I don’t have much experience with Indian food or Indian restaurants. In the area where I grew up, there were few Indian restaurants, and my parents never took me out to any. There were, however, an unusually high amount of Thai restaurants, so I ate Thai food all the time.
Anyways, I went to an Indian restaurant for dinner in NYC a week or two ago. The food was good - I definitely enjoyed it. But I wasn’t entirely sure of the conventions for some things. First they brought out some cracker-like snack, a very thin cracker with a bit of salt, along with two sauces. One was a dark purplish, sweet and spicy (probably tamarind), and the other was green, herbal, and spicy. The sauces came in small dishes with little spoons, so I assume I was supposed to break off pieces of cracker and spoon the sauces on?
For the main course I ordered a chicken curry and a side of rice (naan was extra and I didn’t get that). It was a brownish curry with yogurt and a lot of black peppercorns, fairly spicy. And chunks of chicken, of course. Nice. That came in a copper pot with a lid, as did the rice, which had a few steamed vegetables on top (carrots, peas). The server spooned out some curry on to my plate on one side, then some rice on to the other. Now, am I supposed to eat these separately, or combine them? I kinda pushed off some curry sauce on to the rice to combine them, and when I wanted more I spooned the curry on to the rice. Is this okay, or am I supposed to do it some other way? I know that if I got naan I was supposed to sop up the curry with the naan, although I don’t know how the chunks of chicken would play in to that.
Also, I know that in India there is a taboo against using your left hand for basically anything during the meal, because the left hand is considered unclean. Does that taboo extend to restaurants in America as well?
YES. I mean, however you ate it you ate it fine. And no, the taboo doesn’t really extend here. TBH, and I am Indian, I generally eat predominantly with my left hand, and do my bestest to keep my right hand clean so i can grab the water glass, or whatever - have at least one hand clean. I don’t use my left hand for dirty stuff, though, so there’s that. And I always wash my hands with soap and water.
With the naan you just make a grie, like a folded piece of bread, and soak up the sauce and maybe scoop a piece of chicken. But eat however you want, whatever makes you happy. Just don’t stick your face directly into the food.
Any advice on the condiments? I never know what’s supposed to go on what. I always worry I’m going to do something that’s the equivalent of putting ketchup on my salad. Sure, maybe it’ll taste okay but I try to minimize looking like an idiot in public.
Well, there is usually mint chutney, tamarind chutney, and some kind of hot sauce. Hot sauce is self-explanatory. Mint chutney can either be scorchingly hot or mild & sweet; use with caution.
The tamarind chutney is sweet & sour and used to “cut” spice in food.
There is no real rule. The tamarind (brown) chutney is a powerful taste, so it may overwhelm your other foods. I really only use it on samosas.
A good mint chutney is to die for, and I love it. I mix it into my rice, or into my yogurt, or even into my food, depending on how good it is. If it’s not good, I ignore it entirely.
I like the tamarind chutney on samosas and pakoras, sometimes with a bit of the mint chutnet added. It’s also good on papadum (the cracker-like bread they brought you at the beginning) but I love papadum plain.
I use the onion chutney (orangey-red and spicy) on naan of all stripes, and occasionally to kick up the heat level on my own plate when dining with friends who prefer milder spice levels.
I hadn’t heard the left-hand taboo associated with India, but given that they have a petty good sized Muslim population I can sort of see it. I never think to worry about it in a US restaurant, and just eat with my fork & knife normally.
I’m not so keen on rice, but absolutely adore garlic naan bread, so I just attack the main dish with broken off bits of that (and a fork). No-one cares how you eat it to be honest - if there’s a bunch of people with loads of stuff ordered, just wire in.
If you wipe your butt with water and your left hand instead of toilet paper, don’t eat food with your left hand
As far as the food, eat it anyway you like! Try some Dal next time and mix it in your rice. Maybe get some Naan or chapatis to eat with your curry.
I was thinking this today, as I was eating my masala dosa. I pulled the big crepe into pieces and alternately stuffed it with potatoes or scooped up yogurt or dipped it into any one of the three chutneys that accompanied it. I also soaked it in sambal. I was probably doing it all wrong but I didn’t much care because it tasted so freaking good.
One common method of eating Indian food is to use a chapati. That’s a sort of flat bread. Ther idea is that you tear off a little bread and then use it to pick up a morsel of food. You pick up the food with your thumb and forefinger, but the bread goes in between your fingers and the food. You then eat the bread and meat together.
What type of curry did you try, BTW? There’s several different types.
