The Indian Food Thread

[amd]

Wahooo!!! I love this thread. I went to India in May and fell in love with the food (I'd never had it before). A few weeks ago a friend brought me the instant Idli and sambhar mix and I started crying while cooking - the good tears of remembering the fun I had there. I can't wait to try out more of the recipes posted here (and I am soooo getting that book), as nearest Indian restaurant is 2 hours away, but there is an Indian food store an hour away.

 

[kumudini]

I'm guessing you live in the US? I live in Hawaii but am from England, where there is at least one Indian restaurant in the smallest of towns. Indian food is so popular here that Chicken Tikka Masala is considered our 'national dish'. My family almost always goes to Indian restaurants for birthday & anniversaries, ever since I was a kid (English pubs being the other favorite).

Yeah, I heard about England's national dish and you guessed right, I live in the U.S., where I see glorification of various cuisines from around the world and rightfully so, but see very little about Indian food.

 

[green soap]

Here is a green chutney recipe I like a lot. When my cilantro goes wild in the garden, I make lots of this and freeze it in ice cubes. One ice cube per samosa - thawed out of course.

Blend the following:

1/2 cup of tamarind sauce.

1 tablespoon fried whole cumin seeds (I use a tiny cast iron skillet
and veggie oil, just fry until golden - do not burn)

1/2 a bunch of cilantro leaves plus same amount of mint leaves, it can also be done with all cilantro, or all mint.

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 Serrano peppers, chopped but with seeds

salt to taste.

 

[navigator9]

O.K.......maybe not Indian, but it uses hot mango chutney, which I find in the Indian section of my grocery store......grilled cheese sandwich, with extra sharp cheddar and a bit of hot mango chutney. O.....M.....G!!! If you like grilled cheese, and you've never tried this, you must.

 

[kumudini]

O.K.......maybe not Indian, but it uses hot mango chutney, which I find in the Indian section of my grocery store......grilled cheese sandwich, with extra sharp cheddar and a bit of hot mango chutney. O.....M.....G!!! If you like grilled cheese, and you've never tried this, you must.

You are so right navigator, mango pickle elevates anything. This proves that you are a hard core Indian food lover.

 

[not_ally]

V, I loved your post, although it did make me sad. This is one of those rare posts that I wish I could like a bunch of times to implicitly say "thank you, you understand, and made me cry in a good way which I hope will help with the hard times ahead." Your relationship w/your dad sounds really special. I have hispanic friends that describe making holiday tamales like this, a time that you just get to hang out with family in a way that is impossible otherwise. I love that you still have "Mingo conversations" in your head, how comforting, and what a good way to remember him. Food is one of those crazy things, isn't it? Smells can take me back to good times in an instant, sometimes bad ones, too, though (um, tequila? Not a good reminder scent for alcoholics.)

Snappy, it is so cool that you introduced your kids to different foods early on, I think that is a pretty great gift. Food is such an amazing experience, I always feel sorry for people that are not willing to try anything, and see if they like it. Before I got my dogs I used to travel a lot, and food - espec. local food/street food if it is that kind of place - is such a great way to explore somewhere new. Kids that grow up w/only one kind of food and are not required to try at least one bite of something else, I just think it is harder for them to want to explore later on, and there is such a big world of flavors out there!

Nav, you are a hard core Indian food lover Not many non-Indians can handle Indian sweets. V, I think Nav is talking about chutney, like Major Greys (are you Nav?), not pickle, though.

amd, awesome that you had never tried Indian food before and fell in love w/it on your trip. I am going to admit, I have difficulties traveling in India, ,and I am Indian. It is one of those places that can be great or awful, depending on your tolerance for um, external stimuli

Aline, it never fails to amuse me when I see curry referred to as one of the national dishes of England! We have such a troubled history. As w/everywhere, I suspect it is just a question of time until enough people marry each other and there are enough olive colored kiddies running around

 

[Obsidian]

Does anyone have any tips on making a smooth chili paste? I have a lot of hot peppers getting ripe and I'd like to cook with them but I don't want to accidentally eat a piece. A nice paste I could incorporate into foods would be great.

 

[not_ally]

O, v. few Indians make chili pastes in advance, they always just mix them up each time so the spices are most fresh and also you do not have to worry about the oils going rancid. I think I might have seen them at Indian stores, but I am not sure how they are made, sorry. There must be a way, though. I cook a lot of other Asian type recipes - Chinese and Thai, mostly - and there are a ton of commercially available chili pastes there, it cannot be that different.

 

[doriettefarm]

Not sure about the chili paste O but my hubs can make some mean sriracha sauce if you want the recipe

 

[Obsidian]

Hmm, I wasn't really wanting to use oil. Maybe I'll just puree a bunch of peppers then can them. I would very much like the sriracha sauce recipe, thats another thing I like and I have some nice red peppers that would go good in it.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

I only just started eating indian food a year and half, two years ago (or so). I admit, I'm a suuuuuuuper picky eater. It wasn't until I was able to start articulating why I didn't like certain things that my friends were able to drag me to an indian place and convince me that yes, I could find something I'd like. And I did! (Though sadly, tikka masala is one of the things I've found I don't like--tomato flavors are one of the things I'm picky about and the base flavor has too much in common with tomato soup, which is a tomato flavor I don't like.)

I've made dahl and chana masala recipes at home, though the recipes I've used are nowhere near authentic. (They do happen to be easy to make when I can't think about complicated stuff, which how I use them! lol)

My favorite favorite food so far is one that isn't easy for a (mostly) white girl to replicate at home. Chettinad curry. From the few recipes I've seen, it calls for a few items that aren't in the standard grocery stores, and I'd bet that those are some of the key flavors that make it so delicious!

We have a lot of indian restaurants around here, though. No surprise, since we have a lot of various indians! (I think one of the nearby cities has one of the largest Sikh populations in the US...) What does make me sad is that the indian restaurant in walking distance for me isn't really good. They seemed to have been decent at one point based on past Yelp reviews, but right now the place is practically empty all the time, and the food is obviously made ahead of time and reheated. And the one time I tried the dosai, it had this off flavor to it. The place closest to wear I used to live has awesome food (even if the service can be hit-or-miss at times).

 

[CaraBou]

Thanks for all of the sharing. I have lived in great culinary places but there has never been enough Indian to satiate my palate. The flavors are so complex that I've never had confidence to make my own. You're saying it is possible??

 

[navigator9]

Nav, you are a hard core Indian food lover Not many non-Indians can handle Indian sweets. V, I think Nav is talking about chutney, like Major Greys (are you Nav?), not pickle, though.

Yes, not_ally, Major Greys is the one I find in my local grocery. The sharpness of the cheese, the sweet heat of the chutney, the crispy, butteriness of the bread.......heaven.......simply heaven!

 

[not_ally]

Dancer, it seems like whenever you get an abundance of one kind of restaurant, the quality range goes up *and* down. There are tons of Chinese, Thai and Mexican restaurants here, and it seems like they can range b/w horrible and spectacular, even at the same (and low) price point. Good to have choice, though! Also, I would think the one thing that would be the hardest to find for the Chettinad curry is curry leaves. Those are even hard to find in Indian stores, my mom gets them from a friend who has a tree. But I think the curry would be OK w/o them, though. This might be a good one for VK to chime in on, she is from the area where that recipe originated.

Cara, definitely you can make Indian! Just think how many billions of us do it Try with a simple recipe first though, some of the complicated ones are time-consuming and can be frustrating, I don't want you to be put off!

Nav, this is not an Indian food recipe, but Major Grey's and curry powder (the regular yellow powder from any grocery store) are really good w/mayo and some diced apple for a quick chicken salad recipe!

 

[galaxyMLP]

Can one of you please, pretty please, come to my house and cook any of these fantastic recipes with me?? Its just not as much fun cooking all by yourself! I always end up taking my desserts that I make to work just so I can share. I can see the same thing happening with all this wonderful Indian food!

 

[not_ally]

K, I am like you, I always over-cook and hunt down people to take left-overs. It really is nicer when you have people to cook with/for ...

 

[kumudini]

I'm so tempted to stay on this thread, encourage you all to make Indian food and share my simple and tasty everyday recipes to make you see how really simple it is. Tomorrow probably, you will see recipes for tomato dal and my super simple curry powder which along with turmeric is the only spice powder that goes in my day to day recipes.

 

[not_ally]

V, I will look forward to them! I will try to post a couple of simple ones soon as well. For those of you who do want to cook Indian, the basic spices you are going to want to have around are fresh onions, ginger, chilis, garlic, and powdered cumin, coriander, cayenne, turmeric. For Northern Indian recipes also garam masala, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and cardamom. I know this seems like it is getting complicated, but it isn't really, and you won't use all of those things in everything, they are just the staple spices for me. I am probably missing one or two, but those cover you on most recipes.

 

[Cactuslily]

Hi all! Ive been out of commission for awhile, but what a treat to come back and see this thread!! I hope it continues. Thanks to everyone who is sharing. The only book i have is Feast Of India A Legacy Of Recipes And Fables by Rani. Ive had it for a long time, but havent been disappointed for the most part. Will look into the book that was recommended earlier in the thread. Penzi's Spices are the only place i can find my spices. Nothing locally.
My mouth is watering thinking of all these dishes, and having people that have such intimate knowledge and are gracious enough to share?!...i cant wait to get back into the kitchen.
The following recipe is from above mentioned book.
Hyderabadi Murgh Pilao
Chicken:
2 1/2 lb chicken breast, legs and thighs
1/4c vegetable oil
1 lg. onion, peeled and finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 1" piece fresh gingerroot peeled and finely chopped
12 green cardamom pods
24 cloves
5 bay leaves
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 T. ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground dried red chilies
1/4 c sour cream
1 c plain low-fat yogurt
salt to taste
Rice:
2c long grain basmati rice
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopeed
1/4c blanched almonds
1/2 c raisins
Prepare the chicken:
Remove skin & fat from chicken. Heat oil in Lg saucepan. Add onion, garlic, and ginger and fry over medium heat until browned. Add cardamom, cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns, and cinnamon and stir 3-4 miniutes. Stir in nutmeg, coriander, and ground chili and cook @2minutes. With a fork, lightly whip sour cream into yogurt and pour over spice mixture. stir thouroughly for 2-3 minutes and add chicken pieces. Mix the sauce into the chicken, add salt and stir well. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20-25 minutes until chicken is tender, stirring occasionally to prevent sauce from sticking to the bottom. Turn off heat, and set aside.
Prepare the rice: Prepare plain basmati rice adjusting quantitites for 2 c rice and set aside. Heat the oil in a small saucepan. Add the onion and fry over medium heat until browned but crisp. remove the onion and drain on paper towels. Add blanched almonds and raisins to the pan and fry until almonds are golden brown and raisins are puffed up. Remove and drain on paper towels.
Assemble the dish: Preheat the oven to 300F. Place the chicken in a lg casserole dish. add the rice and spread it carefully over chicken. Garnish with the browned onions, almonds, and raisins. Cover dish tightly with foil and the lid. Bake 15 minutes. turn off the heat and leave casserole in the oven for 10 minutes more.
Serve hot with vegetables, mint chutney and pappadams
Enjoy!!

 

[navigator9]

My favorite favorite food so far is one that isn't easy for a (mostly) white girl to replicate at home. Chettinad curry. From the few recipes I've seen, it calls for a few items that aren't in the standard grocery stores, and I'd bet that those are some of the key flavors that make it so delicious!

.

FBS, find yourself an Indian grocery store. You will fall in love! Aisles of spices and spice blends. One of my favorites is Biryani Pulao Masala. I sprinkle that stuff on everything. It makes a plain piece of roasted chicken amazing. And lentils.......sooooo many different kinds of lentils. The smell when you walk through the door is mouth watering, and you will find all kinds of delights to help you cook your favorite dishes. Oh, and incense, and gifts, you won't be sorry.

Nav, this is not an Indian food recipe, but Major Grey's and curry powder (the regular yellow powder from any grocery store) are really good w/mayo and some diced apple for a quick chicken salad recipe!

OMG, thank you for that, it sounds delish! And I will even use some good curry powder. My girlfriend gave me a box of spices, including Tandoori seasoning, Garam Masala, Balti seasoning and some good Maharajah Curry powder, since she knows I am likely to buy the cheap one if left to my own devices. lol I like the cheap one, because I tend to use a lot of it when I cook, since I really love the flavor. I even sprinkle it on popcorn.