Indian food...I don't get it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also not a fan of Indian although I will have it on occasion when we go out with friends and they elect to have Indian.

It really is, to put it crudely, overspiced brown mush in varying guises for the most part. I can recognize and appreciate the culinary heritage built around spices and the use of spices as the flavors that dominate and enhance the dish, whereas the raw ingredients of the meats or vegetables or grains are far less important other than a vehicle for the spices. It's different from the traditional European culinary heritages where the success of the dish is based on enhancing the flavors of the raw ingredients and spices are only subtle enhancements to strengthen the original flavors.

Really? Brown mush sums up the totality of Indian food? If you don't like the cuisine that's fine, but your description and criticism of the cuisine is ridiculous to say the least.

OP, I get what you are saying. I have eaten Indian foods many times (in India; north and south) and it does seem to be many variations (and not that varied) on the same thing. It's not as varied as say, "American" where the range is a Caesar salad all the way to fries and burgers all the way to pork chop with applesauce and green beans. I was a fan of some creative preparations of paneer in the south, and the tandoor is a slight variation, but Indian in general was all the same theme. And that's OK and it's delicious when you are in the mood, but there you go.

This I disagree with 100%! Growing up in a vegetarian indian household, my family made tons of dishes (and these are just the dishes without meat or seafood)! I've never seen half the items my mother prepares in a restaurant, so you're limited if you're travelling and eating out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love all types of food, and I really like spicey food, but I gotta say, I don't quite get why people rave about Indian food so much. There's just WAY too much going on: spices, aromas, etc. I kind of like to taste the meat/protein/vegetables I'm eating, not just the billion spices it's drowning in. And speaking of drowning, I feel like the Indian food I've had was just smothered in sauces--not much texture.
Am I not trying the right things? Or maybe it's just not for me...? Any advice on what to try/order that may open my eyes?

I would start with the things that children like. No insult intended at all, it is just that most people taste things differently and as we age, we loose taste buds. I think that is one of the main reasons we are more willing to try new foods as we age. They don't taste as strong or pungent as they did when we were kids. You may be a person with more taste buds and indian food may feel like too much going on. I am a person that grew into liking Indian food. My husband is a big fan, and I would go with him and have the same things my kids liked. Butter chicken is just a chicken stew that you can eat over rice. The same with dal makhani. It is a buttery small lentil, which is particularly great with pori (their puffed up bread). Channa massala is stronger in taste (chick peas in a spicier sauce), so I think it is best eaten utilizing plain naan to scoop it up. Matar paneer is the indian cheese and peas in a tomato based sauce. It is quite tasty and I eat it with white rice. You should probably avoid Indian buffets for now and just stick with trying the milder dishes individually. Good Luck and please don't mind my spelling of the dishes, I wrote them how I think they might be spelled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also not a fan of Indian although I will have it on occasion when we go out with friends and they elect to have Indian.

It really is, to put it crudely, overspiced brown mush in varying guises for the most part. I can recognize and appreciate the culinary heritage built around spices and the use of spices as the flavors that dominate and enhance the dish, whereas the raw ingredients of the meats or vegetables or grains are far less important other than a vehicle for the spices. It's different from the traditional European culinary heritages where the success of the dish is based on enhancing the flavors of the raw ingredients and spices are only subtle enhancements to strengthen the original flavors.

Really? Brown mush sums up the totality of Indian food? If you don't like the cuisine that's fine, but your description and criticism of the cuisine is ridiculous to say the least.

OP, I get what you are saying. I have eaten Indian foods many times (in India; north and south) and it does seem to be many variations (and not that varied) on the same thing. It's not as varied as say, "American" where the range is a Caesar salad all the way to fries and burgers all the way to pork chop with applesauce and green beans. I was a fan of some creative preparations of paneer in the south, and the tandoor is a slight variation, but Indian in general was all the same theme. And that's OK and it's delicious when you are in the mood, but there you go.

Ha, you think Caesar salad, fries & burgers, and pork chops & green beans represent some kind of incredibly varied taste profile and cuisine? Not really.

[Anonymous]

Like with everything, try the native version at somebody's home before dismissing the made-for-America fake version in store/restaurants.

[Anonymous]

It is OK not to like it (there are whole cuisines I am not crazy about), but don't feel like you've eaten Indian food if you have gone to a buffet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it! My kids love it and DH loves it too. But, it is OK not to like it. I dislike Mexican and Tex Mex to the extreme, and also Greek cuisine and make no apologies. My DS started eating chicken curry at 11 months old! We lived in East Africa and Indian food is very popular there, that is how we got introduced to it. I was told by a Pakistani kid in my class, that here in the US we really don't know what real Indian/Pakistani food it. He is right. I see any raw onion and peppers and mush that is Mexican food to me, I get a gag reflex right away! It is perfectly fine you don't like it.

I know this thread is about Indian food--but how can you dislike Greek?!

Because of the raw onion mostly. I otherwise like the concept, but there is also some spice that I can' identify that makes me sick in addition to onion. Cooked onions, I am fine with. I always had some kind of sensitivity to raw onion, garlic and peppers, roasted and fresh. I get sick and throw up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it! My kids love it and DH loves it too. But, it is OK not to like it. I dislike Mexican and Tex Mex to the extreme, and also Greek cuisine and make no apologies. My DS started eating chicken curry at 11 months old! We lived in East Africa and Indian food is very popular there, that is how we got introduced to it. I was told by a Pakistani kid in my class, that here in the US we really don't know what real Indian/Pakistani food it. He is right. I see any raw onion and peppers and mush that is Mexican food to me, I get a gag reflex right away! It is perfectly fine you don't like it.

I know this thread is about Indian food--but how can you dislike Greek?!

Because of the raw onion mostly. I otherwise like the concept, but there is also some spice that I can' identify that makes me sick in addition to onion. Cooked onions, I am fine with. I always had some kind of sensitivity to raw onion, garlic and peppers, roasted and fresh. I get sick and throw up.

I'm Greek and wondering what Greek dishes you're eating with raw onion?! I can't think of a single one with the exception of a salad. Perhaps you're frequenting middle eastern owned "Greek" restaurants and actually ordering middle eastern food - tabouli or something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it! My kids love it and DH loves it too. But, it is OK not to like it. I dislike Mexican and Tex Mex to the extreme, and also Greek cuisine and make no apologies. My DS started eating chicken curry at 11 months old! We lived in East Africa and Indian food is very popular there, that is how we got introduced to it. I was told by a Pakistani kid in my class, that here in the US we really don't know what real Indian/Pakistani food it. He is right. I see any raw onion and peppers and mush that is Mexican food to me, I get a gag reflex right away! It is perfectly fine you don't like it.

I know this thread is about Indian food--but how can you dislike Greek?!

Because of the raw onion mostly. I otherwise like the concept, but there is also some spices that I can' identify that makes me sick in addition to onion. Cooked onions, I am fine with. I always had some kind of sensitivity to raw onion, garlic and peppers, roasted and fresh. I get sick and throw up.

I'm Greek and wondering what Greek dishes you're eating with raw onion?! I can't think of a single one with the exception of a salad. Perhaps you're frequenting middle eastern owned "Greek" restaurants and actually ordering middle eastern food - tabouli or something?

Some gyros I tried, who knows what I was eating. Haven't tried it in years now. Could be that I have no idea what real Greek food is. All I know is some meat was cut up from the gyro, and they added some stuff in the pita bread, like yogurt and onion, and sick within minutes, literary throwing up.

[Anonymous]

Real Indian home cooking is delicious. I got introduced to using ghee and its health benefits and incorporated Indian cooking techniques to my own home cooking. Very tasty. I fled an Indian restaurant once because they use vegetable oil instead of ghee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it! My kids love it and DH loves it too. But, it is OK not to like it. I dislike Mexican and Tex Mex to the extreme, and also Greek cuisine and make no apologies. My DS started eating chicken curry at 11 months old! We lived in East Africa and Indian food is very popular there, that is how we got introduced to it. I was told by a Pakistani kid in my class, that here in the US we really don't know what real Indian/Pakistani food it. He is right. I see any raw onion and peppers and mush that is Mexican food to me, I get a gag reflex right away! It is perfectly fine you don't like it.

I know this thread is about Indian food--but how can you dislike Greek?!

Because of the raw onion mostly. I otherwise like the concept, but there is also some spices that I can' identify that makes me sick in addition to onion. Cooked onions, I am fine with. I always had some kind of sensitivity to raw onion, garlic and peppers, roasted and fresh. I get sick and throw up.

I'm Greek and wondering what Greek dishes you're eating with raw onion?! I can't think of a single one with the exception of a salad. Perhaps you're frequenting middle eastern owned "Greek" restaurants and actually ordering middle eastern food - tabouli or something?

Some gyros I tried, who knows what I was eating. Haven't tried it in years now. Could be that I have no idea what real Greek food is. All I know is some meat was cut up from the gyro, and they added some stuff in the pita bread, like yogurt and onion, and sick within minutes, literary throwing up.

Ok yes you're right there is raw onion in gyro. I know they make you sick but now you have me craving one. I don't eat the beef/lamb gyro myself - I hate the flavor of lamb anything. But I bet my life if you had grilled chicken cubes on a stick with lemon, oregano, and salt you'd love it (without onion or course ). The spices the restaurants use 99% of the time on gyros or souvlaki aren't even remotely "Greek" so I'm not surprised the flavor is off putting. Lemon, oregano, salt. That's all you need to make it at home which is what we do. Anyhow to get back to Indian food - probably the same situation in restaurants vs home cooked.

[Anonymous]

I enjoy Indian food. I like the curries and how the different spices make the dish so much more flavorful. My kid's gobble it up too. But we don't eat it everyday. We like to try a variety of foods. The one food I don't get is cheese. To me it smells and the only cheese I'll eat is mozzarella on pizza. So I don't eat it. If you don't like it, don't eat it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I enjoy Indian food. I like the curries and how the different spices make the dish so much more flavorful. My kid's gobble it up too. But we don't eat it everyday. We like to try a variety of foods. The one food I don't get is cheese. To me it smells and the only cheese I'll eat is mozzarella on pizza. So I don't eat it. If you don't like it, don't eat it.

I also eat only safe cheeses. Mozzarella, cheddar, American, provolone, Colby jack. Swiss is ok if it's in a pre made sandwich but I wouldn't order it myself. Feta if it's mild and cows milk - sheep/goat makes me gag instantly. You all can keep the funky smelly cheeses. Barf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most Indian restaurants use a base sauce, which is not anything like real Indian food with fresh spices etc. So chances are, OP has never eaten proper Indian food.

So you can't really dislike what you have never really had.

+1 Also, most Indian restaurants cater to non-Indian palates and don't include the really pungent or "hot" spices. So the result is a tepid, oily sauce that isn't spicy enough or distinctive enough to wow you.

South Indian food, for example, is largely vegetarian. What's lovely about it is that they do a lot with vegetables that you just don't see as much in other types of food where vegetables aren't the main dish but rather relegated to a side dish or sometimes even just a garnish.

But the best South Indian food I've had was homecooked. The spices were pungent and distinct. There was also a lot of texture. It wasn't slush, as OP describes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try Rasika at least once before you give up Indian food altogether.

I love Indian food, but I found Rasika really disappointing and actually incredibly bland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it! My kids love it and DH loves it too. But, it is OK not to like it. I dislike Mexican and Tex Mex to the extreme, and also Greek cuisine and make no apologies. My DS started eating chicken curry at 11 months old! We lived in East Africa and Indian food is very popular there, that is how we got introduced to it. I was told by a Pakistani kid in my class, that here in the US we really don't know what real Indian/Pakistani food it. He is right. I see any raw onion and peppers and mush that is Mexican food to me, I get a gag reflex right away! It is perfectly fine you don't like it.

I know this thread is about Indian food--but how can you dislike Greek?!

Because of the raw onion mostly. I otherwise like the concept, but there is also some spices that I can' identify that makes me sick in addition to onion. Cooked onions, I am fine with. I always had some kind of sensitivity to raw onion, garlic and peppers, roasted and fresh. I get sick and throw up.

I'm Greek and wondering what Greek dishes you're eating with raw onion?! I can't think of a single one with the exception of a salad. Perhaps you're frequenting middle eastern owned "Greek" restaurants and actually ordering middle eastern food - tabouli or something?

Some gyros I tried, who knows what I was eating. Haven't tried it in years now. Could be that I have no idea what real Greek food is. All I know is some meat was cut up from the gyro, and they added some stuff in the pita bread, like yogurt and onion, and sick within minutes, literary throwing up.

Ok yes you're right there is raw onion in gyro. I know they make you sick but now you have me craving one. I don't eat the beef/lamb gyro myself - I hate the flavor of lamb anything. But I bet my life if you had grilled chicken cubes on a stick with lemon, oregano, and salt you'd love it (without onion or course ). The spices the restaurants use 99% of the time on gyros or souvlaki aren't even remotely "Greek" so I'm not surprised the flavor is off putting. Lemon, oregano, salt. That's all you need to make it at home which is what we do. Anyhow to get back to Indian food - probably the same situation in restaurants vs home cooked.

I would probably like that kind of chicken! Anyway, back to Indian food.