The anti-left hand rule is probably the only custom in India that you can identify as pretty much universal, regardless of religion, ethnicity, caste, class, or anything else. You don’t touch food with your left hand, you don’t take things from someone with your left hand, and you don’t offer anything to anyone with your left hand. Forcing young lefties to learn to write right-handed is still not unheard of. The other universal thing is that you don’t touch anyone or anything with your feet and you don’t sit or stand in such a way as to let others see the bottoms of your feet, particularly elders or your social superiors.
If you’re wondering about the logistics of a meal if your right hand is soiled with food and you can’t take something from another person with your left hand, traditionally there’s someone – usually the lady of the house – who serves everyone during the meal and waits to eat by herself after everyone else is done. You. An reach for your water glass with your left hand in most communities – although there are some people who use their food-soiled right hands for that too.
Of course, younger more cosmopolitan people tend to be more relaxed about it, but to some extent it’s hard to forget the left-hand-cleans-shit thing when you wake every morning to practically the entire country emptying their bowels right before your eyes. India at dawn smells like one giant outhouse.
As to some of the OP’s specific questions –
These are customs, but not rules as such – If you’re served rice, it’s meant to be mixed with the other dishes one by one. If you’re served bread, you use pieces of the bread as a utensil, but you tear the read with your right hand only – the no-left-hand rule still applies. You hold the bread against the plate with fingers 2, 3, and 4 (violinist’s terms) and pich and tear with thumb and index finger.
Since this is the Indian food thread, I gotta ask a question
There’s an Indian buffet we hit up for lunch once a month or so. In the “condiment” section, next to the mint and tamarind chutneys there is a small dish that has chopped up vegetables (couldn’t identify them.) It looks a bit, if you’ll excuse the comparison, like an Indian Giardinera but not oily like your typical Italio-Chicago giardinera.
So I tried some. The first bite I literally spit out immediately. The taste was so strong, distinctive and unusual that it actually shocked me. But after exclaiming :eek: I cautiously tried another bite. It tastes…pickled, maybe? Also a bit cool, like mint. Very strong brining/seasoning, though I can’t place it. In one meal I went from initial shocked revulsion to curiosity to genuine like.
Can anyone tell me what this is? And how it’s meant to be used? I usually put a little bit on my plate and nibble it straight (like I said, the taste is very strong - not spicy, but maybe a bit sour and “pickled”. For some reason I find it terribly addictive, even after my initial shock.
They called it murgh chettinad (chicken chettinad), with the description saying it had yogurt, spices, and crushed black pepper. Although I just searched for some recipes and none of them have yogurt or a lot of black pepper, so the restaurant may have invented it.
It sounds like achar, which is a vegetable or fruit (chili, lime, mango, tomato, etc.) pickled in oil and chili. There’s no strict rule but generally, a tiny bit of it is added to your rice-and-dish or bread-and-dish mouthful of food. When Indians use the word " pickle" they mean achar.
If its more sweet and fruity rather than hot, oily, and pickled, then it’s chutney, which is a palate cleanser between meal and dessert.
I looooooooove achar. Provided it’s not too hot. I like mango achar or lemon achar. My mouth starts watering as soon as I smell it.
this could possibly be lime pickle it is very strong and distinctive and can be spicy or mild, but very much a WTF!!! for the uninitiated. It goes well with the poppadoms or just a side relish with your main meal when you fancy a burst of heat.
The classic quartet of relishes here in the UK tends to be mango chutney, lime pickle, a yogurt sauce and perhaps a light onion salad. Generally, as has been said before, we eat it how the heck we want. Often sharing multiple dishes with a general “dig in” atmosphere. No airs or graces and no hard and fast etiquette.
And I highly recommend a sweet, coconutty Peshwari naan. Order it with a main meal that’s slightly on the sour side and they compliment each other beautifully.
How do you eat Indian food?
With a knife, fork and spoon?
In an Indian restaurant, I often start with a fork, but usually by the end of the meal, I’m digging in with fingers. The cuisine, both in physical composition and flavor development, really doesn’t go well with cutlery.
By the way, I’m not sure of the real etymology of “chutney,” but in Bengali, “chatni” seems to be very closely related to “chata,” “to lick.” My guess is it is derived from the fact that the liquidy chutney has to be licked off the fingers. Yes, Indians (well, Bengalis, anyway) do eat liquidy dishes with their fingers, including chutney and yogurt. The fluidity of dishes like dal (lentil stew) or curry (meat or vegetable stew) is cut down with rice or bread.
The dishes under the “Chaat” group are definitely derived from the word for lick, so your theory makes sense.
And I am a bad Indian because I really hate eating with my fingers. If I could I would eat everything with a fork or with chopsticks. The only things I really like eating with my fingers is stuff that has “handholds”, like pizza (I don’t eat the crust).
I will eat my roti/naan with the veggies until the naan is all gone, but I use like 27 napkins because I hate the feeling of having dirty hands, and then I will wipe my hands as clean as possible and use a fork. And I am Punjabi and we ALL eat with our hands…le sigh.
So, really, eat however you like!