Indian Food

[anotherbob]

Indian food is awesome. I swear that it's one of the few cuisines I can go into a place see a menu with out any description and randomly point at who knows what and have something really incredible. And as others have pointed out often it seems to be a style of vegetarian food that will please people who eat too much meat .

 

[condorlover1]

I had an Indian girlfriend who was studying nursing in the U.K when I was younger. She used to make some amazing food which could be divide into three categories (a) That wasn't as bad as I expected (b) The type that creeps up on your from behind (c) Put the toilet paper in the freezer before eating her cooking. Very pretty girl, always seemed to wobble her head when talking to you!

 

[sablebrush52]

I'm a big fan of spicy foods. Korean, Chineese, Thai, whatever. Nothing has the heat of Indian food. Deliciously painful stuff that will clean your pipes quicker than Liquid Plummer.

Have you had Thai food prepared for Thai people as opposed to Westerners? The level of heat can be exponentially hotter. I've had a waterfall salad that was the hottest thing I'd eaten since I tried a bit of ghost pepper straight.

 

[briarbuck]

Have you had Thai food prepared for Thai people as opposed to Westerners? The level of heat can be exponentially hotter. I've had a waterfall salad that was the hottest thing I'd eaten since I tried a bit of ghost pepper straight.

Real Thai I have not had the opportunity, and have also never nibbled on a ghost pepper. May have done that when I was 20, now not so much. (burp) The Indian I have had over the years is legit authentic and I like it better that Americanized Indian (butter/cream based). There always that balance between heat/flavor that you have to strike to make it work.

Traveling to the Pacific Rim is on my bucket list, so I hope one day to try the real thing.

 

[cshubhra]

OP @puff_not_snuff tagged me, so I must offer up my 2 cents

1. Indian food is very vast - Even Indian foodies have probably scratched only the surface
2. Most food offered in Indian restaurants in USA are not authentic - South Indian restaurants are generally more authentic than the North Indian ones
3. Indian delicacies often take hours to cook - That is why they are not very suited to a restaurant atmosphere
4. The kind of food we normally get in restaurants is where the protein is cooked separately from the gravy - This style is fairly new (20-25 years). In the hands of a good chef they can be very tasty and flavorful but in the hands of an average cook, they are quite unsuitable for a gourmand palette
5. While a lot of Indian food is ‘hot’, the addition of heat often was originally used to add flavor to lower quality food (Street Food). Spicy in a true Indian context would mean flavorful with delicate use of a bouquet of aromatic spices
6. Home cooked food is simpler and different from restaurant food
7. Varieties of vegetarian foods are endless
8. Some recipes are extremely complex, and people rarely cook them any more. Many recipes call for overnight cooking

 

[Servant King]

Eggplant bharta, paneer masala, and Aloo gobi. I could sustain myself the rest of my life on these delicacies, and not miss meat one iota.

 

[captainsousie]

Sorry for the plug but I have a friend at work who does a cooking channel from India. Here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/c/ArtiSharmaDailyDelicacies

EDIT: It's all veg for those of you who care.

 

[captainsousie]

OP @puff_not_snuff tagged me, so I must offer up my 2 cents

1. Indian food is very vast - Even Indian foodies have probably scratched only the surface
2. Most food offered in Indian restaurants in USA are not authentic - South Indian restaurants are generally more authentic than the North Indian ones
3. Indian delicacies often take hours to cook - That is why they are not very suited to a restaurant atmosphere
4. The kind of food we normally get in restaurants is where the protein is cooked separately from the gravy - This style is fairly new (20-25 years). In the hands of a good chef they can be very tasty and flavorful but in the hands of an average cook, they are quite unsuitable for a gourmand palette
5. While a lot of Indian food is ‘hot’, the addition of heat often was originally used to add flavor to lower quality food (Street Food). Spicy in a true Indian context would mean flavorful with delicate use of a bouquet of aromatic spices
6. Home cooked food is simpler and different from restaurant food
7. Varieties of vegetarian foods are endless
8. Some recipes are extremely complex, and people rarely cook them any more. Many recipes call for overnight cooking

1. Truth! in Goa alone (tiny area) there are hundreds of recipes which can keep someone busy for years trying to figure them out.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

OP @puff_not_snuff tagged me, so I must offer up my 2 cents

1. Indian food is very vast - Even Indian foodies have probably scratched only the surface
2. Most food offered in Indian restaurants in USA are not authentic - South Indian restaurants are generally more authentic than the North Indian ones
3. Indian delicacies often take hours to cook - That is why they are not very suited to a restaurant atmosphere
4. The kind of food we normally get in restaurants is where the protein is cooked separately from the gravy - This style is fairly new (20-25 years). In the hands of a good chef they can be very tasty and flavorful but in the hands of an average cook, they are quite unsuitable for a gourmand palette
5. While a lot of Indian food is ‘hot’, the addition of heat often was originally used to add flavor to lower quality food (Street Food). Spicy in a true Indian context would mean flavorful with delicate use of a bouquet of aromatic spices
6. Home cooked food is simpler and different from restaurant food
7. Varieties of vegetarian foods are endless
8. Some recipes are extremely complex, and people rarely cook them any more. Many recipes call for overnight cooking

Very intersting. Thanks for sharing.

 

[JOHN72]

I've only had Indian cuisine once, a meal with the Chief Engineer aboard an oil tanker under Indian Flag. Some kind of curry with male goat meat.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

I would like to try Mocha Ghonto one day.

​

 

[BROBS]

OP @puff_not_snuff tagged me, so I must offer up my 2 cents

1. Indian food is very vast - Even Indian foodies have probably scratched only the surface
2. Most food offered in Indian restaurants in USA are not authentic - South Indian restaurants are generally more authentic than the North Indian ones
3. Indian delicacies often take hours to cook - That is why they are not very suited to a restaurant atmosphere
4. The kind of food we normally get in restaurants is where the protein is cooked separately from the gravy - This style is fairly new (20-25 years). In the hands of a good chef they can be very tasty and flavorful but in the hands of an average cook, they are quite unsuitable for a gourmand palette
5. While a lot of Indian food is ‘hot’, the addition of heat often was originally used to add flavor to lower quality food (Street Food). Spicy in a true Indian context would mean flavorful with delicate use of a bouquet of aromatic spices
6. Home cooked food is simpler and different from restaurant food
7. Varieties of vegetarian foods are endless
8. Some recipes are extremely complex, and people rarely cook them any more. Many recipes call for overnight cooking

The restaurant here (one of them) went out of business because they couldn’t sustain cooking the vats of food overnight. They only had one cook who really knew how to do it.

the other two Indian restaurants are not authentic and make their food very very spicy. I was told from the good restaurant owner (the one gone now) that it’s because the other restaurant owners are from Pakistan... where the food is preferred much hotter.

my favorites:
Pindhi Channa (Channa Masala)
Aloo Gobi
Masala Dal
Gobi Manchurian

 

[BROBS]

Sorry for the plug but I have a friend at work who does a cooking channel from India. Here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/c/ArtiSharmaDailyDelicacies

EDIT: It's all veg for those of you who care.

That’s cool man thanks for sharing. ?

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

OP @puff_not_snuff tagged me, so I must offer up my 2 cents

1. Indian food is very vast - Even Indian foodies have probably scratched only the surface
2. Most food offered in Indian restaurants in USA are not authentic - South Indian restaurants are generally more authentic than the North Indian ones
3. Indian delicacies often take hours to cook - That is why they are not very suited to a restaurant atmosphere
4. The kind of food we normally get in restaurants is where the protein is cooked separately from the gravy - This style is fairly new (20-25 years). In the hands of a good chef they can be very tasty and flavorful but in the hands of an average cook, they are quite unsuitable for a gourmand palette
5. While a lot of Indian food is ‘hot’, the addition of heat often was originally used to add flavor to lower quality food (Street Food). Spicy in a true Indian context would mean flavorful with delicate use of a bouquet of aromatic spices
6. Home cooked food is simpler and different from restaurant food
7. Varieties of vegetarian foods are endless
8. Some recipes are extremely complex, and people rarely cook them any more. Many recipes call for overnight cooking

Thank you for your input!!

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

The restaurant here (one of them) went out of business because they couldn’t sustain cooking the vats of food overnight. They only had one cook who really knew how to do it.

the other two Indian restaurants are not authentic and make their food very very spicy. I was told from the good restaurant owner (the one gone now) that it’s because the other restaurant owners are from Pakistan... where the food is preferred much hotter.

my favorites:
Pindhi Channa (Channa Masala)
Aloo Gobi
Masala Dal
Gobi Manchurian

Gobi Manchurian is the bomb! We have converted many of our friends (cauliflower haters) over to this dish.

 

[BROBS]

Gobi Manchurian is the bomb! We have converted many of our friends (cauliflower haters) over to this dish.

It’s amazeballs

 

[sablebrush52]

L.A. is blessed with a wide range of Indian restaurants, diners, and take out serving a wide range of regional cuisines, as well as Indian markets where you can buy whatever fresh ingredients you need to do your own cookery.

There's a huge Asian population in SoCal which results in our having access to much wider and better offerings than are found in most other towns and cities.

If only there was a really good Indonesian restaurant in L. A. I'd be set. But Indonesian food is close to nonexistent here. The few family run operations I used to frequent have all closed over the years.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

Gobi Manchurian is the bomb! We have converted many of our friends (cauliflower haters) over to this dish.

I agree.i believe that originated in Calcutta via the Chinese population there.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

I agree.i believe that originated in Calcutta via the Chinese population there.

The owner of our local Indian restaurant said it was created by the Chinese that came over to work in the leather industry since the Indians couldn't. They wanted to replicate some of their chinese dishes but had to use the Indian ingredients and boom - gobi manchurian.

That's what he says anyway - and he's from India. So take that with some salt or not...

 

[danimalia]

I like a lot of different dishes, though I rarely know where they're from in India. I love a good goat/lamb curry, especially over rice or some vegetable pakoras. Bhindi (okra) Masala is probably my favorite vegetarian dish. I also like some of the chaats, like samosa and also tikki chaat.