Dec 062013
November 2013
Today I decided to address food – I have been hesitating to do this because frankly, most Indian food consists of vegetables, meat if you are not vegan and a brown sauce covering it.
Now – I know that sounds insulting, but it isn’t.
Let me give a little bit of background to food in general first. India is 80.5% Hindi. Hindus do not eat beef or pork (except westernized ones). Muslims (which make up 13.4% of the population), eat beef but not pork, again unless westernized. Bengalis are known for their consumption of fish, and most Brahmins are vegetarians, but the Brahmins from Kashmir and Bengal are not. (Got it :-)?
So back to curry. The yellow powder that most westerners consider to be curry is just that, a western invention, so is the word curry. Here is why my opening salvo is not insulting. “Curry” simply means any dish with a gravy.
We are on a tour, so most meals are buffet. It is really the nicest way to go, since you are presented with at least 20 – 30 Indian dishes at every meal. The problem is they are all dishes with gravy. The underlying ingredient is delicious and is either vegetable, chicken, fish, lamb, or a combination, but you can’t tell what it is, as all the names of the dishes are named by their Indian name.
Regarding spices – oddly enough food is hotter in the south where the weather is hotter, and milder in the north where we are – fortunately. We have not had much food with coconut as that is more for southern food. Cardamom seems to be the overriding spice where we are, which makes me very happy, also saffron, although it is just as expensive here as it is at home, so it is used sparingly.
Mustard oil is the primary oil used in the North. I finally had some cauliflower cooked in mustard oil to see exactly what it tasted like. It adds a bit of a vinegary taste to the food, very pleasant.
Most Indians eat with their hands, scooping curry up with roti or naan, but yes, unlike many chinese restaurants, knives, forks and spoons are also set at every table.
So we have happily been eating our way through India with no idea of what most of it is.
Sure we all know naan, and my favorite bread Papadams, but who knew that my first breakfast I would fall madly in love with Puri.
Puri is an unleavened deep-fired Indian bread that is usually served with curry, and no, I have no idea what curry I would get with in the morning, but it was delicious.
Next food most Americans know is Saag Paneer. This is spinach with curd. The curd is much like tofu. The spices vary from region to region, and the fresher the paneer the better.
Next are potatoes and cauliflower. Both of these are served hundreds of ways and show up in EVERYTHING. Aloo Gobi is a dish with both ingredients
We had “wraps” for two meals on the road. They are essentially Indian burritos and boy are they fabulous, vegetarian, or not. Wish I could remember the name – sorry, however, I know six of my friends are saying it to themselves as they read this.
Samosas – another well know Indian food to most Americans, but did you know they come stuffed with a lot more than just potatoes? A samosa is a fried or baked pastry with fillings of onions, peas, lentils, potatoes, ground lamb, ground beef or ground chicken and are usually accompanied with chutney.
I could go on and on and on about pickles, chutneys, sauces, and yogurts but I will stop here.
I will discuss one very special night we had in Aurangabad. We were staying at the Taj and after our lecture we were all set free to have dinner in any restaurant we chose. Mom and I sat down outside on the lawn for their Bar-b-que. The brought out a small metal bowl filled with wood and we had our own little fireplace, then they proceeded to bring course after course of bar-b-qued items, very similar to the ones we had at the bar-b-que I described earlier. The crackling fires by the tables, a nice bottle of red wine, a song and dance performance, it really doesn’t get any better than that!