Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cooking and indian

Light Metal Indian Dishware?

watercarrier — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:11:17 -0800

Indian Cooking - I want those authentic tin plates and bowls - where? I'm all for traveling light. I like those tin/aluminium bowls, plates and containers I've seen the cooks in India using. What are they called? What is the spice container (with all the small tin bowls fitting inside) called? Looking for an online supplier that's cool to work with and is reasonably priced. Nothing fancy - just what the locals use. Thanks.

What simple Indian dish should I bring to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner?

comfortinsound — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:30:09 -0800

I'm making Thanksgiving dinner with my American friend for her German host family. We want to share a little of our American "Thanksgiving culture" with them. My family in Maine always gets Indian carryout. What to do? My friend is used to the completely typical American Thanksgiving dinner, so we are making a turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, potatoes, etc. I am a vegetarian who has eaten Indian food on Thanksgiving for as long as she can remember, and I want to bring something familiar to this meal, too. I cook a fair amount of Indian food at home in the U.S., but everything I can think of making here is either really time-consuming or doesn't go with this meal at all. Does anyone have any ideas/recipes for something to make? It doesn't have to be authentically Indian, maybe just something with spices that'll remind me of my Thanksgivings at home. Maybe a desert? Appetizer?

Which is the meatiest Indian cookbook?

vorfeed — Fri, 30 May 2008 22:19:06 -0800

Lamb and chicken, pork and beef... which is the meatiest Indian cookbook? I love to cook Indian food, but the Indian cookbooks I have feature lots of foods I can't eat (namely, starchy stuff like beans/legumes and rice). I know it's tough, because many Indians are vegetarian, but can you recommend an Indian cookbook with plenty of meat dishes? Individual recipes are fine, too, but I'm mainly looking for something I can flip through when I feel like cooking. The more meat recipes, the better, but I'd like something with lots of authenticity and flavor, too!

I have Madhur Jaffrey's "Indian Cooking" and "Quick & Easy Indian Cooking", along with Shahnaz Mehta's "Good Cooking from India". Between them, I've got enough ideas for the next five years of veggies, but the meat dishes take up only a few pages in each. I'm sick of rogan josh, vindaloo, korma, and saag murgh, please help!

Come on Indian MeFites, spill the lentils, divulge your most tasty family recipes.

ageispolis — Sun, 25 May 2008 22:19:02 -0800

To the Indian MeFites - and the non-indian chefs as well - what are your favorite family Indian recipes and what are some tricks in the preparation to give the food that authentic Indian taste. You know, rich, delicious, mouth-watering, and savoury to the point that eating becomes a spiritual experiece in itself. Perhaps I should have worded this question after I ate, but now that I'm returning to the Western diet after a few months of pure Indian goodness I already begin to feel the withdrawal symptoms taking hold, "Where's the spice in these potatoes? This bread needs some buttery sauce! Why is this food so depressingly bland and dry?!" I've already promised myself I'd start practicing and preparing my own Indian food, and with a large Sikh population nearby I have access to an Indian market specializing in ingredients from the Punjabi region, which is good because I do love my dal makhani. But I'd appreciate learning of recipes that run in the family as well as some tricks to the art of Indian cooking. For example, what's a good method of emulating a tandoor?

Any online resources are also much appreciated. Time to go eat lunch.

How do I make chapati (Indian bread) correctly?

janetplanet — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 03:29:21 -0800

What can I do to stop my home-made chapati from falling apart when I try to flatten it for cooking? I recently visited India and fell in love with Indian food, especially the delicious and fresh chapati!

I've found several chapati recipes on the Internet and have been trying to make it following these recipies, but every time I try to flatten the chapati for cooking it falls apart!

I've tried varying the amount of flour, water and oil but always have the same result. Can anyone pleae tell me what I am doing wrong? thanks!

Scoring indian serving dishes in north america

Smegoid — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 08:52:46 -0800

Where to purchase indian cookware and serving dishes in the USA? I want the lot: thalis, tawas, kadais, baltis. All of it! Ever since I visisted Fiji (60% of population being indian) ten years ago I fell in love with Indian cuisine and have been cooking it regularly ever since. I've finally decided that it's time to pony up and secure myself some more authentic dishes and cookware. When I was in Fiji all the indian restaurants used stainless steel thalis and other serving dishes. I remember being able to purchase them everywhere for a pittance. However here in North America I can't seem to find them anywhere and the few places I've spotted the odd dish, they're pricing them as though they were exotic imports of the rarest kind. Anyone have any ideas as to good online sources in the USA or Canada? Bonus points for people who want to explain the uses of the different serving dishes and cookware. Cheers!

How do you get that rich gravy like texture in Indian dishes?

postergeist — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 20:06:48 -0800

How do you get that rich gravy like texture in Indian dishes? Whenever I make Indian food at home like a Dal or Masala dish I can never get that rich creamy gravy-like quality I get in restaurants. I suspect its because I dont use dairy in my cooking but I dont think they do in Indian food either (aside from the obvious like paneer). I know they use Ghee which is clarified butter but could that be what it is? I thought ghee was more like clear and not very thick.

Hello, dally.

kaseijin — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 08:45:57 -0800

I need some badass vegetarian Indian cooking tips and recipes. Specifically, I am looking for the following:

Tips for making paneer. I have tried, and I can successfully get the curd, but it always stays too runny and falls apart. I can't seem to get this right.
Tips for making/substituting khoya. I have been told that I can used powdered milk, mixed thick into a paste. Does this really work? How thick of a paste?
I want to make good malai kofta. I have tried this dish, and it turned out OK, but my kofta stuck to the pan when I baked them. I don't have a deep fryer, so frying them is basically out. I am interested in recipes and tips related to this dish.
I want to make karahi paneer. The recipes I have seen online for this didn't seem like the karahi paneer I have eaten before. When I have had it, it has been very spicy, red, and almost oil-based.
Paneer tikka masala.
Palak paneer
Dal. I have tried several recipes for dal. My grandfather was born and raised in Jhansi, India (though ethnically Scottish). He lived there until he was 20, and then returned to live in Pakistan for another 10 or so years later on in life. He could make a *mean* dal curry, but the recipe passed on with him.

As I recall, it was spicy, orange, swimming in ghee. Often, in restaurants, the dal I get is brown, soupy, and much less flavorful. I have tried several recipes, but most of them don't even come close.

I have tried one that was pretty close, though - masoor dal, cooked with turmeric and chiles, spiced with anis, fenugreek, kalunji, ginger, garlic, mustard seed, cumin seed, and dried red peppers. Close, but just a little off from what I remember.

I was wondering if anybody has any good dal tips?

I think that's all I'm specificallylooking for at the moment, but any other Indian cooking tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Cookin' Easy First-timer Indian Food

shokod — Tue, 23 May 2006 23:47:48 -0800

I need help cooking a dynamite Indian dinner for my girlfriend who has never had Indian food before. Of course, there is I am a pretty decent cook but have never entered the daunting realm of Indian Cuisine. It's my girlfriend's birthday soon and I had some questions about preparing a nice meal; there are some special requests and requirements that limit me from using the other posts and cooking websites.
- I live in a country where a lot of spices are not available (South Korea). I can get a hand on most veggies, but the only spices I have are Garam Marsala that someone bought me, and some stuff simply labeled "Curry Powder" (purchased at a Wal-Mart (I know, sorry)), I also have a bit of fresh cilantro but I don't think that helps. I might be able to find cumin or bay leaves somewhere but haven't yet. Also, no na'an.
- She loves seafood, I don't like it but I will cook with it. So a dish that incorporates seafood but isn't so seafoody would be a plus. No problem with spiciness.
- A couple dishes (small appetizer, main dish, maybe an interesting dessert) maybe incorporating different tastes so she gets a sort of spectrum of Indian food, but also something that's a good introduction.
- I have no oven and only 2 ranges on my stove, so things that are fairly one-panned or can be okay kept warm by other means.
- What wine should I serve?
Thanks a lot in advance!

Can someone help me identify the indian food we recently tried?

jennaba — Sun, 07 May 2006 10:25:43 -0800

My partner and I recently tried indian food for the first time at Bombay Sweets in Milwaukee (http://www.milwaukeefood.com/bombaysweets/). We liked the food so much we'd like to learn how to cook it ourselves, but we can't figure out what the food was called. I had the combo platter #30 which featured aloo parathas (which I have already found a recipe for), but it also came with a soy-ish tasting, slightly spicy sweet sauce, a thin yogurt sauce, and a cup of some kind of garbanzo bean stew on the side.

I don't know indian food well enough to even speculate what it was that we ate. I'd like to build an indian meal similar to what we had in Milwaukee but I need recipes for the sweet sauce, the yogurt sauce, and the bean stew. Even just names would be helpful, then as least I can start searching for recipes.

Alternately, if you have suggestions for other indian food items that you think an Americanized palate would like (no curry, please) that would be helpful as well. Thanks!

Curds and way too much whey

desuetude — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 16:52:21 -0800

Made some yummy paneer tonight to go with dinner. What do I do with the leftover whey? (Storage tips, please, also!)