acg2

Most Indians I know don't eat naan unless it is served at a restaurant. At home, we make chapattis (aka roti), which is the staple bread in some parts of Northern India and North America! Curry is an Anglicized word. . . were you thinking of chicken curry perhaps?

If you have a bread, such as naan, one usually serves it with a wet dish and at least one dry dish. Wet dishes are daal (lentil soup) or mutter paneer (peas and homemade cheese cubes in a wet gravy, sometimes with tomatoes) or chicken curry. Dry dish examples are aloo gobi (potatoes with cauliflower) or palaak paneer (whipped spinach with homemade cheese cubes), chole (chick peas in a tomato based sauce) or baigan ka bharta (whipped eggplant with tomato sauce). Raita is a yogurt based sauce with cucumbers, onions or tomatoes and spices. Plain yogurt may be a good choice if you or your friend cannot take the heat, although lassi works fine, too.

Also, just a thought...is your friend an adventurous eater? If this is a special occasion, are you sure you want to try something new?

hairpeace

Points Scrounger:

- So what you mean is, kulfi is very, very creamy?
- We'll order the spiced cheakpeas, but what is masala dosa?
- I like chai!

debua1k:

We're getting samosas for sure. Yum.

nfc:

- I've seen the word "masala" thrown about pretty often. What does it mean?
- Cheese cubes? What are those like?

acg2:

- Why don't they (Indians) eat naan at home?
- I meant chicken or beef curry, actually.
- Aloo Gobi sounds good.
- Mango lassi is tasty!
- I guess we're both a bit adventurous. I mainly want to introduce something new so we can both be surprised and entertained!

Kettering Northants QC

On the Spice front you need to know your restaurant - different restaurants will prepare the same dish to different degrees of hotness, sometimes dramatically different.

Personally I like a Jalfrazi (quite peppery) or Patia (sweet and sour), but like the Chicken Tikka Massala, I'm not sure how authentic these are

Bogey90

I was reading a different forum that was touting real British style Indian food. I went to the restaurant that was recommended and sure enough, the sign outside was advertising Bradford Curry. Everything was very good.

How is British Indian cooking different from Indian Indian cooking?

luxury

I stand to be corrected but I was told "masala" means "mix" or "mixture" of spices. Each family has their own special recipe for the seasonings which comprise their curry..... perhaps someone can explain this better than I....

USAFAN

Yes, he should check out some restaurants. I have been in lots of Indian restaurants ... some are very good, but some were lousy (overcooked).

I believe there are only a few very good Indians in even big cities .... But when they are good, you can eat everything .. and it will be good.

Generally, I don't like buffets, but I like Indian buffets, and I had 3 very good ones recently, one in Atlanta, one in Ottawa and Samosa Garden in Calgary.

Points Scrounger

Kulfi is more like a creamsicle, yes. A very creamy creamsicle.

Masala Dosa is a a vegetarian curried crepe - potatoes, carrots and peas (likliest combo found as filling). It is served with two side dishes: a cup of spicy (though the heat varies) "soup" called sambar and a cup of coconut sauce. I'm not real fond of the former as a soup, but it makes a great dipping sauce.

"Chai" is also the hindustani word for "tea" in general (I had thought) so was trying to specify the milky mixture.

One can have "genuine" Indian non-veg cuisine! Moslems eat beef and Christian Goans eat pork. Or does "authentic" Indian cuisine = Hindu only?

hairpeace

Great stuff, but is "sambar" the same as samBAL (shrimp paste)? I'm not sure what you meant by "soup".

What are you talking about?

Points Scrounger

The closest I can come to describing sambar is to expect a cup of spicy lentil-vegetable soup; it's more like mulligatawny (or even hot-and-sour) than Campbells or Progresso though. Sambar and the coconut sauce are (usually) offered automatically with south Indian meals.


My other comment was a response to another poster's comment: "If you want to eat meat, why worry about authentic Indian food ...."

Here is a recommendation for you (depending on where you are located):

http://www.chowhound.com

There is a search feature there, along with a "hotposts" to see the most current listings if you haven't logged in there in a while.

One last point - you might think about trying an Indian buffet lunch first if your friend has never had Indian food before.

hairpeace

We aren't fans of coconut!

But I guess sambar would be interesting to sample.

zuriga

I might as well stick in my two cents worth. Has the original poster ever said where he or she lives? I'm wondering.

I'm an ex-New Yorker who now lives near London. I liked Indian food a bit but now, since my move, I've come to LOVE Indian food. There are so many different dishes available that it's very difficult to generalize about 'Indian,' period. Nothing in NY has ever matched the quality of the food prepared in the UK.

I can't eat very spicy foods so my favorites have become the kormas or pasandas - often made with a wonderful, creamy sauce and some include nuts, raisins and other goodies. A biryani is another great dish - not hot spicy - just flavorful.

I'd love to know where this Indian meal is going to take place!

hairpeace

http://www.frommers.com/destinations...ai/D42219.html

Points Scrounger

Sounds Bengali to me. Let us know how they are though.

Glad to see they have dosas; however, the crab masala seems a bit over-the-top.

hairpeace

I will - I wonder if they'll let us pick the fillings.

And we're both not a big fan of crabmeat, thank god.

UNITED959

Over the past couple of years Indian food has become a significant part of my diet. In fact, I sometimes will choose Chicken Makhni over a Super Burrito...but I digress.

Each of the "real" cities in the States tends to have a few dominant ethnic groups and, consequently, the food of said groups is often times better in those cities. For example, San Francisco's Chinatown...Mexican in Los Angeles (and Houston and Dallas and Chicago and New York and Miami and... )...Cuban in Miami...Polish in Chicago/Milwaukee...etc.

I'm content with the Indian food I've had in NY, Chicago, L.A., and San Fran...I just wonder if I'm missing any truly great spots?!