Indian food thread

[Golden_Rhino]

Lippy posted this in the suggestion thread:

[ QUOTE ]
I would love to see someone with a passion for it create an Indian food thread. I frequent a small buffet style restaurant near my campus and am in love with it.

The only thing is, I have NO idea what I am eating. All of it is incredibly flavorful which is a fantastic contrast to most of what I eat in dull Minnesota.

I know I really like vegetable curry on a bed of biryani, but I don't really know what either of these things are?

Inform me Mr. Indian Food Afficiando of El D's Forum.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have the same problem. I like Indian food, but never really know what to order.

I am hoping that this thread will give some hints, tips and recommendations for all

ED: Edited to narrow this down to Indian food. OP was also interested in other ethnic foods including Korean, so let's get some other threads going after we get a good handle on Indian.

[Aloysius]

As far as Indian food I will kick it off with some veggie dishes:

Saag Paneer (the best one I've ever had was in NYC at Haveli, 2nd ave between 5th and 6th):



Baingan Bartha



-Al

[El Diablo]

GR,

Mehfil is my favorite Indian place in SF, mainly because it's my neighborhood place.

I'll list a few things that are pretty tasty Indian standards w/ some pictures from Mehfil.

Apps:



Somosas are fried pastry, generally stuffed w/ potatoes and vegetables, sometimes some meat. Pakora are battered, fried vegetables. Plain cucumber salad is found in a lot of restaurants. Much better is raita, a cucumber/yogurt mixture.

Chicken:



Chicken Tikka Masala is a sort of Westernized Indian dish, said to have originated either in England or from Brits in India. It's a tender chicken breast w/ delicious creamy tomato sauce with Indian flavors, quite mild. Chicken is often referred to as something like Murgh or Murghi. Murgh Makhni or Butter Chicken is another mild and rich dish. Similar to Chicken Tikka Masala but a butter cream sauce instead of tomato sauce, again with mild Indian spices. These two dishes are pretty much my two favorites, but they are far from standard Indian home-cooking fare.

Chicken Tikka or Tandoori chicken is chicken marinated in delicious spices and then baked. It is really delicious, though by itself a little on the dry side. This is generally a little spicier, but not too much. Some restaurants will serve some other stuff tandoori style too. This chicken will often be red or orange due to the spices.

Most other chicken dishes will be curry style dishes that have less rich, but spicier sauces, and usually are dark or mixed meat. Chicken Vindaloo is a pretty popular hotter-style curry dish. This sort of dishes are much more typical of actual Indian home-cooking.



Lamb curries are also pretty common. These are generally more traditional Indian flavors, a lot of curry and cumin and saffron type flavors.

There are always tons of vegetable dishes. Potatoes (Aloo), Cauliflower (Gohbi, Cobi), Eggplant (Benghan, Bengana), Peas (Mattar), Spinach (Saag), and Tofu-like Cottage Cheese (Paneer) are standard components. Saag Paneer and Mattar Paneer are among my favorites.



Biryani is sort of the Indian version of Spanish paella or Asian fried rice. Basically rice w/ a bunch of stuff in it.

Sides



Rice, Dal (which is like lentil soup), and Naan (baked flatbread, sorta like pitas) are standard sides. I'm not a fan of Dal, don't like the taste at all. They'll often have flavored varieties of naan like garlic naan or stuffed naans. I find most all varieties of naan delicious.

That's a pretty good start to your Indian food ordering.

[kidcolin]

I used to eat Dal every day at lunch, but after about a month of that I can't touch it anymore.

Garlic Naan is perhaps my favorite thing about Indian food.

[daryn]

so funny, i actually had a craving for indian food today around noon and was very close to posting basically this thread. good work guys.

love that chicken tikka masala

[chopstick]

kid & El Diablo - You two are making me jones for some garlic naan. I feel like I'm about to get the shakes.


One of my favorite Indian secrets is an Indian bakery called Hot Breads, which doesn't have very many locations in the U.S., but does have 22 in India. Every time I have ever went into my local Hot Breads, I and the guests I have brought have always been the only non-Indians in the place. That should be a tip off right there that you need to be clicking the link above.

They specialize in breads stuffed with Indian goodness, including buns and croissants. I highly recommend the minced goat/lamb stuffed croissant, as well as the saag aloo bun. The chicken tikka croissant is also amazing.

Even better is that this place is dirt cheap. The croissants and buns are in the $2-$3 range, and when you look at one, you will be wondering why they aren't charging twice the amount, as people would have no problem forking over that for these delicious delights.

They also have massive (think 16oz or so) premade lassis (mango, rose, and more) for some crazy low price like $3.

Get thee to your nearest Hot Breads, my 2+2 friends.

[El Diablo]

chop,

Gratuitous delicious naan pic:

[Analyst]

[ QUOTE ]

One of my favorite Indian secrets is an Indian bakery called Hot Breads, which doesn't have very many locations in the U.S., but does have 22 in India.

Get thee to your nearest Hot Breads, my 2+2 friends.

[/ QUOTE ]

There's one probably less than a mile from my house. I haven't actually been there since there are so many Indian restauarants in the area, but will give it a try - sounds like good snack food.

[chezlaw]

Minor point but Chicken Vindaloo is nothing to do with indian home cooking. Its an English invention along with most well known Indian dishes.

'Indian' Vindaloo is made with pork and vinegar and is from Goa.

Factoid: Vasco-da-Gama (Portugese) introduced the chilli to India.

chez

[+EV]

[ QUOTE ]
Minor point but Chicken Vindaloo is nothing to do with indian home cooking. Its an English invention along with most well known Indian dishes.

'Indian' Vindaloo is made with pork and vinegar and is from Goa.

Factoid: Vasco-da-Gama (Portugese) introduced the chilli to India.

chez

[/ QUOTE ]

Another factoid is that Tandori is not really red from the spices (its actually kind of a nasty brownish color) and Tandori food coloring is added to make it red. It is however, just as delicious without the food coloring. Especially with some scorched onion and lemon wedges.

+EV