Need some education about indian food (in the US)
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OK, my wife loves indian food. About once a month or so, we go out to an indian resturant or cook some curry chicken at home. There is quite a selection of indian resturants where I live and we never eat at the same place twice (at least we probably won't until we've tried them all). The problem I run into (as someone who likes but is shy of spicy foods) is that each resturant seems to have pretty much the same menu but it isn't the same food. I've been told that Tikki Masala is the dish to order for "stupid (US) americans" like me. Scenario: Resturant #2: I order Tikki Masala, wife orders Tikki Korma...I get something that doesn't taste too bad but it definately has a mixture of stuff in it that that I don't care for (Onions for one), it is a curry colored sauce and fairly thick. My wife's Tikki Korma is a red cream sauce and I absolutely love that stuff. Resturant #2, I order some kebab thing and the wife orders Tikki Masala. I get basically what I would expect out of a kabab and it isn't too bad. On the other hand, my wife gets something that looks exactly like the Tikki Korma from the other resturant and tastes very similar as well. This goes on for almost a year now and we never really know what we are gonna end up with after ordering. It seems like Tikki Masala and Tikki Korma almost interchangable from resturant to resturant but every resturant has both on the menu. There are other examples of this from the dishes but this is the one that we always come across since I almost always order one or the other while the wife branches out and gets something new. So, what am I missing? I mean, I can understand slight variations of a dish from place to place but what I've gotten are 2 completely different dishes while ordering the same thing on a menu. Is there a guide online somewhere to indian food that I can read up and be a bit more educated?
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OK, my wife loves indian food. About once a month or so, we go out to an indian resturant or cook some curry chicken at home. There is quite a selection of indian resturants where I live and we never eat at the same place twice (at least we probably won't until we've tried them all). The problem I run into (as someone who likes but is shy of spicy foods) is that each resturant seems to have pretty much the same menu but it isn't the same food. I've been told that Tikki Masala is the dish to order for "stupid (US) americans" like me. Scenario: Resturant #2: I order Tikki Masala, wife orders Tikki Korma...I get something that doesn't taste too bad but it definately has a mixture of stuff in it that that I don't care for (Onions for one), it is a curry colored sauce and fairly thick. My wife's Tikki Korma is a red cream sauce and I absolutely love that stuff. Resturant #2, I order some kebab thing and the wife orders Tikki Masala. I get basically what I would expect out of a kabab and it isn't too bad. On the other hand, my wife gets something that looks exactly like the Tikki Korma from the other resturant and tastes very similar as well. This goes on for almost a year now and we never really know what we are gonna end up with after ordering. It seems like Tikki Masala and Tikki Korma almost interchangable from resturant to resturant but every resturant has both on the menu. There are other examples of this from the dishes but this is the one that we always come across since I almost always order one or the other while the wife branches out and gets something new. So, what am I missing? I mean, I can understand slight variations of a dish from place to place but what I've gotten are 2 completely different dishes while ordering the same thing on a menu. Is there a guide online somewhere to indian food that I can read up and be a bit more educated?
First, "Indian" restaurant is too generic a term to describe Indian good. depending on who runs the restaurant, you will get different food. Chicken Tikka Masala made by an Andhra cook will not be the same as that made by a Gujarathi cook. And if you get this in a South Indian run restaurant, you can be sure it will be as unauthentic as possible (because that sort of food is not common in the southern Indian states except in restaurants). One tip is to go for the buffet, that way you will probably find something that you like.
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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First, "Indian" restaurant is too generic a term to describe Indian good. depending on who runs the restaurant, you will get different food. Chicken Tikka Masala made by an Andhra cook will not be the same as that made by a Gujarathi cook. And if you get this in a South Indian run restaurant, you can be sure it will be as unauthentic as possible (because that sort of food is not common in the southern Indian states except in restaurants). One tip is to go for the buffet, that way you will probably find something that you like.
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
Nishant Sivakumar wrote:
One tip is to go for the buffet, that way you will probably find something that you like.
If the USian ones are like the UK ones, the "All you can eat" ones especially. Scchhluuuuurrpppp!
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
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Nishant Sivakumar wrote:
One tip is to go for the buffet, that way you will probably find something that you like.
If the USian ones are like the UK ones, the "All you can eat" ones especially. Scchhluuuuurrpppp!
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
A few Indians who've been to London claim you get more authentic food in Indian restaurants there than in Indian restaurants in India (or rather just restaurants in India).
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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A few Indians who've been to London claim you get more authentic food in Indian restaurants there than in Indian restaurants in India (or rather just restaurants in India).
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
As far as I am aware, the 'Indian' restaurants over here started as meeting places for the early immigrants, much as Coffee Houses did, in London anyway. So cookie was just Joe Singh making what his Mother/Wife made back home. Perhaps that's why.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
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As far as I am aware, the 'Indian' restaurants over here started as meeting places for the early immigrants, much as Coffee Houses did, in London anyway. So cookie was just Joe Singh making what his Mother/Wife made back home. Perhaps that's why.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
Kinda off-topic-ish but how far have 2nd and 3rd gen Indians assimilated into British culture there? And how does that compare with say immigrants from Islamic countries, or other Asian countries like China/Korea? Just curious. One reason I ask is that despite living there for generations, many of them come down to India to fix up "arranged" weddings for their children. Which is kinda baffling. Why not marry a fellow-Brit? If they are race-sensitive and want to marry a brown person, surely there are enough brown-Brits there to satisfy them?
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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A few Indians who've been to London claim you get more authentic food in Indian restaurants there than in Indian restaurants in India (or rather just restaurants in India).
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
Nishant Sivakumar wrote:
A few Indians who've been to London claim you get more authentic food in Indian restaurants there than in Indian restaurants in India (or rather just restaurants in India).
When I was last in the UK (not London) I went to my first Indian restaurant. The British coworker with me was concerned that it would be too spicy for me. I assured him that I like spicy food and would be fine. The restaurant manager brought us a variety of curries to sample and the spiciest (hottest) ones were comparable to spicy Mexican food. Actually the "authentic" Mexican food I like was probably spicier. The Brit I was with thought the curries were "wicked hot". I asked the manager if the curry he served was comparable to authentic Indian food and he laughed and said "No, this is dulled down for the British palate."
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OK, my wife loves indian food. About once a month or so, we go out to an indian resturant or cook some curry chicken at home. There is quite a selection of indian resturants where I live and we never eat at the same place twice (at least we probably won't until we've tried them all). The problem I run into (as someone who likes but is shy of spicy foods) is that each resturant seems to have pretty much the same menu but it isn't the same food. I've been told that Tikki Masala is the dish to order for "stupid (US) americans" like me. Scenario: Resturant #2: I order Tikki Masala, wife orders Tikki Korma...I get something that doesn't taste too bad but it definately has a mixture of stuff in it that that I don't care for (Onions for one), it is a curry colored sauce and fairly thick. My wife's Tikki Korma is a red cream sauce and I absolutely love that stuff. Resturant #2, I order some kebab thing and the wife orders Tikki Masala. I get basically what I would expect out of a kabab and it isn't too bad. On the other hand, my wife gets something that looks exactly like the Tikki Korma from the other resturant and tastes very similar as well. This goes on for almost a year now and we never really know what we are gonna end up with after ordering. It seems like Tikki Masala and Tikki Korma almost interchangable from resturant to resturant but every resturant has both on the menu. There are other examples of this from the dishes but this is the one that we always come across since I almost always order one or the other while the wife branches out and gets something new. So, what am I missing? I mean, I can understand slight variations of a dish from place to place but what I've gotten are 2 completely different dishes while ordering the same thing on a menu. Is there a guide online somewhere to indian food that I can read up and be a bit more educated?
kinar wrote:
my wife loves indian food
Indian food cooked by actual Indian families, or the food from Indian restaurants in the US? The former I like a lot, the latter I can't stand.
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Nishant Sivakumar wrote:
A few Indians who've been to London claim you get more authentic food in Indian restaurants there than in Indian restaurants in India (or rather just restaurants in India).
When I was last in the UK (not London) I went to my first Indian restaurant. The British coworker with me was concerned that it would be too spicy for me. I assured him that I like spicy food and would be fine. The restaurant manager brought us a variety of curries to sample and the spiciest (hottest) ones were comparable to spicy Mexican food. Actually the "authentic" Mexican food I like was probably spicier. The Brit I was with thought the curries were "wicked hot". I asked the manager if the curry he served was comparable to authentic Indian food and he laughed and said "No, this is dulled down for the British palate."
Mike Mullikin wrote:
and he laughed and said "No, this is dulled down for the British palate."
Wouldn't surprise me :-) In Punjab they eat chappathies with chillies, nothing else but hot green chillies. In Kerala and Tamil Nadu we do that with rice (although we do add yogurt/curd sometimes). It conditions our digestive system to withstand levels of hotness that'd get most people sick fairly quickly.
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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Kinda off-topic-ish but how far have 2nd and 3rd gen Indians assimilated into British culture there? And how does that compare with say immigrants from Islamic countries, or other Asian countries like China/Korea? Just curious. One reason I ask is that despite living there for generations, many of them come down to India to fix up "arranged" weddings for their children. Which is kinda baffling. Why not marry a fellow-Brit? If they are race-sensitive and want to marry a brown person, surely there are enough brown-Brits there to satisfy them?
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
The whole issue of 'arranged' marriages is a bit thorny over here. The Govt has had several big pushes to 'educate' younger sub-continentals, females particularly, into equating that practice with forced marriage. This is prompted by several well publicized cases of young women going on 'holiday' with their parents, to visit grandma/aunts/whoever and then being spirited away into the back of beyond and being held captive until they agree to marry their parent's selected groom. There have also been quite a few cases of so called 'honour' killings of women particularly, for daring to date, or worse marry, a non-Asian. So to answer the first part of your question, from my perspective those Indian families that I know seem to have integrated well but a lot of others have what I would regard as extreme views on some aspects of western culture.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
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The whole issue of 'arranged' marriages is a bit thorny over here. The Govt has had several big pushes to 'educate' younger sub-continentals, females particularly, into equating that practice with forced marriage. This is prompted by several well publicized cases of young women going on 'holiday' with their parents, to visit grandma/aunts/whoever and then being spirited away into the back of beyond and being held captive until they agree to marry their parent's selected groom. There have also been quite a few cases of so called 'honour' killings of women particularly, for daring to date, or worse marry, a non-Asian. So to answer the first part of your question, from my perspective those Indian families that I know seem to have integrated well but a lot of others have what I would regard as extreme views on some aspects of western culture.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
Henry Minute wrote:
a lot of others have what I would regard as extreme views on some aspects of western culture.
Then why move there? It's baffling that people will stoop to that level of stupidity. To move to a western country and then to look down on western culture is the height of idiocy! And yeah, even in India "arranged" marriages are metamorphosing into a slightly better state of affairs. In most cases the parents do select the candidates, but the brides/grooms make the final call. It's not perfect yet as the marriages are arranged using racist factors like skin color, religion, caste, region, native language etc. but it's better than the forced weddings with the shadow of honor killings lurking behind.
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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Kinda off-topic-ish but how far have 2nd and 3rd gen Indians assimilated into British culture there? And how does that compare with say immigrants from Islamic countries, or other Asian countries like China/Korea? Just curious. One reason I ask is that despite living there for generations, many of them come down to India to fix up "arranged" weddings for their children. Which is kinda baffling. Why not marry a fellow-Brit? If they are race-sensitive and want to marry a brown person, surely there are enough brown-Brits there to satisfy them?
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
I heard recently that the integration is going the other way to. Apparently the British army MRE rations include curry to remind them of home. article here[^]
If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it. Margaret Fuller (1810 - 1850) [My Articles] [My Website]
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kinar wrote:
my wife loves indian food
Indian food cooked by actual Indian families, or the food from Indian restaurants in the US? The former I like a lot, the latter I can't stand.
unfortunately it is "Indian Resturants"... While we are a bit of a tech center and do have a large indian population (hence all the indian resturants), All of the Indian people I know and work with aren't really native to india. They've all been here for 10+ years and/or were born in the states and went through our school system. Here is an example of a Chicken Curry recipie we enjoy at home: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/indian-chicken-curry-ii/Detail.aspx All of the resturants we have eaten at thus far have seemed fairly "authentic" but admittedly we are ignorant to what real authentic indian food is.
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I heard recently that the integration is going the other way to. Apparently the British army MRE rations include curry to remind them of home. article here[^]
If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it. Margaret Fuller (1810 - 1850) [My Articles] [My Website]
-
First, "Indian" restaurant is too generic a term to describe Indian good. depending on who runs the restaurant, you will get different food. Chicken Tikka Masala made by an Andhra cook will not be the same as that made by a Gujarathi cook. And if you get this in a South Indian run restaurant, you can be sure it will be as unauthentic as possible (because that sort of food is not common in the southern Indian states except in restaurants). One tip is to go for the buffet, that way you will probably find something that you like.
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
I have never seen or heard of anything other than just "Indian Restaurant" here in the US. But my favorite one is walking distance from my house and I am pretty good friends with the owner so I will ask him what regional style he cooks. I went over to Embra a few years ago and while visiting a friend in Leith we went oot for a curry. Identical to the food at the Indian joint near my home in Dover New Hampshire!! The best part about the place in Leith was the menu. It was in Scots!! As we stood outside the restaurant peeking at the menu I said "Sweet a topless Indian Restaurant, I'm in!!" :-D Photo of menu[^] Nae ower nippie does not mean what I thought it meant! ;)
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OK, my wife loves indian food. About once a month or so, we go out to an indian resturant or cook some curry chicken at home. There is quite a selection of indian resturants where I live and we never eat at the same place twice (at least we probably won't until we've tried them all). The problem I run into (as someone who likes but is shy of spicy foods) is that each resturant seems to have pretty much the same menu but it isn't the same food. I've been told that Tikki Masala is the dish to order for "stupid (US) americans" like me. Scenario: Resturant #2: I order Tikki Masala, wife orders Tikki Korma...I get something that doesn't taste too bad but it definately has a mixture of stuff in it that that I don't care for (Onions for one), it is a curry colored sauce and fairly thick. My wife's Tikki Korma is a red cream sauce and I absolutely love that stuff. Resturant #2, I order some kebab thing and the wife orders Tikki Masala. I get basically what I would expect out of a kabab and it isn't too bad. On the other hand, my wife gets something that looks exactly like the Tikki Korma from the other resturant and tastes very similar as well. This goes on for almost a year now and we never really know what we are gonna end up with after ordering. It seems like Tikki Masala and Tikki Korma almost interchangable from resturant to resturant but every resturant has both on the menu. There are other examples of this from the dishes but this is the one that we always come across since I almost always order one or the other while the wife branches out and gets something new. So, what am I missing? I mean, I can understand slight variations of a dish from place to place but what I've gotten are 2 completely different dishes while ordering the same thing on a menu. Is there a guide online somewhere to indian food that I can read up and be a bit more educated?
kinar wrote:
of stuff in it that that I don't care for (Onions for one),
Yikes! You want curry but you don't like onions? I can't think of any curries that don't have onions in them, it's kind of a core requirement. In fact I can think of few dishes worth eating from almost any nationality that don't have onions in them. :)
Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already. - Marcus Aurelius
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I have never seen or heard of anything other than just "Indian Restaurant" here in the US. But my favorite one is walking distance from my house and I am pretty good friends with the owner so I will ask him what regional style he cooks. I went over to Embra a few years ago and while visiting a friend in Leith we went oot for a curry. Identical to the food at the Indian joint near my home in Dover New Hampshire!! The best part about the place in Leith was the menu. It was in Scots!! As we stood outside the restaurant peeking at the menu I said "Sweet a topless Indian Restaurant, I'm in!!" :-D Photo of menu[^] Nae ower nippie does not mean what I thought it meant! ;)
Joe Simes wrote:
Nae ower nippie does not mean what I thought it meant!
And good thing too. Unless you were alright with having those in your food! :rolleyes:
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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unfortunately it is "Indian Resturants"... While we are a bit of a tech center and do have a large indian population (hence all the indian resturants), All of the Indian people I know and work with aren't really native to india. They've all been here for 10+ years and/or were born in the states and went through our school system. Here is an example of a Chicken Curry recipie we enjoy at home: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/indian-chicken-curry-ii/Detail.aspx All of the resturants we have eaten at thus far have seemed fairly "authentic" but admittedly we are ignorant to what real authentic indian food is.
kinar wrote:
They've all been here for 10+ years and/or were born in the states and went through our school system.
They are rudely referred to as ABCDs (American born confused desis). The term is considered to be offensive and is not used in formal conversation nowadays.
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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Joe Simes wrote:
Nae ower nippie does not mean what I thought it meant!
And good thing too. Unless you were alright with having those in your food! :rolleyes:
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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First, "Indian" restaurant is too generic a term to describe Indian good. depending on who runs the restaurant, you will get different food. Chicken Tikka Masala made by an Andhra cook will not be the same as that made by a Gujarathi cook. And if you get this in a South Indian run restaurant, you can be sure it will be as unauthentic as possible (because that sort of food is not common in the southern Indian states except in restaurants). One tip is to go for the buffet, that way you will probably find something that you like.
Regards, Nish
My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
And of course this is the reason I am looking for education. I assumed that different regions of india would produce different varieties of indian food. However, I just assumed that they would be called something different. Here in the US, there are some foods you simply can't get in parts of the country. But if I found a resturant that served those foods, I can reasonably expect some resemblance in the dish. As for buffets, we have tried several and you're right, we always find something we like. Unfortunately, we don't know exactly what we are eating and since the labels on the food are different at every resturant, we don't know enough to know that we are going to like what we order at other resturants. Indian food rarely lists what is in a dish, they just give a name. Looking at the websites of a few places we've eaten at, one claims "northern india" flavors, another claims "northern and southern india" flavors...but most don't claim anything at all. Perhaps I need to just learn more about the different regions of india in general?