Any Indian food fans here?

[Kurmudgeon]

I really like it, but to drive to Charleston or Morgantown WV for the Indian places there can be a problem to make time for.
I use the Archer Farms boxed dinners, Vindaloo and Tikka Masala as well as adding curry powder and various other things to stuff that I make, but it's just not the same.
There was also an Indian place in the Parkersburg-Vienna WV area, they were slightly different than most others in that they used beef for some recipes and didn't have the red onion chutney on the tables as a condiment.
Still good though, unfortunately they closed. I'm hoping they reopen elsewhere.
Hard to find good Indian food in the middle of nowhere, that's for sure!

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. It isn't hard to cook good Indian (basic palette of spices are...

coriander, cumin, garam masala, red pepper flakes or cayenne, cinnamon, black mustard seed....also lots of garlic, ginger, onions).

Best we've found outside of good restaurants are the frozen Indian entrees at Trader Joes.

[HopeHoops]

6. Don't forget freshly ground cardamon.

[NRaleighLiberal]

7. yes...I think I also left out ground cilantro. So many spices...such fun!

[HopeHoops]

8. And hell, there are endless varieties of dahl. Be creative and have fun. Then enjoy.

[applegrove]

2. I once worked in an Indian restaurant. My boss would make the curries in a frying pan then fill

the serving dish. Anything left over would go into a bowl. At the end of the night we would all get to dig into that bowl... a mix of all her curries. It was wonderful.

[Lucinda]

3. I have some great video recipe websites bookmarked, but haven't

felt well enough to experiment yet.

Indian food is on my list of recipes to explore.

[The empressof all]

4. It's really easy to make at home

Check out any of the Indian recipe sites and there are lots of you tubes for visuals. One of the major things that you need to do is bloom your spices (IE: cook them in oil) You don't need anything that you can't get in your local grocer. Fresh Ginger and Garlic are usually combined in equal amounts to start the flavor base along with Onion. Then you add Cumin and Tumeric. You can experiment with other flavors from there.

Just be bold and try it.... Soon you'll be making Pakoras and Indian flat breads... Paneer is super easy to make and is often a cooks first step into the world of Cheese making.

Try making A Saag dish with using Spinach. It's inexpensive and easy and you will be successful...I promise

[Kurmudgeon]

5. Local grocers are meager at best, think Wally World and Krogers.

However, I hadn't considered the blooming of the spices.
Most of my favorite entrees involve meat cooked in a sauce.
However, I've thought about making Samosas or meat or vegetable pastries.
My mother was English and she often made pasties which were just meat and potatoes, sometimes rutabaga and other veg mixed in and bake. I've found the samosas quite similar, though smaller. Thanks for the tips!

[GoCubsGo]

9. Oh yes!

Up until about 6 or 7 years ago, Indian food was hard to come by in these parts. So, I had to make my own. It's not that hard. The most difficult thing is getting ingredients. Thankfully, the Internet has changed that. I can recommend a couple of mail-order places for spices. Those would be Penzey's and The Spice House. The Spice House was started by the father of the fellow who owns Penzey's, and is now run by his sister. Both have excellent spices and spice blends. I prefer The Spice House's curry powders, but I would happily use those from Penzey's too. You can also blend your own. They have lots of non-standard spices one rarely sees in the grocery stores.

Here are a couple of good recipe web sites folks here have posted over the past several months. Be forewarned that they are a bit overwhelming.:

http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/
http://sameekshaa.tripod.com/food/foodlnk.html
http://food.sulekha.com/indian-recipes.htm
http://www.indianfoodforever.com/
http://showmethecurry.com/

One can find most of the unusual ingredients at Amazon.com, among other online stores. They have loads of pre-made, single serve, shelf-stable meals, too. I have had some of them. They are not bad. Just go to the "grocery and gourmet foods" section at Amazon.

You might be able to find some good cookbooks around, too, either at your favorite bookseller or at the library. I like Madhur Jaffery's books.