[fredthecat]

just make a barbecued chicken tikka masala. a lot of effort but turned out well.

yeah indian food is labour intensive.

[pete b]

just make a barbecued chicken tikka masala. a lot of effort but turned out well.

yeah indian food is labour intensive.

I find that being able to turn out some common side dishes in my sleep like raita, Dahl, and chapati/roti without needing recipes makes Indian cooking less intensive in that way. I made butter chicken for the first time a couple weeks ago and making sides without much thinking made it pretty easy to focus on the new recipe.

[fredthecat]

just make a barbecued chicken tikka masala. a lot of effort but turned out well.

yeah indian food is labour intensive.

I find that being able to turn out some common side dishes in my sleep like raita, Dahl, and chapati/roti without needing recipes makes Indian cooking less intensive in that way. I made butter chicken for the first time a couple weeks ago and making sides without much thinking made it pretty easy to focus on the new recipe.

yeah, i took the leftover marinade of yoghurt and spices and stuff and cooked eggs in it with extra crushed tomatoes. a decent very easy 2nd dish.

my kitchen is geared towards chinese/korean/japanese and european food though, so getting a full amount of indian items for example just isnt likely to happen. today was a one-off thing i think.

re: dahl, i dont like lentils and am sort of off beans overall for health beliefs.

i dont have a mixing machine, so while i can make any bread i dont because im too lazy to knead and clean up the sticky mess. my go-to indian flat bread is a dosa kind of thing fermented with yeast because its as easy as making simplified crepes.

[pete b]

I actually don’t use my mixer for chapati or roti. Just mix the water and flour in a bowl, knead just for a couple minutes, rest, form balls, and roll. I like dosas too.
I know what you mean about taking on a new cuisine, it can get out of control having all the ingredients for everything. I keep having to find more room to store stuff. I have been working on my Chinese cooking the last couple of years and I still don’t have all the ingredients I would like to keep on hand.

[pete b]

I have been meaning to make onion pakoras and my wife happened to buy some gram flour for something else so I made pakoras and a cauliflower curry out of what was available in the fridge.

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[erockrph]

The first time I tried onion pakoras was at an Indian wedding, and it blew my mind. Theirs were puffy, almost like a small onion clamcake or doughboy, and I realized that this was the perfect drunk food - a little sweet and a little salty.  I've never seen them in quite that style since, but I've never had a bad one.

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[pete b]

The first time I tried onion pakoras was at an Indian wedding, and it blew my mind. Theirs were puffy, almost like a small onion clamcake or doughboy, and I realized that this was the perfect drunk food - a little sweet and a little salty.  I've never seen them in quite that style since, but I've never had a bad one.

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I think the puffy ones are called bajhi and have white flour and maybe egg which is why they are like clam fritters. Pakora  only have the liquid that salt coaxes out of the onion and are super crispy.
In the summer I make tons of zucchini fritters when zucchini is abundant in the garden the Italian way with egg, bread crumbs, and Parmesan. I discovered that bread crumbs instead of flour makes them fluffier and less doughy. Yes, all good drunk food. Or comfort food when the world has gone to hell.

[erockrph]

That would explain why I've never had a panoramic like that in a restaurant Although I will say that Indian food names, much like their food itself, is way more regional than you can tell from the handful of restaurants in my area. I'm pretty sure the person who told me they were called pakoras were from a different area than the caterers at that wedding.

That wedding, by the way, was one of the coolest cultural experiences I've ever had. The bride is Irish Catholic and the groom is Indian. The day started with a Catholic ceremony, followed by a buffet of Indian food in the church's basement prepared by the groom's family, followed by a traditional Hindi ceremony (they had a leaflet explaining the ceremony for each guest and repeated everything in English). Then there were Indian passed hors d'oeuvres, and a mix of Indian and typical American food at the various stations for dinner. Everything felt very inclusive, and I had some great conversations with many Indian guests who freely shared their culture and traditions.

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[pete b]

I had some duck breast to use for supper tonight but was in the mood for something spicy so went with Indian.  I made a Punjabi style sauce generally used for chicken,  a black pepper and chili pepper Dahl and coconut green beanx.

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[caesduman]

Thank you very much for such cool recipes! I have also been interested in Indian cuisine lately. It was exciting to read about your experience. I especially like the Punjabi recipe because it has all the products that I adore.
I liked the Indian cuisine after I visited a local restaurant. It was as if I had discovered a new world for myself. Now I want to open my own restaurant, where I will combine Indian and European cuisine. It seems to me that something interesting will come out of this. However, before opening your own business, you need to prepare thoroughly. Therefore, I study a lot of information about the Food Services industry. Fortunately, there is a convenient website with detailed analytics and reports.
If you are in New York, be sure to write. Let's go somewhere!

[reverseapachemaster]

yeah indian food is labour intensive.

I tend to avoid prepackaged food but prepackaged Indian foods sold in Indian and Asian grocers tend to be reasonably good. Far better quality than prepackaged American foods. Mixing in prepared foods with your home cooked food can help lighten the workload for a meal.

[fredthecat]

yeah indian food is labour intensive.

I tend to avoid prepackaged food but prepackaged Indian foods sold in Indian and Asian grocers tend to be reasonably good. Far better quality than prepackaged American foods. Mixing in prepared foods with your home cooked food can help lighten the workload for a meal.

yeah, i used to eat the sachet curries a lot, especially before indian food entered the mainstream, like early 2000s. not sure if its mentioined here or not, but indian desserts are also great and a fun thing to try if one hasn't ever before. burfi/gulab jamun etc

i seem to have slowly developed a serious stomach intolerance to spicy food however over the years and i've stopped eating a lot of spicy food. i lived in korea for a long time and have eaten tons of whole, uncooked full-on chili peppers among countless other foods that would make 99% of people in the west just give up. i think i've just had my sufficient life-time proportion of spiciness and my body says no more.

so, i dont get curry too much anymore.

[fredthecat]

I love indian food, never had a good experience cooking it at home for some reason.
Chicken biryani my favorite dish so far.

ok update, i think one secret weapon in the indian food you get from good restaurants could be tadka.

https://www.seriouseats.com/what-is-tadka-tarka-chaunk-chhonk-baghaar

in short: oil simmered in a ton of spices and herbs, then added before serving to a dish to really introduce a huge flavour intensity. pretty good concept.

[Wolbachia]

Here are a few recommendations for books that might be helpful for someone who is a beginner in Indian cooking and is looking for recipes that can be made in 30 min meals or less:

    "30-Minute Indian: 100 Fast and Flavorful Recipes" by Rinku Bhattacharya
    "Quick Fix Indian: Simple, Delicious Recipes in 30 Minutes or Less" by Raghavan Iyer
    "Indian Cooking Unfolded: A Master Class in Indian Cooking, with 100 Easy Recipes Using 10 Ingredients or Less" by Raghavan Iyer

These books should provide a variety of recipes that are easy to follow and can be made quickly, so you can enjoy delicious Indian food at home even if you're short on time.

[Drewch]

Depends on the dish — it's a widely varying cuisine.

The most famous curry dishes take about the same as other stew-like dishes.