What do you like or not like about Indian foods?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it interesting that Indian food somehow can achieve great complexity in flavors and be very repetitive almost boring. I also have found that Indian food at an inexpensive Indian grocery store or mom/pop shop can be equal or superior to a nice or higher end sit down Indian restaurant.

That’s because the restaurants only make what sells here. Regional Indian food is mind-blowing! There’s this British guy on IG, Jake something, who makes regional dishes. Amazing stuff!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mouth can not handle even the tiniest bit of spice and I don't like soupy foods that are not actual soup. So I have basically eaten naan and chicken fingers when I've had to eat at an Indian restaurant. Haven't found anything else besides flavored lassi.

I wish I could feed you at my house. I can understand your frustration.

I used to make an amazing rabbit stewed in a thick white gravy served with a variety of paranthas. It is complex and delicious and smooth like butter - and the bread was always to die for.

It has been some time since I have sourced rabbit meat - but I used to order from the Lancaster County Amish market. The rabbit recipe was from an old recipe book called "cooking delights of the maharajah - by digvijay singh". I went through the entire book and it was my go to for amazing dishes. Yes, very labor intensive but so worth it.

[Anonymous]

I like the variety of spices and the vegetarian options.

I don't like they way it all looks the same..brown sludge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a 1st gen Indian who loves to cook. I am an omnivore and come from a family where we all have found our life-partners from different regions and states of India. Also, we moved around a lot in India and abroad thanks to my parents profession and so was exposed to all kinds of cuisines.

My first pet peeve is that Indian cuisine is not one cuisine. It is many cuisines, just like its a land of many languages. There are all kinds of geographical terrains, all kinds of climates, all kinds of races in India. So, calling garlic naan and chicken tikka masala as Indian cuisine really bothers me.

I remain absolutely shocked that Indian food in US has not progressed beyond the usual boring restaurant offerings. Everyone talks about the same old butter chicken, butter paneer, saag paneer, gobi-aloo, cholley and garlic naans etc. A smattering of kebabs, some biryani and that's it. The south indian fare is also stuck at idli, dosa, sambhar, bonda, vada, bissibele bhat, lemon rice, curd rice etc. No judgement. They have to sell what sells.

I love the regional home foods from all the states that is cooked at homes. I was a pampered DIL who was fed the authentic regional cuisine of their state made by my MIL. It was eye-opening. And unfortunately these recipes have not been recorded in ways that they can be passed on easily. To date, I have not been able to replicate the deliciousness of her recipes in the same way that she cooked.

What Americans have eaten is less than 1% of types of foods that is available in India. And this is true for most Indians too. We have not been able to eat dishes from all regions because it is immense. Unfortunately, the commercial business of running a restaurant often means that chefs will continue to offer the same kind of recipes all the time regardless of which country you end up in.

What I do not like? I abhor the vegetarian North Indian food that is offered in the restaurants. Most of the times my friends come to me to tell me how they love the saag-paneer and aloo-gobi of xyz restaurant and that they can make it at home. I can assure you that to most Indian home cooks these offerings are hideous. The hardest thing to cook is a good vegetable curry. And the sheer volume that it is cooked in at a restaurant removes any delicacy from the vegetable. So, all of my people who will complain that they can make it better at home...I hear you!

Rasika is not bad. I can work with it if I stick to ordering more appetizers and stick to one curry only. The different curries in the entree section tastes the same to me. I also cannot have a korma and a biryani and a daal makhani at the same sitting. Most people do not have the discernment to know how to order the entrees and they will order similar dishes and things that don't go with each other and it does not even make any sense. That is the sure shot way to overwhelm your tastebuds. You have to understand spices and eat like a gourmet and not a gourmand.

Which is my favorite Indian restaurant? By far, it is Royal Taj in Columbia. I can actually choose a great tasting dinner by making good and intelligent choices from their menu and I have a fair idea how the different curries will taste. So, from drinks to desserts - I can figure out what I will truly enjoy.

What I like when I go to India is how they have taken American fast food and made it 100x better. So, nothing taste better than the McAloo Tikki in Indian McDonalds or even their chicken burgers. They have even improved the bean burritos in the Indian Taco Bell. I have not eaten in Bunglow in NYC yet (Chef Vikas Khanna's restaurant) but I remain curious to see how he has used his experience and training, as well as the ideas he got as the judge in Master Chef India to create fusion food.

Another thing - over 30 years, having mastered most of my Indian cooking - I am super capable about following recipes across different non-Indian cuisines and I am a fairly decent menu maker and cook.

Finally - I wish I had an old-fashioned kitchen away from the house where I could cook while sitting down. I want an old fashioned oven, an old fashioned tandoor...and a huge cold-storage for my veggies and meat. I want a few sous-chefs and bawarchis who would chop everything for me to my specification. I immensely dislike how annoying it is to keep standing and cooking, and how annoying the counter height is, and how annoying it is to cook in the modern kitchen with all the tadka smell all over the house, even with the exhaust going on all the time. I want to cook in an open courtyard. The proper rural Indian way. I want to fry the jumbo prawns with impunity in the huge ass bada bawarchi-khana (kitchen) of the old British Raaj bunglows in India that I grew up in.

NYC has some new amazing restaurants that showcase regional flavors. Dhamaka and Semma are two I can think of. Try them if you go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love Indian food but the aftertaste keeps me from wanting it again (that sense like I need to burp but I don't for hours after).

lol… it’s worse when the good makes you belch. Not that I would know about that.

[Anonymous]

I just don't like it. All of the Indian food that I have had is very saucy. I don't enjoy the texture.

No shade to people who enjoy it. It's just not for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't like the mushy things, but I love the warm spices, I love garlic naan, samosas, all the rice dishes. The curry though less and less these days because I can't do spicy foods.

Most Indian home cooks don't cook spicy food. The Indian restaurants have basically bastardized what Indian cuisine is.

There are a billion plus Indian people. I don’t know what planet you live on that you feel comfortable generalizing that most home cooks don’t cook spicy food.

Let me clarify - All dishes that home cooks make every day are not the same old restaurant food that is served. There is a balance of spicy and non-spicy foods on the daily menu at home. And people can make it more or less spicy based on the likes and dislikes of their family members.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a 1st gen Indian who loves to cook. I am an omnivore and come from a family where we all have found our life-partners from different regions and states of India. Also, we moved around a lot in India and abroad thanks to my parents profession and so was exposed to all kinds of cuisines.

My first pet peeve is that Indian cuisine is not one cuisine. It is many cuisines, just like its a land of many languages. There are all kinds of geographical terrains, all kinds of climates, all kinds of races in India. So, calling garlic naan and chicken tikka masala as Indian cuisine really bothers me.

I remain absolutely shocked that Indian food in US has not progressed beyond the usual boring restaurant offerings. Everyone talks about the same old butter chicken, butter paneer, saag paneer, gobi-aloo, cholley and garlic naans etc. A smattering of kebabs, some biryani and that's it. The south indian fare is also stuck at idli, dosa, sambhar, bonda, vada, bissibele bhat, lemon rice, curd rice etc. No judgement. They have to sell what sells.

I love the regional home foods from all the states that is cooked at homes. I was a pampered DIL who was fed the authentic regional cuisine of their state made by my MIL. It was eye-opening. And unfortunately these recipes have not been recorded in ways that they can be passed on easily. To date, I have not been able to replicate the deliciousness of her recipes in the same way that she cooked.

What Americans have eaten is less than 1% of types of foods that is available in India. And this is true for most Indians too. We have not been able to eat dishes from all regions because it is immense. Unfortunately, the commercial business of running a restaurant often means that chefs will continue to offer the same kind of recipes all the time regardless of which country you end up in.

What I do not like? I abhor the vegetarian North Indian food that is offered in the restaurants. Most of the times my friends come to me to tell me how they love the saag-paneer and aloo-gobi of xyz restaurant and that they can make it at home. I can assure you that to most Indian home cooks these offerings are hideous. The hardest thing to cook is a good vegetable curry. And the sheer volume that it is cooked in at a restaurant removes any delicacy from the vegetable. So, all of my people who will complain that they can make it better at home...I hear you!

Rasika is not bad. I can work with it if I stick to ordering more appetizers and stick to one curry only. The different curries in the entree section tastes the same to me. I also cannot have a korma and a biryani and a daal makhani at the same sitting. Most people do not have the discernment to know how to order the entrees and they will order similar dishes and things that don't go with each other and it does not even make any sense. That is the sure shot way to overwhelm your tastebuds. You have to understand spices and eat like a gourmet and not a gourmand.

Which is my favorite Indian restaurant? By far, it is Royal Taj in Columbia. I can actually choose a great tasting dinner by making good and intelligent choices from their menu and I have a fair idea how the different curries will taste. So, from drinks to desserts - I can figure out what I will truly enjoy.

What I like when I go to India is how they have taken American fast food and made it 100x better. So, nothing taste better than the McAloo Tikki in Indian McDonalds or even their chicken burgers. They have even improved the bean burritos in the Indian Taco Bell. I have not eaten in Bunglow in NYC yet (Chef Vikas Khanna's restaurant) but I remain curious to see how he has used his experience and training, as well as the ideas he got as the judge in Master Chef India to create fusion food.

Another thing - over 30 years, having mastered most of my Indian cooking - I am super capable about following recipes across different non-Indian cuisines and I am a fairly decent menu maker and cook.

Finally - I wish I had an old-fashioned kitchen away from the house where I could cook while sitting down. I want an old fashioned oven, an old fashioned tandoor...and a huge cold-storage for my veggies and meat. I want a few sous-chefs and bawarchis who would chop everything for me to my specification. I immensely dislike how annoying it is to keep standing and cooking, and how annoying the counter height is, and how annoying it is to cook in the modern kitchen with all the tadka smell all over the house, even with the exhaust going on all the time. I want to cook in an open courtyard. The proper rural Indian way. I want to fry the jumbo prawns with impunity in the huge ass bada bawarchi-khana (kitchen) of the old British Raaj bunglows in India that I grew up in.

NYC has some new amazing restaurants that showcase regional flavors. Dhamaka and Semma are two I can think of. Try them if you go.

Thank you for your recommendations!! What cuisines?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it interesting that Indian food somehow can achieve great complexity in flavors and be very repetitive almost boring. I also have found that Indian food at an inexpensive Indian grocery store or mom/pop shop can be equal or superior to a nice or higher end sit down Indian restaurant.

That’s because the restaurants only make what sells here. Regional Indian food is mind-blowing! There’s this British guy on IG, Jake something, who makes regional dishes. Amazing stuff!

Yes, Jake does the cultural appropriation like all the Brits, by copying the recipes from Indian youtubers. But, besides the point. We all have to make money.

[Anonymous]

I love all the vegetairan options. I do not like when some restaurants over use ginger.

[Anonymous]

Funny enough, I love Indian food except butter chicken and paneer, which seem to be gateway foods for a lot of people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just don't like it. All of the Indian food that I have had is very saucy. I don't enjoy the texture.

No shade to people who enjoy it. It's just not for me.

You’re supposed to eat it with bread or rice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mouth can not handle even the tiniest bit of spice and I don't like soupy foods that are not actual soup. So I have basically eaten naan and chicken fingers when I've had to eat at an Indian restaurant. Haven't found anything else besides flavored lassi.

I wish I could feed you at my house. I can understand your frustration.

I make an amazing rabbit stewed in a thick white gravy with a lovely spinach-chickpeas parantha. It is complex and delicious and smooth like butter - and the bread is to die for. ( It has been some time since I have sourced rabbit meat - but I used to order from Amish sellers from Lancaster county).

Sounds good! What spices do you use in it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just don't like it. All of the Indian food that I have had is very saucy. I don't enjoy the texture.

No shade to people who enjoy it. It's just not for me.

You sound like someone who says they dislike American food based on eating at McDonald's. But clearly you have no issue in trumpeting your ignorance.

[Anonymous]

Indian home cooking is amazing, with a billion variations. The restaurant food available in the US is a near-uniform travesty.