What to order at Indian food restaurants

Indian food is generally associated with being hot and spicy. Indian food includes a wide variety of cuisines, each state has its unique specialty food and traditions and customs associated with it. The overall food culture is influenced by various cultures. Typically, the food items in India are cooked using a variety of ingredients such as herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables. There are plenty of veg restaurants both in India and foreign countries that serve authentic Indian food.

If you do not have any prior experience tasting Indian cuisine, it important that you are careful about the kind of food you order. Some of the valuable tips you must consider while ordering Indian food:

Majority of the Indian food are made of a variety of spices and vegetables marinated in various aromatic herbs. The Indian food is largely influenced by the cultures of Persia, England, Portugal and China. If you are a vegetarian you would have plenty of choices.

Appetizers:

Majority of the Indian appetizers are deep fried in oil and served with delicious chutney that is sweet, sour and spicy. The soups too are a bit spicy and served with salads made of raw vegetables. The Indian food restaurants keep the age old tradition of Indian cuisine and serve the appetizers with accompaniments that aptly balance the spicy flavor. If you are not aware of what to order from the appetizers menu it is best advised to stick to the popular options such as Indian cutlets or patties that are made by stuffing a mixture of vegetables and spices inside dough and is then deep fried. Certain type patties on the other hand are deep fried as well but they don’t have stuffing inside it.

Beverages:

Indian beverages are usually sweet and they go well with the spicy food. Most veg restaurants would serve all the popular Indian beverages.  The drink made of yogurt and sugar is the staple beverage of the Punjabis. The drink is usually served in tall glasses.

Main course:

The options for main course dishes are aplenty. The popular choice of dishes for main course is Indian flat bread; the Indian breads are usually round and unleavened. This is followed by rice. Rice can be fried or steamed. Both rice and breads are served with spicy curries that are cooked with vegetables and a variety of spices and masala. Most Indian food restaurants serve curries that are of different spice levels. If you do not have any experience of eating spicy Indian food, it is best advised to order a simple or less spicy food. The spicy food can be really hot and you may not be able to handle it, it would only lead to wastage of food and money. You can order spicy food once you get used to eating the spicy stuff.

Deserts:

Just like main course and appetizers you would have plenty of desert options to choose from. Most Indian deserts are made of milk, ghee and sugar. After having the spicy food, the deserts would greatly calm your taste buds. One of the most popular deserts you can try at Indian food restaurants is pudding made of cardamom, milk, rice and raisins.