Best products from r/IndianFood

We found 65 comments on r/IndianFood discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 170 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.

Top comments mentioning products on r/IndianFood:

u/lobster_johnson · 3 pointsr/IndianFood

I have the answer for you. Yes, a lot of cookbooks and videos will attempt to give you the "authentic" kind; I myself was consistently disappointed until I found the key. Or keys, actually. A few things they tend to do wrong:

  • Too little onion. The gravy in Indian food is based on onions. It's what gives the sauce its smooth body; it acts as a thickener and a very subtle but important flavour enhancer. Can't make Indian food without it. It's not just one onion chopped and then "fried for 5 minutes until translucent". No — you need a whole bunch of onions, cooked (sweated) until tender and then blended into a fine pulp. Some Indian restaurants will also cook the onions with peppers, cabbage and tomatoes, among other things. Sweating the onions for 45-60 minutes is absolutely paramount. Sweated onions develop complex aromatics that taste completely differently from onions that have been just lightly fried in some oil.

  • Too much unconcentrated tomato. Rather, a lot of recipes call for you to plop in a can of chopped tomatoes. This makes no sense: Tomatoes have a lot of water, so you don't get a concentrated gravy out of this, not unless you cook it for hours. It's the same shoddy deception as the classic cook-book illusion that pretends you can caramelize onions in five minutes. No, you need tomato paste: A really concentrated reduction of tomato.

  • No ginger-garlic paste. One of the cornerstones of Indian food (and coincidentally also some middle-eastern cuisines and Thai) is the ginger-garlic paste, but it almos never comes up in recipes. In India you'll find jars of this in the supermarket. Making your own is better. It's what it says: Chopped garlic and ginger, minced in a blender until a fine paste.

  • They skip the blending step. A lot of recipes ask you to combine chopped onions, tomatoes, spices and what not, and you get this chunky mess that is nothing like a true tikka masala. All the flavour is distributed in bits of onion, bits of coriander, watery tomato sauce. A great tikka masala sauce must be blended for about 5-6 minutes until perfectly smooth.

  • Not enough fenugreek. This one is a matter of preference. I think tikka masala absolutely needs to be made with (a modest amount of) fenugreek leaves. To me, it's what turns something good into something awesome.

  • Not enough paneer. Again, this is a matter of preference. Some cooks apparently only add paneer to butter chicken, not tikka masala. For me, the sauce is exactly the same thing (and historically, I think that is right: tikka masala is butter chicken sauce + tikka chicken). Anyway, adding crumbled paneer to a sauce makes it a lot better.

    The only recipe I have found to match the stuff you find in restaurants is an ebook by a British cook named Julian Voigt: The Secret to That Takeway Curry Taste. It's amazing. (I'm not affiliated with the author, just a happy customer.)

    Voigt runs a small "BIR"-style (British Indian Restaurant, pretty much what you associate with Indian food in the West) takeout place in England. His own recipes come from recipes he learned by working in Indian restaurants before he started his own. And unlike many recipes which claim to be "authentic", they truly are. The book is charmingly amateurishly put together and completely unpretentious.

    Voigt's recipe is basically a three-step process, from memory:

  • Onion gravy base. This is, at its most basic, sweated onions + lots of neutral vegetable oil + fresh chili + some tomatoes + garam masala, cooked for about 90 minutes and then blended until perfectly smooth. The base smells like old gym socks and has a brown, goopy, unappealing exterior. It's used as the base for the actual sauce.

  • Tikka masala sauce base. This is yogurt + tomato paste + spice paste + red food dye. Voigt uses a combination of several off-the-shelf Indian spice pastes as a shortcut.

  • Final sauce = heat onion base, add a few spoonfuls of tikka masala sauce base + ginger-garlic paste + coriander leaves + coconut powder (aka coconut flour; a BIR oddity, I believe, but it does makes the sauce mellower) + fenugreek leaves + paneer (optional, it's not in the book) + a little heavy cream to finish.

    The whole book is made from the perspective of a restaurant chef, so everything is scaled to large batches. That's why the sauce bases are separate. The nice thing is that you can make 5 liters of onion base and freeze what you don't need; the onion base can be used for all sorts of dishes since it's pretty flavour-neutral.

    I highly recommend the book.

    Edit: Didn't read the Guardian recipe until now. Yeah, they make those mistakes. The author knows about ginger-garlic paste, but uses a can of tomatoes and doesn't sweat the onions.
u/2Cuil4School · 1 pointr/IndianFood

I've been very happy with my Preethi Eco Twin (available on Amazon) so far. I will say that even the smallest jar with the downsizing inverted lid is still a little big for very small quantities of spices (they tend to just sort of splay out onto the sides pretty quickly), but anything over a tablespoon or two is usually alright.

I'm a little hesitant about throwing very large, hard spices (e.g., nutmegs, dried turmeric, even big cassia cinnamon bark) into it with the normal plastic lid. I broke the plastic lid of my little old Coffee grinder (from a defunct brand many years old) with that stuff :(. The "downsizing" lid on the Preethi is rubber, I think (it's kinda hard though), so maybe it will be safe.

The benefit is that it's also great fur chutneys, wet-dry pastes, and things like idly/dosa batter. The main 1.5 liter jar is pretty sizable for most purposes, but they recommend not running a ton of heavier things like wet urad dal through it--work in batches. You need some heavy duty industrial equipment (or one of those awesome spinning grinding-stone machines) to handle that sort of stuff more than a cup or so at a time.

Anyway, it was this one: http://www.amazon.com/Preethi-Twin-Mixer-Grinder-550-Watt/dp/B007T0CIVS

u/punkinale · 6 pointsr/IndianFood

Trust me. Buy this: https://www.amazon.com/Kitchens-India-Butter-Chicken-3-5-Ounce/dp/B000V17MLS/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1487172075&sr=8-1&keywords=kitchens+of+india+butter+chicken

  1. Add oil to a pan (1 or 1.5 tbps)
  2. Add chopped onions, garlic, and a bit of ginger
  3. Reduce onions until transulucent
  4. Add tomatoes and allow to cook
  5. Add a packet of this Kitchens of India paste and mix well
  6. Add chicken and 1/2 cup of water and allow the chicken to cook on low heat
  7. Add more water (you can use cream or milk) until the gravy is as thin as you like

    Trust me... I've been trying to make curries at home for the last 10 years. I've tried many recipes, from scratch fresh ground spices, to boxed spices, and even other pastes. This brand has become a staple for me now. I can whip up a dish in 30 minutes and it's better than a lot of restaurants around me. My favorite paste they sell is the chicken curry, tastes like an authentic dhaba style curry you can get in India.

    ps) I have fond memories of helping my dad make "chicken" (usually this meant desi style curry) growing up and it wasn't until I became older that I appriciated how much I enjoyed that.
u/kageurufu · 5 pointsr/IndianFood

Most restaurants (not necessarily Indian food, but in general) use food processors like this for doing smooth purees and pastes. I got a Ninja 3-in-1 blender and food processor set at costco that works great.

I recommend a fine mesh strainer like https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-8-Inch-Strainer/dp/B00004OCLX or https://www.amazon.com/New-Star-Foodservice-38071-Reinforced/dp/B00LV3227O if you want to get perfectly smooth sauces. Using the back of a spoon or a rubber spatula to press the cooked sauce through the sieve will get virtually any fibers and bits out without any trouble

u/hack819 · 1 pointr/IndianFood

Its kind of cheating but the best butter chicken I've been able to make comes from a packet. Using [this] (https://www.amazon.com/Kitchens-India-Butter-Chicken-3-5-Ounce/dp/B000V17MLS?th=1) with some boneless thighs is fantastic and super easy.

As for rice I just throw jasmine rice in my rice cooker. While neither the curry or rice are authentic they taste good.

u/clicksngiggles · 3 pointsr/IndianFood

Big fan of Aarti Paarti, a definite mix of recipes with some nice fusions. You get the best of traditional Indian and delicious new dishes! Certainly won't get bored, best of all there's great info on spices, cooking techniques, and the works. https://smile.amazon.com/Aarti-Paarti-American-Kitchen-Indian/dp/1455545414/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483194802&sr=8-1&keywords=aarti+paarti

u/[deleted] · 3 pointsr/IndianFood

You can't go wrong with Raghavan's "660 Curries". It's where I started, 4 years ago. Since then I've probably only cooked ~20-25 of the recipes but every. single. one. has been amazing and incredibly authentic. I'm Caucasian and I've had Indian friends tell me I put their mothers to shame.

I was a little unsure of the quality available when you throw 660 curries into one book - but the quality is there. More importantly however, the book goes over how to cook and prepare each and every type of ingredient. There are huuuuge chapters catering to legumes of all varieties, your chickpea craving will be easily fixed. You're close to an international food market so you'll be in heaven.

Regarding not being able to stock a full indian / us / thai pantry. Know that stocking most spices required for Indian food is incredibly cheap. For ~$20 (provided your store is fairly priced), you should be able to stock 1 packet of each commonly used spice (go big on Cumin and Coriander seeds, they're used a lot). I've had some of the same spices for close to 18 months now as they're used infrequently. So do not fear cost, once you've outlaid for the starter spices, you'll be very low on cost.

Without further delay: http://www.amazon.com/660-Curries-Raghavan-Iyer/dp/0761137874/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406560477&sr=8-1&keywords=660+curries

And here happens to be two curries I cooked from the book this weekend! Stewed duck with Black Cardamon and Cherries, with Curried Eggs. The onions in the back (katta salan) are from vahrehvah.com, another great resource although the recipes can be difficult to follow as they're a little scattered.

u/bigpuffyclouds · 1 pointr/IndianFood

that sounds wonderful. I have seen and liked the ones by Madhur Jaffery. She almost holds your hand and guides you in the kitchen in her books on Indian cuisine. And the curries turn out great too.

Edit: Is this the book you are referring to?

u/HereForTheLulz · -1 pointsr/IndianFood

Toast your spices in a separate pan, and then add them in a bouquet garni. This is especially useful for spices like green cardamom and whole peppercorns, which are harder to remove after cooking. For any recipe that calls for whole spices, I usually multiply the amount by 1.5 if using a bouqet garni, since the flavors don't permeate the dish as efficiently as if just put in as is.

I use these bags from Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A4GRZNK

They're cheap enough that you can just toss them after a single use, but if you want to go the extra mile you can rinse, wash and reuse them if you're dedicated.

By using a bouqet garni, you get the flavor from your favorite whole spices, but not the undesired texture.

u/throw667 · 2 pointsr/IndianFood

Got one Asian store and one Indian resto in this burg. The store's pretty good, and the resto survives because -- only one in town.

Here's what I did:

Shop online, and learn how to make a base gravy like THIS BLOKE does and take it from there into the higher orders of Indian cooking. It's BIR, not Mumbai, but you take what you can get and BIR ain't exactly chump change for Small Town, USA.

You can order just about any of the basics for Indian cooking, and cooking appliances (karai for example), online.

Indians are fantastic at blogging and putting up YouTube videos; there's a real opportunity to learn from that as opposed to when this older Redditor was expanding horizons.

The online purchases won't be cheap, but when you have a craving for quality food, you have the budget to get it.

u/kingdom529 · 3 pointsr/IndianFood

I think this one from Preethi is about the cheapest and yet most durable one you would still want to buy. I bought a similar model 8 months ago, and I love it!
https://www.amazon.com/Preethi-Eco-Plus-Mixer-Grinder/dp/B004A2ECZI/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1485612009&sr=1-3&keywords=preethi+mixer

I have spoken to several of my Indian friends and they have said that going with anything cheaper will burn out the mortor or a bearing in the cups after a year. These things are great, and will liquify/paste-ify just about anything you need.

u/justabofh · 1 pointr/IndianFood

There isn't one Indian cuisine. There's a few dozen, at least.
For a somewhat US focused book:
http://www.amazon.com/660-Curries-Raghavan-Iyer/dp/0761137874

For a somewhat worse printing, with better recipes: http://www.amazon.com/India-Cookbook-Pushpesh-Pant/dp/0714859028

Reading the reviews will probably help.

I like the "Essential Cookbook" series from Penguin. These are definitely closer to what I would eat at home than the recipes in the more popular cookbooks.

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Kerala-Cookbook-Vijayan-Kannampilly/dp/0143029509

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Marathi-Cookbook-Kaumudi-Marathe/dp/0143068024

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Andhra-Cookbook-Hyderabadi-Bilkees/dp/0140271848

http://www.amazon.com/The-Pondicherry-Kitchen-Lourdes-Tirouvanziam-Louis/dp/9381626995

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Sindhi-Cookbook-Aroona-Reejhsinghani/dp/0143032011

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Cookbook-Maria-Teresa-Menezes/dp/0141000872

http://www.amazon.com/The-Essential-North-East-Cookbook/dp/0143030272

http://www.amazon.com/Saraswat-Mahila-Rasachandrika-Second-Paperback/dp/B00RWSJ7M0

SAMAITHU PAR (vol 1-4) is a book aimed at Tamil Iyer vegetarian cooking.

If you want authors more aimed at an occidental cook, I would suggest Madhur Jaffrey, Sanjeev Kapoor, Tarla Dalal, Vikas Khanna and Julie Sawhney

u/nomnommish · 2 pointsr/IndianFood

Get a tortilla press. You probably know this but tortillas are the Mexican equivalent of a roti. In fact, exactly the same, only they use either wheat or cornflour.

A tortilla press will give you perfectly round rotis in 5 seconds. Just put the ball of dough in it and press. If it sticks, use a plastic sheet above and below (cut up a ziploc bag).

https://www.amazon.com/Victoria-Tortilla-Pataconera-Original-Colombia/dp/B00HWEIKZO

Edit: And if you want an easier way to make the dough or atta, put all the ingredients in a Kitchenaid stand mixer and let it do all the work.

u/LifeTimeCooking · 9 pointsr/IndianFood

Aah asafoetida - sometimes called Devil's Dung because of its aroma, especially when the powder is fresh! A pinch or two is all that is ever needed, and it adds a similar flavour to onions and garlic to a dish. It is commonly used with lentils and beans.

In South India it is used quite a bit. It is very common in Sambar and Rasam dishes. It is also very common in Ayurvedic cooking as that does not use onions or garlic.

The cookbook Lord Krishna's Kitchen uses it in almost every recipe, and the recipes are all great.

This is a great article on Asafoetida - and here is one of the few recipes you will find with it in the title - Salt Lassi with Asafoetida

u/tellmetheworld · 5 pointsr/IndianFood

This book isn't much to look at, but it's amazing. Each recipe is packed with flavor and incredibly easy to follow.

https://www.amazon.com/Pakistani-North-Indian-Cooking-Beginners/dp/1518852580

u/susinpgh · 2 pointsr/IndianFood

I use this one. I really like it. It's easy to maintain, and I always get a good dish with it. I liked it so well, that I bought additional pans from the same company.

u/itssheramie · 5 pointsr/IndianFood

I'm no expert in Indian cuisine, but I have this book and I really like it. Great variety in the recipes and tons of pictures. I think it represents most of the regions cuisines.

https://www.amazon.com/India-Cookbook-Pushpesh-Pant/dp/0714859028

u/Abrashear · 1 pointr/IndianFood

660 curries is fantastic. The author is a James Beard winner as well.

u/ffaras · 3 pointsr/IndianFood

When looking for inspiration for Indian food I always reach for Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries or Monisha Bharadwaj's The Indian Cooking Course.

The latter has become a house favourite. We ended up buying 5 extra copies to gift friends and family.

u/verdantsf · 2 pointsr/IndianFood

Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India is an incredible cookbook and will give you all the tools to make top-knotch meals! It also happens to be the most beautiful cookbook in my collection. There have been times where I've just flipped through the thing just to enjoy the food photography.

u/Ls292705 · 3 pointsr/IndianFood

I have a Preethi Eco Twin courtesy of my Indian MIL, used during her last visit. Comes with a smaller cup to grind spices and a larger one for dosa/idly batters. My kitchen makes good use out of the appliance :)

u/uncle_billy · 1 pointr/IndianFood

Mixed Indian / American family here. I make an instant pot biryani that both my picky kids like to eat, and it’s an easy recipe. It’s from the Indian Instant Pot Cookbook: Traditional Indian Dishes Made Easy and Fast https://www.amazon.com/dp/1939754542/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_0sjYBbP061MRF

u/dextral · 2 pointsr/IndianFood

Glad I can help! Like I said, if you decide on a specific recipe and want some tips, I can help more - I just don't know your or his food preferences, or if he'll eat garlic - which isn't used in some forms of Brahmin vegetarian cooking - etc. Otherwise I could drop a few more specifics.

From a historical perspective, it's interesting how Indian cooking benefited from/was influenced by the Columbian exchange. Pre-contact dishes were apparently primarily flavored with pepper and tamarind - the tomatoes and chilis came with the exchange.

A few good kitchen staples which will let you cook a large number of dishes from this part of the subcontinent are whole mustard seeds, urad dal (split black lentils - which are actually white), curry leaves, tamarind, garam masala, turmeric powder, coriander powder, chili powder, garlic and ginger (whole or in pastes). Some recipes will also call for cumin powder, cashews, dried red chilis, or ground coconut. 660 Curries is written by a Tamil Brahmin which might be a decent place to start - I personally don't put coconut in all my curries, but that's the style of some communities. Also, he cooks his meat, puts it aside, and then cooks the spices, mixing in the meat at the end - I'd personally cook the spices, and then cook the meat in the spices so it absorbs the flavors.

u/dcmeatloaf · 2 pointsr/IndianFood

Just got this one: Rasika: Flavors of India and it's pretty great, though maybe not "authentic." Rasika (and Rasika West End) are world-class restaurants here in DC. Made for an epic Thanksgiving...and one totally destroyed kitchen. :)

u/aaarrrggh · 5 pointsr/IndianFood

So a few people have recommended this book to you: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-That-Takeway-Curry-Taste-ebook/dp/B008N2B0OC

Well, you're in luck, because I've found a couple of videos on Youtube made by the author of that book that explain how to make Tikka Masala.

Here's the video showing how to make the sauce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLfhMF2WaZw

And here is the video showing how to cook the dish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1wjyOdNdSw

u/hairy-chinese-kid · 2 pointsr/IndianFood

Some of my favourites:

u/fondonorte · 3 pointsr/IndianFood

Hello! Do you mind me asking, is it [this] (https://www.amazon.com/Taste-India-Butter-Chicken-Sauce/dp/B00E1FSKOS) or this ?? If neither, can you direct me to the amazon link? Thanks in advance!

u/chodorous · 9 pointsr/IndianFood

I recommend this book

Indian Instant Pot® Cookbook: Traditional Indian Dishes Made Easy and Fast https://www.amazon.com/dp/1939754542/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ZaIYCbCBB8CRA

u/Zerikin · 1 pointr/IndianFood

I'm a big fan of 660 Curries. Not sure how closely that matches your parameters but its good IMO.

u/twlscil · 7 pointsr/IndianFood

Best butter chicken recipe I have, that gets me closest to restaurant is the Taste of India Butter Chicken Paste... I usually add a can of coconut cream and a 1/3 cup of water to it.

u/Brunhilde02 · 1 pointr/IndianFood

I know you asked for a recipe, but I swear this stuff is really good. And it's less than $3 USD per package w/ about 3-4 servings each.

http://www.amazon.com/Kitchens-India-Butter-Chicken-3-5-Ounce/dp/B000V17MLS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422721518&sr=8-1&keywords=butter+chicken

u/cafecoffee · 1 pointr/IndianFood

the chefs from Rasika wrote a cookbook! It's pretty!

​

​

u/movintoROC · 3 pointsr/IndianFood

In short...NO.
You are better off getting one of those sumeet/preeti mixers from amazon. I got one of those fancy venturist ones...doesn't do half the stuff my sisters ninja and indian mixers do. Even when we tried the dosa batters...nope...chutney....nope... my vitamix is gathering dust and I ended up getting one of these

u/cwzwarich · 2 pointsr/IndianFood

This is what a lot of the South Indians I know in North America recommended: https://www.amazon.com/Preethi-Eco-Plus-Mixer-Grinder/dp/B004A2ECZI/. It works well for dosa batter, chutneys, ginger-garlic paste, etc. I don't use it for dry spices because I was already using this: https://www.amazon.com/KRUPS-Electric-Grinder-Stainless-3-Ounce/dp/B00004SPEU/.

u/knubb3 · 1 pointr/IndianFood

I actually got a Preeti mixie blender from Amazon. The ones that you get in India. They're retrofitted with motors that work with US standards and plug sockets. Tbh, this is the only thing that worked for me when I wanted to grind hard spices. :)

Unfortunately, I paid about 90$ for it shipped. On Amazon.

Its 115$ right now and on prime. Amazon Link

u/moribundmanx · 3 pointsr/IndianFood

660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer is comprehensive. You can also try Indian Cooking Unfolded by him but it has only 100 recipes.

u/ewohwerd · 3 pointsr/IndianFood

This is an oven-adapted and expanded from the recipe in Pushpesh Pant's India: The Cookbook. It's a common deep-menu item in westernized restaurants, very tasty. Sweet and aromatic. As I mention in the post, I don't recommend hand-mashing the eggplant; it's a pain.

u/eastshores · 3 pointsr/IndianFood

I'd suggest the book 660 curries - Raghavan Iyer as it covers all of the "spice blends" as well as having many many dishes that do not include mustard seeds in the blends. For those that do simply omitting them should suffice. He also has a section in the back where it explains the purpose of various spices, bitter, sweet, umami, etc. so you might be able to locate substitutes for mustard seeds as they are there to impart bitter.