I love Indian (from India) restaurants...How authentic is the food in most of these places?

Question

I'm talking about curry, korma, nan, tandori chicken, and other stuff like that. Is that "everyday" food, or food for special occasions?

Answer 1

this is North Indian food but not everyday food. Everyday food is much simpler. In North India, it's roti/vegetable/daal & yogurt.
Nobody makes naans or tandoori chicken at home unless you have a tandoor oven (and most people dont).

Depends where you live, in the Bay area we have some great restaurants that are very authentic. But here's a good tip, if
you see alot of Indians eating in the restaurant --- then its good
authentic food. If the place is packed with non-Indians, it's
probably "Americanized" (not spicy & not authentic).

Answer 2

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Answer 3

India has a vast variety of cuisines depending on regions. The ones which you stated above is a general classification of the types of indian food. For example, there are thousands of varieties of kormas existing depending on the regional flavours and way of cooking.

Basically, the ones which you usually get to have from the Indian restuarants are laden with fat for more flavour and aroma. Yes, during special days and festivals, people do cook their recipes in a rich way laden with butter, more spices and ghee. But in everyday life, the indian cuisine is much simpler.

In most of the households, the daily food will be boiled rice or wheat roti with some simple curry like dal curry, or youghurt, teamed with a pickle or pappad (these both will be usually made before and tinned).

Answer 4

What u described is North Indian cuisine. And in India it isn't everyday food.
Every day food consists of roti (chappatis{unleavened flattened bread and baked on a pan]) rice (plain or pulau) dhal (lentils) and a sabzi(vegetable dish) and a meat dish if your non vegetarian or fish. It will usually be curried.Usually this is a dinner menu though it is also served at lunchtime too. Samosas, pakodas,bhajias, dhoklas and other snacks are widely eaten during the course of the day with a lot of tea which are popular in the south as well.
South Indian food consists approximately 4 meals two of them breakfast and tea are called tiffins in which either idlis (steamed rice cakes) dosas (savoury pancakes) vadas (lentil spiced donuts) ponggal (a savoury mushy rice dish is served.
Lunch consists of rice with 3-4 vegetable dishes each cooked in a differnt style (fried, curried boiled or griled) with a curried or fried fish, or meat is served accompanied by rasam ( a watery spiced soup which is liberally poured on the rice) or sambar ( a gravy made of lentils and different vegetables.)
another difference between the north and south is that the preferred beverage in NI is tea and in SI it is coffee.

Answer 5

India is a vast country with 30plus states and even Indians them self are not fully knowledgeable about all Indian cuisine. Things that you see in restaurants are every day food for some region while it is a specialty for other regions. each region and state has its distinctive food based on the local ingredients and cooking styles.eg. South India does not use tandoors at all while North India rarely uses coconut in their cooking. People living in coastal area will eat more of fish while people in high land eat more meat and chicken. While coastal people in west use coconut in their fish, people living in eastern coast use yogurt with their fish to make gravy. Some regions will make heavy use of milk in their cooking while other may not use milk at all. Best way is to enjoy whatever you like.

Answer 6

IMHO, if you see a lot of Indian ppl (from India) eating at the Indian restaurant, there is a good chance that the food is authentic.

Answer 7

Nopes definately not everyday food...Restaurant food is very rich in fats...whereas home made food more oft than not is not so rich in cream and fats.

Answer 8

If you eat it everyday it won't be special.