Anyone Else Like Indian Food?

Van Living Forum

Help Support Van Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I'm not a real big fan of American/BRC. Its too rich, and yeah its super yummy.. Sometimes, I still go for the occasional chicken Korma.

Over the last decade or so I've been going to Chaat houses. (Indian street chow) Its usually vegan, and oh oh so good...
 
I had Indian food for the first time a year ago and OMG my life was a waste up until that moment. :p Will have to check out TJ.
 
I'm like the spicy Indian food. If you have the opportunity to try Thai food that's really good too.
 
I had some mutton at a roadside open tent in New Mexico It is an acquired taste that i will not be having again. The bread was very tasty. No indian food for me LOL
 
Indian and Mexican compete for my favorite. I can enjoy the americanized Mexican food, but the same in Indian is a disappointment.

I will say that the one time I went to an indian restaurant with friends the people at the table next to us were reportedly eating monkey brains (it was when I first became a vegetarian, and I couldnt figure out if my friend was trying to freak me out by telling me that. :) )
 
I hate seeing this thread sometimes because I think:

MMMMMMMMMMM chicken Korma.. Onion Baji.. Mango Lassi!!!!!!..... Samosas@!! poppadoms!@ AHHH!!!!
 
Eating Curry Chicken right now...
 
How about American Indian food (feather) as opposed to Eastern Indian food (dot)? When I saw the thread this is what I naturally thought of.

My EX had both Choctaw and Cherokee ancestors, so we naturally liked to attended Pow-Wows, sharing recipes and enjoying some modern versions of their traditional food. Most people are familiar with native fry bread and bean bread, but few remember how to make fry bread from acorns and chestnuts - a great survival skill. I'll bet most people don't realize that file - pronounced "fee-lay" (ground sassafras leaves used as a tasty thickener for soups and stews) came from the Choctaw and was later learned and used by the Cajuns to make file gumbo. Kanuchi (hickory nut soup) is very good too. Wild onions (ramps) is another of my favorite foods when scrambled with eggs, but ramp farts are the worst odor imaginable - probably not very suitable for van dwellers.

Chip
 
Living in the D/FW area we have LOTS of great Indian restaurants and grocery stores avail, and I'm a huge fan. Favorites are butter chicken, malai kofta, palak paneer, different kinds of biryani, naan & roti flatbread, and a nice rice kheer with almonds & pistachios for dessert.
 
I am food adventurous and came to Indian cuisine after trying Chinese buffets.

I invited my Indian colleague to Indian restaurant for lunch. Good move. He explained me that most of the "Indian" food is the food which Northern Indian cooks prepared for brits during colonial times. Like curry - every family has own recipe in India. He was from Southern India, Goa, and they have specific cuisine influenced by being a former Portuguese colony (and they are Christians).

India is almost a continent of its own, many different cultures (and cuisines, also influenced by religion, like Jaini who not only don't eat meat, but not anything growing underground, no onion or garlic). He cannot even read the writings in his wife's language, or speak it, they need to speak English to each other.

And he gave me tips of a few real Southern style Indian restaurants in our area. You came there and there were mostly Indians, very few Caucasians. Very different food, no tandoori chicken there. Also it was not HOT, but it was very pungent. He said that without the spices, food will go bad in just hour in the heat they have there. He was trying to teach me eating Indian style, picking rice with gravy using small tortilla-like thingies, but it was too hard for me. :)

In another job I had a colleague from rural Pennsylvania, he was also "food adventurous" - but his style. We (with Indian colleagues) took him, his first time, to bog standard Indian restaurant on the mall. He was talking that food is meat with potato and corn with butter, and gourmet food is to add black pepper on the corn. He could try Indian, but no sushi - a bridge too far.

So yes, I do like Indian cuisine, both Northern and Southern, and many other cuisines. Not too fond of Thai, many American-style Thai recipes are too sweet, because sugar is cheaper than spices, and Americans do not like pungent spices. Some are not, but you need to go to a real Thai for that.
 
I hadn't tried Indian food until just a few years ago. I became involved in a volunteer organization where the three other members in my chapter were from India. Two were retired engineers and one was a contractor and restaurateur. I got along well with them and in time was able to use my contacts (being native to Appalachia) to support the project inroads they hadn't been so fortunate with advancing.

The member who was an restaurateur had friends who operated a local Indian Restaurant. I mentioned my culinary interest to him and why couldn't we have our quarterly meeting at that restaurant instead of a Pizza place we were using. That's how I began to learn about Indian foods. And I quickly learned that I liked the food. Thus I had three mentor teaching me about it as each were from a different parts of India gaining me some regional insights as well.

In time they were inviting me to entertainment events such as "Bollywood" and "Diwali". Amazing venues. Both my luck in meeting these fellows and having this stuff right here where I grew up.....never knowing of it.

The next year I began inviting people I knew, whom this organization could benefit from affiliating with, to these events.
I got to enjoy my share of fine Indian cuisine in the meanwhile as we "wine & dined" to extend our community outreach & presence. Both the District and National people were pleased with our performance. Except for one district deputy who wanted to consolidate all the chapters into one at the State Capital and cut the budget in half which nearly ended the organization in that state.

I particularly liked the Masala Dosa a savory flat bread (Dosa) with savory veggies & potatoes cooked and well spiced up.

Palak Paneer was a surprise for me as I like spinach and the Palak is a sauce or gravy made of it that the Paneer (an Indian cheese) is served in. Just different and good.

The different chicken dishes were quite tasty too. Both in ghee and tomato tikka sauce with jeera rice.

There were so many things I've tried and most were good.
 
Top