I guess it depends on if he’s talking about tortilla chips, or nacho chips (which is a dish of tortilla chips with cheese and often jalapeño.) I’m assuming he’s talking the former, as the latter is not something I associate with most Mexican restaurants, but rather places like movie theaters, sporting events, and bars. (Although some Mexican restaurants may have them, they are not universal, in my experience. Tortilla chips at Mexican restaurants in the US are much, much more common, although not quite ubiquitous.)
At any rate, it appears that the tortilla chip was developed in the US by Mexicans in Los Angeles. I’m actually a bit surprised at that. Tostadas (think tortilla chip made of a whole tortilla in one piece) exist in Mexico, but apparently cutting them into triangles didn’t occur until the El Zarape tortilla factory in LA made them in the late 40s. (Although, see below.) The odd thing is, the story in the Wikipedia article on nachos (which appear to have originated just on the other side of the US border) seems to trace the fried tortilla chips to 1943, predating the El Zarape story by about four years. So it suggests that other folks were making chips out of tortillas before the El Zarape tortilla factory was.
I’m confused by this history, because there’s also something called “totopos” in Mexican cuisine, which is translated as “tortilla chips” in English, so I don’t quite see how what El Zarape did is different than Mexican totopos.
Damn, ninja’d [or thugeed, India was not known for its ninjas, though I suppose thugs sort of work … :dubious:]
I go to a small Indian grocery and get these great little boxed spice and sauce mixes that you just add stuff to - they have a butter chicken that turns out fantastic. I am pretty sure this is the one, I used up my last one and haven’t been shopping for replacements. They also have the already made in a retort pouch sort which are nice to keep on hand.
I agree that you should hit a buffet for lunch and try out a few different interesting looking dishes.
My downfall are a few different things - I love samosas, papadum with the green goo and the brown goo[the mint/coriander chutney is in the freezer case, and the tamarind chutney comes in a jar and the papad are on a shelf and can be nuked], gulab jamun, jalebi, barfi, a really rich rogan josh, pakora, and paratha of either potato or cauliflower [my absolute favorite].
The fried goodies I have to really limit, but the papad with chutneys can be very nutritional [the mint chutney can be eaten plain or mixed with yogurt, we like it yogurtized] and the jalebi are just indian funnel cakes But if you really are interested in doing it at home, find an Indian grocery and throw yourself on the mercy of the people there, they tend to be very friendly and will explain what the different things are. [As you can see, we sort of graze the subcontinent, I don’t think we have a favorite region. Though with the barfi, mrAru makes a wicked great almond/cardamom barfi for the holidays. We are also fond of the mango barfi, but the can of mango puree makes enough barfi for a small wedding party!]
My ex and I tried using store-bought curry paste (mixed into plain yogurt) to make a DIY Indian dinner at home. It really did not taste much like the Indian food I’ve eaten. I don’t know why. It was OK, but it didn’t have the same heartiness to it. To satisfy my cravings for Indian food, I just hop down to the local restaurant’s lunch buffet.
Fat/ghee might be part of it. Restaurant Indian food is pretty darned heavy compared to stuff made at home. There’s usually a lot more fat in it, doubly so if you get one of the “creamy” dishes. I like restaurant Indian, but it’s heavy, heavy food usually.
My primary care doctor is Indian, and in a recent chat about my diet when I told him I ate a lot of Indian food, he surprised me by telling me to be careful because it was quite high in fat and not really that healthful.
Mostly I do vegetarian, use olive oil instead of ghee (although ghee is fabulous and I buy it ready-made in jars sometimes) and while I love love LOVE pakora, I’ve never done anything deep-fried at home, just get it in restaurants occasionally.
Anyhow I was surprised because it seems to me that if one eats Indian food that mostly vegetable-based and avoid a lot of the deep-fried or ghee-based dishes, it’s awfully darned healthy. For what it’s worth, my doc said their family eats a lot of Mexican food, and I probably have a lower BMI than he does.
It depends. The “at home” Indian food I’ve had is quite a bit less rich than restaurant/buffet/banquet Indian. It doesn’t strike me as particularly unhealthful. But if you ate restaurant Indian every day, not so much.
I love love love my Indian grocery - I can get 1 kilo bags of the various dals and pulses dirt cheap, this absolutely lovely extra long grain Jasmine rice in 5 kilo bags, spices and condiments for so much less than the regular grocery store’s exotic aisles. Same also goes for the Chinese grocery I use [Ah Dongs in Hartford]
Please, patronize your local non-chain ethnic stores - you can ask questions about stuff and try all sorts of interesting goodies. My Indian grocery has some lady that makes all sorts of yummy stuff, I have her recipe for the mango and almond barfi, and my roomie has some sort of hot and spicy chick pea flour equivalent to barfi that she likes that we would have never tried if it hadn’t been sitting there looking appetizing.
And you know, that surprises me. At least in Punjab, the mustard variety is looked at as a delicacy. Makki ki roti(corn bread, for everyone else) and sarson ka saag is viewed as a delicacy in Punjabi households. Yet, no(IME) restaurant in India serves it. I wonder why that is.
Indian restaurants don’t even come close to presenting the variety and depth of South Asian cuisine overall, not to mention not offering the best of any specific regional cuisine.
In the United States, “Indian” is a standardized menu of mostly Mughlai dishes, not that there’s anything wrong with Mughlai cuisine, but it’s not all there is, not by far, and certainly not my favorite.
If you are not interested in spending a mint expanding your spice cabinet, you can get excellent pre-made spice mixes with great instructions from Shan (example).
The flavors from these boxed spice mixes surpass even really good Indian food I’ve had in restaurants. It’s very authentic and wonderful. And feel free to go wild with tweaking the recipes to your liking. If you want “traditional” recipe, followed to a T, will give that to you. But, for example, I made a Chicken Biryiani last night, which is typically just a meat, tomato, potato, spices and rice dish… but I skipped the potatoes and used a load of different vegetables instead, and it was perfectly tasty.
Of course, I have also made my own spice mixtures (Garam Masala, and vindaloos), and those are great too but they do take a lot of different spices and aren’t easy to make correctly.
Look for the Shan brand boxes like I showed in the picture, and you won’t be disappointed.
Mmm, tarka daal and naan bread, my two favourites. Agreed about the spices. Sometimes i get lazy and use the curry powder, but if you want a more authentic, specific flavour, mix the spices yourself.
I also suggest making your own naan bread. I find store bought doesn’t have the same flavour and chewiness.
I have found that mis en place will prevent many headaches when preparing Indian food. Having the spices pre-measured, placed in the small glass bowls I have for just that purpose, and lining them up in the order of use, makes things much easier.
But if you really are interested in doing it at home, find an Indian grocery and throw yourself on the mercy of the people there, they tend to be very friendly and will explain what the different things are. [As you can see, we sort of graze the subcontinent, I don’t think we have a favorite region. Though with the barfi, mrAru makes a wicked great almond/cardamom barfi for the holidays. We are also fond of the mango barfi, but the can of mango puree makes enough barfi for a small wedding party!]
