[GreatGazoo]

83. Tikka Masala

Chicken tikka masala, jasmine rice, garlic naan and saag paneer.