Indian food thread

[Suigin406]

thx, am looking forward to checking these places out, i've had to settle for a nearby place which is OK

[GtrHtr]

I became a big curry fan (lamb is my favorite) when I lived in the UK. Now that I'm back in the US for a while and don't live in a major city I don't have a local place to get any form of Indian food. I solved my problem by learning how make it myself.

My curry paste is a bit tough to make from scratch but well worth it. If anyone wants me to post the recipe let me know.

Gtr

[Autocratic]

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Indian in DC area: Saran Vegetarian, on Lee Highway at George Mason, Arlington.
Heritage, on Conn. Ave at DuPont Circle.
Minerva, Rt. 50, Fairfax Circle.
In order of preference.

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My girlfriend took me to Rasika, right off the Naval Archives Metro. Great place for Indian, probably once of the nicer places in town. Bombay Palace and Aroma are both in Foggy Bottom, and both decent places.

[bugstud]

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I haven't found a great Indian restaurant in Vegas - if anyone knows of one, let me know!

One of my favorite restaurants in all the world is The Electric Lotus in L.A....fantastic Indian food with a great atmosphere.

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there aren't any great ones as far as I know, where have you tried? I think the one across from hard rock is probably the best tasting place I've been thus far.

[ahnuld]

This thread inspired me to go for indian tonight and try some new dishes that iv seen on meus before but never had. Tried a new restaurant too.

Had onion baji and somosas to appetisers. The onion baji was amazing compared to the ones iv had before. I think they put a bit of spice into it which made a big difference. From what I read online this place is a bit more spicy than most NA indian restaurants so this wasnt surprising.

For the main course we shared Chicken tikka marsala because you guys said it was a staple in restaurants yet I never tried it. It wasnt tomatoey at this place but somehwere between what you guys described and butter chicken wiht a creamy orange sauce. Ok. One dish of lamb vindaloo. Really good. Perfect amount of spice that got me sweating but nothing some naan break and rice couldnt overcome. Last dish was saag chicken. Man, where has this been all my life? Great dish, gotta order than again. Skipped desert, just had tea. Im a total indian desert newb but the stuff iv had before never excited me.

[mbillie1]

Apologies for grunching... my thoughts:

Always order naan with your meal. It's delicious and it's sort of expected, or at least it shows that you're not an Indian food noob.

Good dishes for those who aren't too fond of spicey food:

Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken Jalfrezi
Chicken Do Piaza

(the "chicken" can usually be substituted with "beef", "lamb" or sometimes "shrimp" as desired)

Mom & Pop Indian places are usually WAY better than the chains, in my experience at least. If you can find a place where the guy cooks and the wife waits tables, this is ideal. You will get the best meal of your life.

Also, for some reason, Indian restaurants tend to let you sit there forever before they bring the check (maybe a cultural/politeness thing, not wanting to interrupt, maybe random coincidental experiences on my part) so just don't get upset if you're sitting there post-meal for a few minutes before they bring your bill.

Take home leftovers - Indian food leftovers are AWESOME and pretty much the only thing I'll reheat the next day (I'm lazy).

[stinkypete]

chicken vindaloo + naan is probably the best chicken dish in existence

[seke2]

my local awesome indian buffet makes something called "Bhatura" which is a friend bread. i would compare it to a crunchy, fried version of a taco bell chalupa bread. i'm probably doing it a horrible disservice, but that's what i think of it as.



anyway, it is AWESOME by itself or with other indian products, like naan.

They also have a not-too-spicy chickpea dish called chole


And Bhatura + Chole = amazing (and i'm not a big veggie guy, i much prefer meat dishes)

[+EV]

[ QUOTE ]
mia: have you been to Mango Grove in Columbia. All vegetarian but insanely delicious none the less.

All: Is palak paneer the chow mein of indian food? Spicy creamy tomato sauce and big hunks of chese and cauliflower= YUM. But is it too Americanized to be good?

--GA

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I LOVE the mango grove. When we moved out of Columbia that was our last stop. They have a pretty inexpensive lunch buffet as well! I guess its no suprise that we used to get the palak paneer! I am seriously considering driving up to try Akbar in Columbia. Any idea if its as good as the Baltimore location? Its a lot closer to me in Rockville than driving all the way to Columbia.

Not to get off the subject but there is a great Thai restaurant (or was) over in the older section of columbia. Cant remember the name but they had some very good dishes.

+EV

[+EV]

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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

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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