Home food vs Restaurant food. why???

zenkris · May 7th, 2005, 18:45

I absolutely love homemade brahmin south indian (tamil) food. Well, most of my indian friends are tamils and especially brahmins, that's why i specified it so narrowly... (except the ratio of rice vs veggies and dahl has too much rice - hence the diabetes problem in south india)

But the food in restaurants is usually 10 times worse, with very different tastes. Why is that?

Is there any other place in the world where there is such a huge difference in homemade and restaurant food?

The thing i hate the most is the ridicoulous amount of chillies in restaurant food. Once I went for some chaat with my tamil friends living in Maharashtra and even his wife could not finish as it was too spicy for her...

I would not mind so much the taste, but the chronic digestive problems it gave, such as acid coming back to the mouth and causing throat pain and problems with the teeth were not a pleasant experience.

The funny thing is that even me, a foreigner, can cook south indian dishes such as sambar, rasam or curd rice better than you would get in a south indian restaurant (confirmed by my indian friend

Any comments?

gs_uppal · May 7th, 2005, 19:09

Put some of your recipes on Indimike for other IMers to cook and enjoy.

zenkris · May 7th, 2005, 23:53

hehe, should i reveal my secrets?

well, for a good sambar, you need to boil toor dahl/ or even the red (is it masoor) dahl and add some potatoes, onions, tomatoes and maybe zucchini or some similar vegetable.

spices:
mustard seeds,
hing (asafoetida)
jeera (cumin) powder
a little ginger,
a little cinnamon,
black pepper,
mango powder or tamarind,
turmeric,
a little sugar,
salt
and some sambar masala.
ofcourse chilli powder is optional.

but don't ask me abt exact amounts as i just throw the spices in intuitively and it works abt 95 percent of the time.

homemade sambar was perhaps the best thing that ever happened to me in india

May 7th, 2005, 18:45	#1
zenkris always floating Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Gone Beyond Posts: 176	Home food vs Restaurant food. why??? I absolutely love homemade brahmin south indian (tamil) food. Well, most of my indian friends are tamils and especially brahmins, that's why i specified it so narrowly... (except the ratio of rice vs veggies and dahl has too much rice - hence the diabetes problem in south india) But the food in restaurants is usually 10 times worse, with very different tastes. Why is that? Is there any other place in the world where there is such a huge difference in homemade and restaurant food? The thing i hate the most is the ridicoulous amount of chillies in restaurant food. Once I went for some chaat with my tamil friends living in Maharashtra and even his wife could not finish as it was too spicy for her... I would not mind so much the taste, but the chronic digestive problems it gave, such as acid coming back to the mouth and causing throat pain and problems with the teeth were not a pleasant experience. The funny thing is that even me, a foreigner, can cook south indian dishes such as sambar, rasam or curd rice better than you would get in a south indian restaurant (confirmed by my indian friend Any comments?

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May 7th, 2005, 19:09	#2
gs_uppal Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Mumbai Posts: 391	Put some of your recipes on Indimike for other IMers to cook and enjoy.

May 7th, 2005, 23:53	#3
zenkris always floating Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Gone Beyond Posts: 176	hehe, should i reveal my secrets? well, for a good sambar, you need to boil toor dahl/ or even the red (is it masoor) dahl and add some potatoes, onions, tomatoes and maybe zucchini or some similar vegetable. spices: mustard seeds, hing (asafoetida) jeera (cumin) powder a little ginger, a little cinnamon, black pepper, mango powder or tamarind, turmeric, a little sugar, salt and some sambar masala. ofcourse chilli powder is optional. but don't ask me abt exact amounts as i just throw the spices in intuitively and it works abt 95 percent of the time. homemade sambar was perhaps the best thing that ever happened to me in india