What keeps you away from it?

[BettyK]

I can think of three main reasons...

First, I like diversity. I grew up eating Chinese,

Indian, Creole, French, Italian and Spanish. I just

cannot see myself eating one type of cuisine for

more that a week or two. Now that I'm married

I've added Greek, Thai and Mexican to my

repertoire.

Second, I find Indian cooking very time consuming.

Suvir, it took me over 2 hours to prepare your Tandoori

marinade tonight. Wow LOL. I don't mind once in a while

and I know it's going to be fantastic. Indian cooking is a bit of a

special treat in our home.

Third, is the availability of fresh herbs in my area. If a recipe asks

for fresh coriander or curry leaves and I don't

have any, I might as well not do it.

I am sorry the marinade took you so much time to prepare.

What made it so cumbersome?

I have easy and quick recipes.

In fact I did several for Food & Wine magazine that had to be cooked within 45minutes.

Let me know and I can send you those.

I have always enjoyed your posts. And I love your passion for Indian cooking. It comes out through your posts. Keep sharing more of your experiences.

And I shall keep you in mind when testing the next marinade. Again, sorry it took so long to make.

Oh no, please don't get me wrong. I don't want quick and easy...I want tasty

Truly, I don't mind the hard work, as long as I get good results

I should have mentioned that I'm a bit slow in

the kitchen so that might explain the 2 hours

As 'nolongerlurking' mentioned, we newbies take

longer to prepare these dishes as we don't have

all the spices ready to go and we are still feeling

our way through all this. But I don't mind.

I enjoy it.

[BettyK]

Suvir, it took me over 2 hours to prepare your Tandoori

BettyK

It took me, too, at least that long but that was largely because I had no garam masala and had to make that first. Now, however, I have a stash of the garam masala and I am sure I could put together the marinade in a matter of minutes. Further, I also ground extra of the other spices because I knew I would soon repeat the recipe and they should not get too stale in a week. I think we newbies are handicapped because we simply don't have all the spices ready and one who cooks Indian frequently, probably does. The dish was so good and the learning experience so valuable that I now consider it "Continuing Ed." but in my own kitchen. I hope this sounds empathetic and is not in any way misconstrued as so many comments can be!

Hi nolongerlurking

Thanks for your support and welcome to the board. Glad you're enjoying Indian cooking.

BTW, don't worry about your husband, I'm sure he will beg to taste whatever you're making. My DH never had Indian food until we got married. Now he gets all raved up as soon as I mention curry.

[MsRamsey]

Since you have asked, I will admit that Indian food is not high on my list. I would happy to try some high-end restaurants, such as Vij's in Vancouver, and Diwan sounds spectacular. I'd eat there in a heartbeat. In general, though, my perception is that Indian food is too heavy and too spicy. Maybe not enough delicate flavors and touches to balance out the heavy, saturated flavors. Also, I have had some serious gastric distress in the past after eating Indian food. I also have found many Indian restaurants where I have eaten to be overstaffed. When the restaurant is not busy, the folks who don't have anything to do stand across the room and stare at your party while you eat, which I find very annoying. I hope this is not too incendiary. I thought the question deserved to be answered and I am trying to answer honestly.

Edited December 19, 2002 by MsRamsey (log)

[Suvir Saran]

I hope this is not too incendiary.  I thought the question deserved to be answered and I am trying to answer honestly.

The only way to answer. Thanks.

And now, I hope you will visit NYC, and someday, I can help you widen your horizons.. and share with you some meals that may change some of your experiences, and hopefully, you would have more to say... and some pleasant experiences.

There is far too much in the world of Indian cooking to be all enjoyed by most people. I agree with a lot of what you say, but also know Indian food can be every bit as subtle as any other...and every bit as bold as another cuisine. But it takes experience to find such a plethora of choices and experiences. And I am sorry you have not been able to find that restaurant... I cannot help but again share with you the very poor level of Indian restaurants. Sad that they do little if any justice to a cuisine that is amazingly rich.

One that knows it, or has seen even just a little but real part of it, would know better than to think of it as being only spicy and hot.

There are dishes that will win you over for they celebrate nothing more than the very elegance of a vegetable or meat without giving any hint of spiciness. And then there are those recipes which hide the meats and veggies and celebrate the richness of spices and herbs.

It is a cuisine not unlike its culture. Very rich and very elusive. It can shock you with its lore and legend and stature, or it can shock you with its very amazing grasp of what is of the moment and so contemporary. And it can swing from one to the other with relative if not common ease.

[Jinmyo]

I think that "real" Indian cooking is primarily found either in the home or at a high-end restaurant. In both places there is the expectation that the food will be nourishing in more ways than just slapping some flavours across the tongue and filling the belly. The cooks and chefs at many "ethnic" restaurants are working under less than favourable and less than honoured conditions. They're just getting the job done and so care and nuance are luxuries they can seldom indulge in. And not what many diners are looking for.

The glories of Indian cuisine stand as they are, equalled but not surpassed by that of any other.

[wingding]

From my experience of Americans who are dislike or are 'scared' of Indian food;[1] 'too spicy'[not really true]....[2]buffet dining experience;glop on a plate,followed by stomach problems[bad cooking]...fear of unknown spices[ignorance].As has been said many times before,most run of the mill Indian restaurant cooking in the U.S. is barely representative of the breadth of the food of India,and is not being prepared by truly skilled and trained cooks.It is difficult for many Americans to appreciate 'bitter' as part of the range of flavors,so that important part of many Asian cuisines often isn't appreciated or represented here.The average diners' worldliness is slowly improving here,but Indian cooking is very different from the typical American diet,and many people simply have very conservative and restrictive attitudes about the food that they eat.

Edited December 21, 2002 by wingding (log)

[Suvir Saran]

I think that "real" Indian cooking is primarily found either in the home or at a high-end restaurant. In both places there is the expectation that the food will be nourishing in more ways than just slapping some flavours across the tongue and filling the belly. The cooks and chefs at many "ethnic" restaurants are working under less than favourable and less than honoured conditions. They're just getting the job done and so care and nuance are luxuries they can seldom indulge in. And not what many diners are looking for.

The glories of Indian cuisine stand as they are, equalled but not surpassed by that of any other.

Beautifully said Jinmyo.

Thanks for that offering of words that say so much and so clearly and in such limited words.

Amazing!

[Human Bean]

a few weeks ago, I made a curry shrimp using a recipe in (don't laugh) Joy Of Cooking. It may not have been completely "authentic", but it was more than just "dump prepared curry powder on shrimp." It had fresh curry leaves, lots of fenugreek, and several other spices. It was very time-consuming to make though - over two hours for prep plus cooking. Deeply carmelizing lots of onions took quite a long time, as it was done per the instructions at somewhat low heat. The result was fantastic though, and I'd do it again. I think I'll have to - I now have a large bottle of fenugreek that I need to find more uses for.  

My co-writer (for my cookbook), Stephanie, did the Indian recipes for Joy Of Cooking. I can well imagine the recipes working very well. She is a stickler for detail. And loves Indian food. Also Stephanie is famous for her brilliance with seafood. You were lucky and smart in picking the curry shrimp recipe. I am glad to hear it worked well. What did you like about this curry? Did you use fenugreek seeds or powder or leaves? I am guessing seeds...

It's taken me awhile to reply, my apologies.

I'm glad that the Indian recipes in the latest Joy of Cooking are reasonably 'authentic'; I thought that they might have been 'dumbed down' for Americans, but the curry shrimp recipe was not at all 'dumb'. Although it was time-consuming to prepare, the mixture of flavors reminded me of dishes I've had in Indian restaurants; no particular element stands out, but the whole was immensely satisfying.

I used fresh curry leaves for the recipe, which are readily avilable locally (I'm in Oregon), and fenugreek seeds; I still have much fenugreek, so I'll find uses for it before it becomes too old. I'm always willing to try new things; I've made things with prepared curry powder before, but it's much more interesting to create a spice mix myself, especially when I can get fresh ingredients.

[jaybee]

What are some of the reasons why you may never eat or cook Indian food?

What have you done about this fear/phobia/notion?

How did you get to this point?

I said here once that I never developed a taste for Indian food. I think ignorance is the culprit. The meal at Diwan Grill showed me many things about this cuisine. For one, I think it is not done justice by calling it "Indian food." As our experience with Italian cooking grew, we made distinctions among its many regional cuisines. The food of Tuscany is as different from Sicilian, from Milan etc as day and night.

Diwan showed me many different tastes and combinations. The lamb chops, for example were delicious. Many of the vegetable dishes stole the show for me. Unfortunately, I do not recall their names. I'm sure with enough exposure I would find a repertoire of dishes that I like within this cuisine. But as long as it is all lumped together under one rubrick, it will suffer.

[BBhasin]

From an Indian restaurant's point of view....

Our biggest problem is getting people ( newcomers) to cross the threshold. Most people are afraid to do so as their perception of Indian food is hot and spicy. They eventually come in with a bunch of friends/family and in most cases end up liking the food.

In my opinion following are the factors that keep people away from it

1. Preconcieved perceptions. A British diner told me that his parents never ate Indian food as they believed it was 'unclean'.

2. Bad first experience. Not necessarily in a restaurant. I have spoken to converts whose notion of Indian food was to sprinkle curry powder on a kind of chicken stew they made and that was Indian food.

3. Common language in Indian restaurants. Tomato soup the world over is called, guess what, tomato soup! But chicken curry in Indian restaurants can be chicken curry, Bombay Special, Murgh Anarkali or a dozen other names owners may call it to make it sound exotic. can be confusing sometimes. Or there can be a dozen variations of the same dish, eg. chicken karahi.

4.Comunication. Most of the time people working in Indian restaurants do not come from a service background, do not speak perfect english and yes, have limited knowledge of Indian food themselves. The owner/manager does not invest in training as he has a heathy bottom line so he really does not care.

5. Restarants have perceptions too. Thank God these are changing now. Some restaurants thought that these 'foreigners' cannot handle the spice so if they have to retain their custom, the food needs to be mild and they would end up making it tasteless. At the other end of the spectrum were reatauants who believed that people come to eat in Indian restaurants becauce they are looking for hot and spicy and end up nearly killing their patron with heat.

So what is a new person to do???

Educate yourself a bit if you can. Do some research and locate a restaurant in your area that fits your budget ambience etc. Read some reviews from local food critics, get some feedback from boards like these. DO NOT pick a restaurant simply because it has a large Indian following.

Try to go with a group of friends and dine ' family style' as that is how Indian meals are suppsed to be and you can try a good range of things.

Talk to your server and if you feel comunication is somewhat lacking ask for the manager or owner and seek their suggestions.

Try an Indian restaurant for the, first time, if possible with an experienced person in your group.

And if you can get Suvir Saran or Monica Bhide to accompany you, ignore everything above this sentence.

But please.....please, do not let life pass you by without giving Indian cuisine a shot.

[Monica Bhide]

What an enjoyable read and very true. Thank you! I am certainly open to accompanying anyone in the DC metro area who wants to try out Indian food!!

Craig Camp.. what do you say?

[trillium]

I think that "real" Indian cooking is primarily found either in the home or at a high-end restaurant. In both places there is the expectation that the food will be nourishing in more ways than just slapping some flavours across the tongue and filling the belly. The cooks and chefs at many "ethnic" restaurants are working under less than favourable and less than honoured conditions. They're just getting the job done and so care and nuance are luxuries they can seldom indulge in. And not what many diners are looking for.

The glories of Indian cuisine stand as they are, equalled but not surpassed by that of any other.

I think it depends on the city you live in. We ate plenty of "real" south Asian food in Chicago, embracing everything from Pakistani cabbie joints to Andhran restaurants and even Chinese food cooked the way the Chinese-Indians do it. The prices ran the gamet from dirt cheap to very expensive. It really opened my eyes to the huge amount of diversity that's out there. Here in Portland, we're slowly learning to cook Indian food because the restaurants are just not very good.

regards,

trillium