Hesitant to try a new type of cuisine? Let me help you the best I can, by sharing a recent experience I had with my family at the Indian Cook House (in Elkton, Md.), combined with my many years of growing up in a home where Indian food is almost as common as peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches in a kindergarten classroom.
The Basics
From a distance, Indian food may seem crazy different from any other cuisine, but it actually has many qualities similar to foods found in any town.
Many people have the misconception that all Indian cuisine is spicy. But, like any cuisine, meats are combined with sauces to create specific flavors, and the spiciness of the food can be adjusted.
Although most Indians do not eat beef (the cow is considered sacred, because a Hindu god named Krishna was a cow herder), they do eat other types of meat including chicken and lamb. Seafood is also quite common, while other dishes are made with only a blend of vegetables, like cauliflower, potatoes, lentils and spinach. Paneer, a signature Indian cheese (somewhat like cottage cheese) is also commonly found in Indian dishes.
The sauces in which these meats are cooked usually combine spices and herbs like ginger, garlic, onion, turmeric, coriander, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. Depending on the type of sauce, some will have nuts, chilies or curry powder. (Note: the term curry does not always mean it contains curry powder or curry leaves. When the British ruled India, they mistook the word curry to mean sauce — and it stuck.)
Meats are also cooked on the grill in familiar dishes like kebabs and Tandoori chicken, marinated in spices and cooked in a Tandoor, or special clay oven.
Then as in many other cultures, like Spanish and Chinese, rice is a staple of the diet. Some rice meals are plain, while others, known as Biryanis, are tossed with veggies or meat (like Chinese fried rice).
Another Indian staple is bread, sometimes stuffed with onions and vegetables (known as Kulcha,) while others it is just topped with spices. The crispier textured Naan is soft on the inside and cooked in the Tandoor.
Indian cuisine is usually served “family style,” so when going to a restaurant, although there’s a menu and everything comes with rice, a family of four can usually order three dishes and some bread to share.
Although one dish could be ordered per person, it’s more fun to try a variety of food with different sauces and preparations.
For the first-timer
Start off the meal with an appetizer of some pakoras, fried vegetable poppers, or samosas, crispy turnovers filled with spiced potatoes and peas.
To start, most Indian restaurants will give you some complimentary papadum (let’s call it an Indian nacho chip), and some chutneys like coriander, onion and tamarind (an Indian date).
For the main course, order chicken makhni and saag paneer (spinach with cheese), along with some naan.
Try a special drink that will help cool your mouth if needed known as a lassi, a smoothie with yogurt and rosewater, that can be blended with fruit like mangos or banana.
Finally, for dessert, try something traditional like Gulab Jamun, a cheese pastry dipped in milk and honey.
The level of spice can be adjusted, so try mild first, and if you want more spice, ask for some achar, or spiced Indian pickles. If the food is too hot, pair it with a raita, a mix of yogurt, cucumber, and carrots (like the tzatziki sauce used in Greek foods).
Although some people like drinking soda with meals, when eating spicy foods, sodas just aggravate the tongue, so try a juice, lassi or stick with water.
If your food is extremely spicy, there is one more trick: eat some plain bread and the Capsaicin, the substance that makes peppers spicy, will be soaked up by the carbohydrates.
Which sauce is right for you?
Indian cuisine is cooked in a variety of sauces, the spiciness of which can be adjusted to suit your tolerance.
Most of them have ginger, garlic, coriander, turmeric, onion, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg as a base, with other components added to define the flavor. Here are some common sauces, listed from mild to spiciest:
KORMA
A spiced sauce blended with cream and cashews. The base can also be coconut milk or yogurt.
MAKHNI
A spiced sauce with blended with tomatoes and cream. Often butter-based.
CURRY
Spiced curry sauce can have curry powder in it, and sometimes contains mustard and poppy seeds.
MASALA
A sauce with onions, tomatoes, bell peppers and spices including cinnamon, roasted cumin, caraway seeds, cloves, nutmeg, green cardamom seed or black cardamom pods. Commercial spice mixtures sometimes also include dried red chili peppers, dried garlic, ginger powder, sesame, mustard seeds, turmeric, coriander, bay leaves, star anise and fennel.
BHUNA
A thick spiced sauce, blended with oil.
VINDALOO
A thick and very spicy curry sauce.
