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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We are Indian-American. Tolerance and taste for spices comes over time. When they were little, I was making fresh baby food for them (rice, lentils, veggies khichadi) that was mainly Indian but I was not going beyond a smidgen of turmeric, cumin and salt for their food.   My kids were very reluctant to have spicy food that had heat in it, or that had a distinctive smell like asafoetida or fenugreek herb  when they were younger.  Obviously, we were making Indian food at least twice or thrice a week at home, so we had to really make sure that we were careful in what spices  we were putting in em.  Restaurant foods are oily and spicier. And even if they can adjust for hot spices, they very rarely will adjust the quantity of oil, ghee, butter and cream.

I would say that telling the restaurant that you need zero heat (no mirch, and no garam masala) will go a long way in cutting down the heat. They are used to non-Indians not being able to eat spicy food. Usual fare like  Palaak paneer, butter chicken, palak-corn, butter paneer, shahi paneer, aloo-dum, baigan bharta, daal makhani etc will work. The raita given at most places are not to my kids liking. It should not be so sour or tangy.  We make amazing raita at home.

Easy things to learn at home -  daal, daal makhani, cholle, rajma, rice, peas pilaf (or any other veggi pilaf), raita, sauteed cauliflower (gobi bhujia), okra, eggplant bharta, gobi aloo.  The base for most north Indian curries can be made by onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, cilantro, deseeded green chillies,  and for spices just have  -  turmeric, cumin, paprika, cardamom, coriander seeds.    You can make seriously delicious food with just these spices.

I have converted many of my kid's friends to Indian food because they have had food at our house and experienced the "flavor explosion" of home cooked Indian food. [/quote]

We love taita and never new it was not supposed to be tangy. Please share your recipe![/quote]

Sorry PP here - I meant Raita. Sorry![/quote]

Not the PP you replied to, but raita can be done so many ways. One of my favorites is with grated cucumbers, mint, roasted cumin, and pink salt. This is somewhat like tzatziki but with more yogurt. Another one I like is very finely chopped tomatoes, onions, and fresh cilantro in yogurt, again with some regular or pink salt. A very popular one uses 'boondi' that you can get at indian grocery stores - its small fried crunchy chickpea flour balls, Some people soak them in water and then they are a very soft in raita and some people just add them as is to give its some nice crunch. Season this as per your taste. [/quote]

PP who wrote the first post.  Agree with the pp above. I also make the three raitas that she has mentioned above, though I am not a big fan of the "boondi raita" - because too many times the commercial boondi in packets is not that fresh.   The raita has to hit the right amount of creaminess without becoming too thick  or too watery.  Start with a good quality plain yogurt that is neither too sour or tangy.   Whisk it and make it slightly liquid by adding  a bit of milk in it.  Add a pinch of sugar in the milk so that the raita base starts off slightly sweet.  It will enhance the taste of the "Black Salt" (AKA kala namak - it has an umami 'egg' taste  to it, looks pink in color) and the roasted ground cumin.  The raita should have more yogurt base than the veggies/fruits/boondi that you will put in it.   The typical raita that most people eat in Indian restaurants in US is a poorly executed cucumber raita.

My cucumber raita recipe-
 - Peel the cucumber leaving some skin on so that there is a touch of dark green color in the raita. Grate (or chop) cucumber thickly so that it remains crunchy and does not release all its liquid in raita making it watery.  If you have cucumber that is very watery, squeeze out some water before adding to raita. 
- Prepare yogurt by whisking with a fork. Add a pinch of sugar to enhance the taste of other ingredients
- Add salt to taste. You can use regular salt or Black Salt (looks pink) called "kala namak".  It is different from the Himalayan pink salt.  
- Add some roasted ground cumin powder - maybe around 1/4 tsp to a cup of raita.  (How to make roasted ground cumin powder - Put whole cumin on a pan. Dry roast it till it starts smoking and turns the darkest coffee brown.  Let it cool. Powder it using a coffee grinder. If you have roasted it well and all the bitter oils have been burnt away, you will get an amazing smokey tasting aromatic dark brown powder).
- Mix all the ingredients together.  Make it look pretty by sprinkling some paprika, chopped mint, cumin powder on top.

Potato raita. 
- Chop 2 boiled potatoes into small cubes.  Chop an inch of boiled sweet potato into small cubes
- Whisk yogurt with some milk.  If not using sweet potatoes then add a pinch of sugar...if using sweet potato, skip sugar. 
- mix everything with salt and cumin.  Sprinkle paprika, cumin powder on top.

My favorite special occasion raita is crispy Okra raita.  Needs some timing because the crispy okra needs to be dunked in the raita just before serving.  There are variations to it. My DH likes it with the tempering but my kids prefer it with just a normal raita base. Either way it is pretty great 
https://hebbarskitchen.com/bhindi-tambuli-recipe-bhindi-raita-recipe-okra-raita/

Cucumber raita needs to feel fresh and crisp. The yogurt should be fresh and not sour or overly tangy.  The Indian restaurants don't get it right here. The spices and the ingredients should come together to give you the texture -crispy, juicy, fresh, creamy and the spices the touch of sweet, salty, smokey, umami in it. It should not be so liquidy that the water separates from the yogurt (and that's why I use 2% milk to dilute the yogurt and not water), nor so thick that it is like a thick scoopable dip.  You can make raita out of any salad veggis or fruits (fresh pomegranate seeds looks like little rubies in the raita)  as long as it is bite sized, and you mix it with a proper yogurt base and the basic spices.

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