In article . com>, "Believer" > wrote:
>I have been on an Indian cooking spree this year [...]
>I have fixed Tandoori chicken (which did NOT turn out the way I had
>hoped -- the flavor was nice, but texture was not what I expected) and
>Mutter Paneer, which did turn out very nicely. On tommorow's agenda
>are Rogan Josh, cardamom basmati rice with apricots and slivered
>almonds, and chapatis.
[snip]
>Also, I was just curious -- does *anyone* out there like Indian
>food????? Seems over a billion people couldn't be wrong. <G>

How can *anyone* NOT like it? :-)

Having spent 3 months in southern India in mid-life, I've been pining
for decent Indian food for the past 20 years! Nothing I've found here
in Oz approaches the real thing IME. Probably a lot to do with how
the ingredients are handled (the sequence for adding spices at the
correct stage of cooking springs to mind) and, as someone else
suggested, the physics of the stoves and ovens.

I've never managed to find or prepare omelettes the way they were done
in just about every breakfast dive in Madhya Pradesh. Simply
delicious! (Any southern Indians out there willing to divulge the
secrets of making them? :-)

Of course, from my POV a large part of the problem in attempting to
recreate the authentic "Indian experience" is that it's probably
nearly impossible to achieve cooking for one -- too many fiddly side
dishes to serve in small quantities as garnishes for what is
essentially a meal of steamed rice. AFAICR, there were usually four
to six little bowls [built into the individual serving "trays" in most
cases] of assorted yummy (and bloody spicy!) stuff to flavour the
rice. I can still hear a colleague (Indian) who accompanied me at one
stage, intoning "More rice" to the waiter halfway through a meal. :-)

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID