OT: Indian Food what to try?

[MartiesMom2B]

I've never really had Indian food before and I'm very curious to try it. Is there anything I should try in particular? I can stand some spiciness, but nothing too hot that it'll make my eyes roll in the back of my head. There are several Indian restaurants out here so I really want to try some.

Suggestions are appreciated. :)

Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03

[new_mommy25]

Mm yummy. I love Indian food. I love Lamb curry and Chicken Masala and the Tandoori chicken. They all have the best bread. Its called Naan and so delicious! I'll bet Rashmi can answer this better. My head is in a fog right now..

[urquie]

my favorites are the chicken tikka kebab (served on a hot plate like fajitas) or chicken tikka masala (it has a great sauce to dip the yummy naan bread in). i don't think that these are very traditional but i love them and they're not too hot.

a good way to try a few things is to order the "thali dinner" which has your main dish and rice, plus 4 little bowls of side stuff like a daal soup, raita (yogurt stuff good for taking the spicy sting off) and usually two other veggie type things. and it comes with the all important nan and usually a dessert. most but not all indian retaurants offer this.

or go to the lunch buffet... the food isn't usually quite as good at the buffets, but you get to sample a lot more.

[Tondi G]

we always order Chicken Tikka Masala, Vegi Biryani (rice), my Dh likes Lamb Vindaloo... I can't remember the name of the dish but it is potatoes and cauliflower and so yummy (found the name Gobhi Alu)! We also order a salad that consists of lettuce, tomato and cucumber... just squeeze lemon over the top and I always add a little salt! DEFINETLY start with an order of Samosas (peas and potato inside! YUMMY)! MUST have Naan bread too!

Try a drink called a Mango Lassi... mango yogurt drink... YUM! For dessert the Gulab Jamun is interresting!

Good luck... we love Indian food!

~Tondi and Mason 7/8/01

[pritchettzoo]

This is what we always get:
Tandoori chicken (don't be afraid of the bright-red color; it's delicious!)
Chicken Vindaloo
Saag paneer (sort of like creamed spinach)
Rice with almonds and raisins and saffron...can't remember the name
Naan (bread...mmmm...naan...)
Mango Lassi (drink with yogurt and mango puree)

And the buffet is a good idea too. Hmmm, maybe that will be lunch! Anyway, the restaurant we go to doesn't always label the meat on the buffet and I was eating something thinking, "Wow, this is really tough, greasy chicken..." and the waiter came by and said, "So you like goat?" It was very difficult to swallow and smile. ;)

And Rashmi's out of town, isn't she--we'll have to bump this on Monday so she can mock our American palettes! :)

Anna
Mama to Gracie (9/16/03)

[jbowman]

This thread is making me crave Indian food! Everyone has suggested so many yummy things. DH loves mango lassi! I would also suggest trying cauliflower and potatoes in a spicy sauce (Aloo Gobi--sp?)! That's my favorite!

[Rachels]

Chicken tikka! And the breads are just fabulous-- I like Nan and Aloo Paratha.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[Rachels]

Chicken tikka! And the breads are just fabulous-- I like Nan and Aloo Paratha.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[COElizabeth]

I'm not a vegetarian but usually order that way in Indian restaurants because there are so many delicious vegetable dishes. Most have been mentioned, but my favorites are samosas (fried dumpling type things with peas and potatoes inside), saag paneer (creamed spinach with cubes of homemade cheese), naan bread, and raita (yogurt side dish with cucumber and carrot slivers). I like a lot of the other dishes mentioned, too, but I almost always order the above because I love them so much! Also, at many restaurants you can request that dishes be seasoned mild, medium, or spicy.

Have fun!

Elizabeth, Mom to James, 9-20-02
EDD #2, 10-30-04

[papal]

TOTALLY ROTFLing here people!!! It is just so funny to see everyone discuss indian food..... i am really trying to stifle my laughter (baby sleeping)...heeeheehee.
Anna, we are leaving for NYC next weekend, so i am in town.. heehee...

First a small lesson:
In HINDI (the national language of India)
Aloo or Alu = Potatoes
Gobi = Cauliflower
Tikka/Tikki = Small round patty (fried or baked) or small pieces of meat.
Paratha = flat bread (like a tortilla) that may or may not be stuffed with different things.
Paneer = Cottage Cheese
Saag = Green leafy anything.
Daal = lentil soup.

And so, with these simple combinations, we have:
Aloo Gobi = Potatoes and Cauliflower
Aloo Tikki = Potato pattys that are shallow fried.
Chicken Tikka = Chicken cubes that are marinated and grilled in a 'Tandoor' (hot clay oven)
Saag Paneer = Paneer in a Spinach gravy
Paneer Tikki = you guessed it!
Aloo Paratha = Paratha stuffed with spiced potatoes.

Naan is the most popular bread. It is made out of refined white flour, tossed like a pizza and baked in the sides of a tandoor.

Ok, so what we have at MOST indian restaurants here in the US, is NORTH Indian food. This is VERY different (night and day kind of different) from South Indian food (where i am from). South Indian food would have things like Dosas (crepes), Idlis (steamed rice cakes), Sambaar (vegetable stew).. primarily vegetarian dishes.

Nita is from the north, she should have a better perspective of things! :)

To be completely honest, we don't really go out and eat north indian food a whole lot as we find it is a bit heavy (think cream and butter as the primary ingredient! )... but when we do we get Butter Chicken or Lamb Biryani with Raita and Naans and the Black Daal... stuff like that.

Since we eat indian food at home almost everyday, we prefer to eat Thai or Chinese or Pizza when we go out! :)

Indian food is really simple to make and very healthy (when you make it at home!) and delish (though i have a friend who had it once and swore she would never touch it again!). We pretty much make parathas or rice (carbs), with a daal (protein) and some vegetable curry (vitamins) for dinner. And ofcourse, we always have home-made yogurt. A very balanced meal! :)

end of lesson. :)

[egoldber]

Any thoughts on good Indian places in our area?

[Vajrastorm]

Rashmi, I'd love to have some "recipes" for your daal. Back when I cooked, I used to make daal regularly, but I have one way I know to make it and I'd love an idea of what else to do.

I have a book on Classic Indian Cooking but the techniques are time intensive, not something I have a ton of right now.

South Indian food is soooo yummy. I like N. Indian food too, but on the rare occasions I've had S. Indian food it rocked my world. When I lived in Vancouver, Canada we had a fantastic restaurant serving S. Indian food. How I love dosas!!

Neither my husband nor I are Indian, but we share a passion for Indian food. He grew up in the kitchen of an Indian friend eating homemade food. I don't know what my excuse is but if I could only live off one style of food for the rest of my life, I'd choose Indian.

Living in San Diego is sad in the regard though, because (at least on the North County)we have no good Indian restaurants.

[papal]

Heritage in Georgetown. It is the best in the DC area imo.
Here is the website:
http://www.heritageindia.biz/directions.html

For simple south indian food (think dosas).. try Ammas in Georgetown.

[papal]

Andrie,
Do you have a pressure cooker? It takes 10 mins to make daal in a pressure cooker. If not, stove top takes about 45-50 mins (i think, never tried it without a pressure cooker!).

Here is a simple yellow daal recipe.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of Toor (Tuvar) Daal.
2 tomatoes, cut in half.
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Lime juice optional.

Put daal with chopped tomatoes and 1.5 cups of water in pressure cooker. Cook for 2 whistles on a high heat(or 10 mins). When the pressure is gone, remove the lid. The dal should now look all mushed up and soft and the tomatoes are all cooked. Stir it up.
Heat another pan. Add the oil. When it is hot, add the cumin seeds (this is a simple 'Tadka' or tempering).After a minute, add the dal to this tadka OR tadka to the daal, whichever is simpler. Add salt to taste. I like sour things so I add lime juice to my serving.
Eat with Basmati Rice and some Aloo-Fry (shallow fried potatoes). Very simple and very delish. :)

--
If you don't have tomatoes, that's fine. You don't have to add them. Instead of tomatoes (or along with tomatoes) you can put frozen spinach.. then you get Spinach Dal.

You can make a Tadka with many more things, but i kept it simple for you. You can add minced garlic to the tadka if you like!

Also, when buying spices and daals... go to an indian store. It is WAY cheaper.

[MartiesMom2B]

Rashmi:

Just picture at me at the Indian restaurant with a print out of your response. LOL.


Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03

[Vajrastorm]

See, I make things to complicated! I usually toast my spices, then grind them, then add them... and I tend to use more spices. Which is tasty, but a pain to do. This will be an easy variation to try, because my standard way to make daal involves tomatoes. (I throw in mushrooms too, and although that isn't authentic they go nicely.)

The spinach option sounds good to me too.

Thank you!!

[sugarsnappea]

Last night I went to an Indian wedding and had Butter Chicken for the first time! Mmmm, delicious! In fact, I just got online to look for a recipe.

[llcoddington]

We like Tandoori Nights in Gaithersburg in the Kentlands. It's probably very Americanized, but we like it!

Lana
mommy to Lauren 12/5/03