FAQ for uk.food+drink.indian Newsgroup
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The Questions

• Eating

  1. I've been wondering - are you supposed to eat the whole green chiles in a jalfreze or merely use them to infuse the sauce when cooking? I always think that they should be eaten, but after a couple I think "that's more than enough for me" and leave them on the side.
     What's the consensus?
  2. What's the best way of cooling my mouth when the curry's hot?

• Away from Home

  1. Despite my love of Indian food I've only been to Indian restaurants (proper "sit-down" ones) a handful of times.
     I've always wondered, in what order are you supposed to eat the stuff?? How would an Indian family eat their main meal (mind you, I think it would have to be a celebration of some sort in India to warrant the amount of food I've seen ordered in restaurants here!)
     Seems a daft question but in English restaurants you get simple choices: starter, main, dessert. No confusion there. The last time we went we were offered poppadoms and a doobrie of chutneys etc. when we went in and we weren't sure whether to scoff the lot there and then while choosing the meal or to wait for it!
  2. I've only ever eaten Indian food in a restaurant - what's the procedure at home?

• Spelling and Pronunciation

  1. Raita
     1. I saw on a thread a few weeks ago on how to pronounce Riata (rye-ta) but in an Indian restaurant last night the waitress (Indian) said it was (rye-tha) the tha bit was said really fast, not that it's an issue, but I was just curious.
     2. Every time I ask for Raita, I pronounce it about 15 different ways, and the guy behind the counter does'nt click until I say "yoghurt and Cucumber". Either I am pronouncing it wrong all the time, or it is an in joke with take-away and restraunt owners :)
  2. Chile, Chili, Chilli? Which is it?

The Answers

• Eating

  1. Chillis in Jalfreze
     1. Yes to infuse the sauce, if you squeeze the chili the liquid that comes out will make the surrounding food hotter, if you wanted it hotter still then you would chop it up and eat it in bits, rather than the whole in one go. So it's really up to you what you want to do.
     2. Eat the lot ,no question about it. I like a minimum of 6 whole ones in a Jalfrezi.
     3. The important thing to remember is that Hot chilies burn both coming and going.
  2. Cooling Down
     1. I have been assured that the best way to cool your mouth down is by eating a lump of naan bread. Works, too! Better than a cool drink.
     2. Milk or lassi is good, too. Much better/more effective than water for the purpose.
     3. I like yoghurt and minced cucumber, with a little cumin sprinkled on top.

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• Away from Home

  1. Ordering
     1. In my experience of local indian restaurants, they are happy for you to eat what you ordered as and when they get it to the table, and more happy if you're not a group of drunken football fans giving the waiters a hard time for no reason.. Dont order 10 pints of lager to start and I reckon you're off to a good start. If you get lucky, in some restaurants the waiters are happy to answer most questions, show a little humilty and genuine interest and they'll probably explain it to you..
     2. If I went in a party of four here is what I would do.
        I wouldn't order everything straight away. But treat all four like one. Just concentrate on the main dishes, there isn't really a formal starters and afters.
        Order two Pallaw rice and two different curry dishes and a hot curry sauce for all the four. Have a look at the stuff after you all have shared it out and immediately place another order of your favourite nans and depending upon how much of the curry dishes are still left over to go with the nans, you can order another two curries if you had to. Which really works out to the equivalent of One Rice and One Curry amongst each of you. Then you can decide if you want any afters or not. I personally never have a starter or after, may be just a cup of tea,
  2. Dining Out
     1. When I have eaten in Indian homes everything was put on the table at once. It was often as many as 12 dishes of this and that. My friend said no one in the West was expected to be able to do that, and she also told me that many things were not eaten hot, so it wasn't that hard to do. The average Indian kitchen, at least at one time, had only one tiny stovelike thing to cook on, so it would obviously be impossible to turn out 12 dishes at once.
        It actually appeared to me that although several things were freshly done, some were bits left from other meals. The Indians helped themselves to tiny portions of many things so everything didn't all run together. It all felt extremely different in variety, amounts and combinations. And it was pretty, with so many colors and textures going on.
     2. In Nepalese homes I have eaten in it is the same, lots of different dishes although I could never make out whether they would have eaten like that if there had not been company. The Gurkha quarters were equipped with a two ring gas burner, so no space to cook lots of dishes at once, but all the families had electric rice boilers so the rice didn't tie a ring up. The woman of the family never seemed to sit down to eat, she would just keep on cooking and serving dishes up as they were ready - it wasn't necessary to wait for everything to be served before you started to eat.
        Rice in the middle of the plate, everything else in non-contiguous heaps around it. And some thin dhal ladled over the top of the rice. Crushed poppadoms on top.
     3. At home, we normally have 1 curry, sometimes two, and vegetable dish or dishes to accompany the main dish. A pickle bottle will be on the table too. Sometimes papaddums. Sometimes, Thairu, yoghurt is also on the table. We dish the rice to our plate and heap reasonable amounts of what was cooked on to our plate. Chutneys and pickles are accompanients. We crush a pappadum and add it on to our food while we are eating. To finish off, sometimes one might have a yoghurt drink, or mix plain yoghurt to a bit of rice and finish off.

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• Spelling and Pronunciation

  1. Raita
     1. There are different versions of Raita, (spelling insignificent, it's all phonetic, you can't translate Hindi into English easily).
     2. The authentic Indian pronouciation is : Roy-thaw
     3. Its spelt Raita.
        Pronounce Rye-tah.
        It may be Roy-taw in Bengali.
        
     4. Being a Bengali, I beg to differ!
        But you're right about Rye-tah.
  2. Chile, Chili, Chilli
     1. There's no agreement on this (although a number of people insisted their spelling was the correct one!)

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