Indian Foods | Restaurants | Grocery Store Guide

7500 Facebook Fans Recipe Book Giveaway

indianfoodsguide@gmail.com (Administrator) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

We are 300 fans from getting to 7500 Fans mark. We need your help to get us to that milestone quickly. Once we hit the 7500 fans mark, we will give 1 lucky winner a copy of Aditya Bal's "Chakle India". Aditya Bal is a model turned chef from India. Cooking was always his passion and as part of the NDTV Good Times show he was able to travel around India and try some local recipes. The result was Amritsari Paneer Bhurji, Kosha Mangsho, Goan Prawn and Mango Ambotik, Malabari Prawn curry and Moru Sambhar, amongst many other mouthwatering creations! A foodie’s delight, the recipes in this book, spanning meat, chicken, fish & seafood, and vegetarian dishes as well as an array of snacks and sweets are not only simple to try but also promise a complete and delctable
feast celebrating what is wonderfully Indian.

In order to win this cookbook, you have to do the following

You must be a Facebook Fan of our website. You can sign up as a fan by visiting the Indian Foods Guide.com Facebook Fan page and joining as a fan.
You must click the "Like" button on any post related to this contest. You will get an entry for each time you click the "Like" button.
We would greatly appreciate it if you would help spread the message (by sharing this link with your friends) and get others to sign up as fans too. We will announce more giveaways, such as cookbooks, dinners etc as we hit new milestones.
The more you share and encourage your friends to join the quicker we will reach the 7500 fan milestone.

Thank you for being a fan and supporting our effort to help build a better site dedicated to Indian food.

Rules of the Contest:

1. The contest is open to everyone no matter where you live.

2. The contest will be open till the we hit the 7500 mark.

3. We will announce the winners after we hit the mark. If the winner does not want the prize, we will pick another winner. The winner is responsible for any customs duty applicable in their country. We will send the prize by regular post.

With almost 300 entries, the Winner of our contest is Maddie Chera. We will contact the winner via FB message. If we don't hear from the winner in 2-3 days, we will announce another winner. Thank you for participating.

Funny Indian Restaurant Menu Typos

indianfoodsguide@gmail.com (Administrator) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Would you eat at a restaurant offering "1 Bowel of Sambar" or an "Anguish Burger"? The British left us the English language and its been murdered by many but probably the restaurant industry has really killed it over and over again. I am not sure why this happens but its very common to find typos in the menus of Indian restaurants all over the world and some of its makes for very funny reading. In this article we present some funny ones that we have come across like

The Bombay Anguish Burger
A Bowel of Sambar
Lamb, Chicken and Seafood Entries and possibly the most famous of them all
Sandwhich or Sandwitch

Whats the funniest you have come across? Please share it with us or leave it in the comments section.

"Be Sin Ladu" picture courtesy SaffronTrail. Please visit her website saffrontrail.com or Like her on Facebook.

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World Diabetes Day 2012

indianfoodsguide@gmail.com (Administrator) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

If you think that Diabetes only affects the obese and old, you are sadly mistaken. I was 36 years old, 63-65 kgs in weight when I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I am from the Indian sub-continent and diabetes runs in my family and most of the males have got it at an early age. Going by that I knew that diabetes would be in my life as well.

According to the International Diabetes Federation, there are over 366 million people with diabetes around the world and over 50 million reside in India. Based on the circle of family, friends and colleagues, it appears to me that Indians have a higher risk of being diabetic, often at younger ages. 14th November is World Diabetes Day and I wanted to spread the word about the disease and help raise awareness.

Growing up, I knew my father had diabetes and that he took medicine but he never really educated me on what the disease was, how I could help him and hopefully use that knowledge to delay the onset of my diabetes. It was a different time and perhaps he did not realize the importance of educating me. He eventually passed away from a heart attack, probably a result of his diabetes. I never really learned much from all that and continued to make mistakes of drinking soda, having sweets and having too much food especially rice. I oddly never gained much weight despite these bad habits. Eventually at age 35, I started showing signs of diabetes and was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at age 36. It changed everything and now I had to watch everything I ate and can no longer eat like I did before and that will be the case for the rest of my life and will get worse as I get older.

Over the last few years, I see many around me, who are at the risk of diabetes but just don't care (like I was a few years ago) and I feel the least I can do is educate them. I have a 6-year old son who knows about diabetes and what he should avoid. He stays away from soda completely, he limits how much sweet stuff he has every day. If he is offered a 2nd piece of cake at a birthday, he asks us if he can have it. The best thing he does is remind me to stay away from things that are bad for me. I know I must do that so I can be in his life for as long as I can and that he can delay the onset of diabetes in his life (or hopefully never get it or perhaps a cure will be found in the next 30-40 years).

Diwali Snack - Masala Puri

indianfoodsguide@gmail.com (Administrator) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Its Diwali once again and our kitchen gets busier than usual with the preparation of snacks and sweets. We try and make at least 5 items every Diwali and it's a lot of fun. It helps bring in the energy and memories of being in India. This year, the first snack that we made was the Masala Puri. Masala Puri is a crispy and mildly spicy puri that is created by deep frying some dough.

Masala puri can be made in many different ways but the basic recipe is the same. Masala puri is made using wheat flour, turmeric and ajwain or cumin seeds. The dough is rolled into small balls, flattened using a rolling pin and deep fried in oil. Take a look at the pictures below to get an idea for the steps.

You can find the recipe for Masala Puri in our recipes section. Masala Puri is really easy to make and you should consider it on your Diwali snack list. You can get a pretty big batch done rather quickly. We were able to get a box of 50 puris completed in less than an hour. If you store them in a nice air tight container, they will stay nice and crisp for a few days. We had a lot of fun making them today and now the air is filled with smell of fresh crisp puris. Next on our list, some Besan Ladoos.

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British Curry Awards 2012

indianfoodsguide@gmail.com (Administrator) — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

The awards, now in their eighth year, have become the country’s main showcase for the £3.5bn a year curry industry. The winners of the British Curry Awards 2012 will be announced at the Battersea Evolution, London, on Monday 26th November at a black tie gala dinner. Be prepared to be amazed.

This year again the event will be packed with celebrities, MPs and high profiles guests amongst others and will be more spectacular and celebrating the industry’s involvement with the Olympics. The Awards dinner itself is the biggest event of the year in the hospitality industry calendar.

On a more positive note, the nomination process for the 2012 British Curry Awards is now open and anyone can put forward a restaurant for consideration. With around 10,000 restaurants, 80,000 employees and a turnover of £3.5 billion, the curry restaurant industry is not only an important part of the UK economy but also of its social fabric.

This year, the UK audience will be swelled by the over 2.5 million curry lovers with the help of our partners and associates. It will be first time ever record breaking number of nominations expected to be received. The British Curry Awards is the pioneer in this industry and even our Prime Minister David Cameron dubbed the ‘Curry Oscars’ and ‘uplifting & “inspiring evening the British Curry Awards really is’ in his video message and when he attended the awards dinner in 2009 remained the gold standard, and the biggest night of the year for the near 100,000 people involved in the industry.

Alongside the usual categories, there will be one new one this year - Best Delivery Restaurant/Takeaway. This will be open to restaurants that are takeaways only and also those restaurants that offer a home delivery service. This category will be judged on a nation-wide basis. There will also be the usual high level guests and presenters and a quality programme of entertainment.

WTF What Texas Fried - at the 2012 State Fair

indianfoodsguide@gmail.com (Administrator) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

The Texas State Fair is an annual event held in Dallas during the Fall, usually held some time in September and October. The Texas State Fair is the largest state fair in the US with over 2 million attendees in2010. The fair has a number of things that people of all ages can do such as see new auto products, learn about wine, learn about farming, enjoy of few rides and of course sample some great food, not just anyfood but "Fried Food". One of the biggest things at the fair over the last few years has been the various types of fried foods. We had only heard about the various fried foods but were quite amazed to see thatthey fry anything.

The fried food is available all over the place but if you want to sample something specific, you may have to figure out where exactly that is being sold. We took pictures of the food stands and came up with all thefried products we could find. Turns out, you can have a complete fried meal - from drinks to desserts. We found so many fried things but no Fried Rice. :-)

Warning - your cholesterol and blood sugar levels may go up just by reading the list below.

Drinks

Fried Beer
Fried Lemonade
Deep Fried Frozen Margarita

Appetizers

Fried Pork Wings - See pigs can fly
Nachos Fried Chicken
Deep Fried Chicken Waffle
Fried Butter
Chicken Fried Cactus Bites
Picnic on a Stick

Main Course

Fried Jambalaya - Winner of Best Taste 2012
Deep Fried Mac and Cheese Sliders
Fried BBQ Ribs
Fried Cheese Burger Balls
Fried Mexican Firecrackers
Fried Burger

Desserts

Fried Bacon Cinnamon Roll - Winner Most Creative 2012
Deep-Fried Divine Chocolate Tres Leches Cake
Funnel Cake Fries
Fried PB & J - Fried Bread Pudding
Fried S'mores
Red Velvet Fried Cup Cake
Fried Pecan Pie
Fried Moonpie
Fried Autumn Pumpkin Pie
Fried Cheesecake
Texas Fried Frito Pie

Last but not the Least

Fried Bubblegum - almost tempted to buy this just to see what this could be.

What did we sample you ask? Well, we stayed away from the fried food and found a nice truck called the Good Karma Kitchen that served some good vegan and organic food (who let these guys in?). It was very tasty.

Unfortunately on the final weekend, the biggest fried thing at the state fair was Big Tex. Big Tex was a 52 ft statue and marketing icon of the state fair. Unfortunately, he caught fire and burned down.

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Tips and Lessons Learnt Growing Okra in the Backyard

indianfoodsguide@gmail.com (Administrator) — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Okra (or Bhindi as its called in India) is a very popular vegetable in India. This year decided to grow Okra again because we had a good yield last year. I asked a few friends and they recommended some herbs like basil & mint and also Okra. They said Okra is easy to grow and requires little maintenance overhead. Since we love Okra I decided to give it a shot and for the most part I was successful in growing it and also cooked a couple of dishes but not before we learnt a few lessons which I thought would make for some good reading.

1. Spacing of the Okra Plants - The instructions said to plant the seeds about 12-24 inches apart (but who reads instructions) and I must have planted them 6-8 inches apart. Not a big deal, or so it looked like for the first few weeks but once they grew big, I realized my mistake. You can see from the pictures the all of plants are bunched close together and its quite messy. Plant your seeds about 18 inches apart or better yet, read the instructions.

2. Harvest / Pick Everyday - After about 7-8 weeks, you will start seeing the first signs of the Okra pods (which was super exciting) but I had no idea when to pick them and so we let them grow and grow (and grow they did). Some got to about 6-7 inches and I decided to read instructions (you are seeing a pattern here) and realized that its probably best to pick them when they are between 2-3 inches long. You will be surprised how fast they grow so you have to look at your plants everyday or 2 days at the very max. I have probably lost half my harvest because I was too late.
You need to go look at your Okra plant everyday.

3. Okra plants are very itchy - I wish this was in the instructions (which I would have read after 2 lessons learnt). Yes, Okra plants are very very itchy. Sometimes just touching one leaf can give you a pretty strong itch. Given how close our plants were, I had to move some leaves and dig in to pick the Okra and I got a strong itch which lasted a few hours (a little Cortizone cream and a wash helped). Given that its summer time, most of us would not wear long sleeves, but please wear long sleeved shirts or gloves and make sure your face does not touch it. This is probably the most important tip. Okra plants are very itchy, so make sure you are well covered.

4. Okra plants are very generous - Once the plants grow and the pods start to form, you will be amazed how much Okra you will get. With about 4 plants, we could harvest enough in a week to make something with it.

Lesser known facts about Okra :
- Gumbo is Swahili for okra.
- It also also called Lady's finger in some countries.
- Okra seeds may be roasted and ground to form a caffeinate-free substitute for coffee.

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Overall, its been fun growing Okra this summer. I never had a Green thumb but I certainly do have an itchy thumb now.

Disclaimer : I am not a farmer or claim to be any expert on growing Okra or any other vegetables for that matter.

6000 Facebook Likes Car Sticker Giveaway

indianfoodsguide@gmail.com (Administrator) — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Earlier this year, we gave away a free car sticker to many of our Facebook/Twitter fans. We are now giving 25 away to our Facebook fans for Liking and Sharing our post. An image of the sticker is shown at the bottom of the article. The sticker is 12 X 3 and sticks on the inside of a car window. The sticker has a black background and golden letters.

In order to win this sticker, you have to do the following

You must be a Facebook Fan of our website. You can sign up as a fan by visiting the Indian Foods Guide.com Facebook Fan page and joining as a fan.
Click on the "Like" Button when we post a message about this giveaway. We will post about 1 message a week.
You will get 1 entry for every time you click Like on our posts.
We would greatly appreciate it if you would help spread the message (by sharing this link with your friends) and get others to sign up as fans too. We will announce more giveaways, such as cookbooks, dinners etc as we hit new milestones.

Thank you for being a fan and supporting our effort to help build a better site dedicated to Indian food. Please also follow us on Twitter

Rules of the Contest:

1. The contest is open to everyone no matter where you live.

2. The contest will be open till the 15th of September, 2012.

3. We will announce the winners after the 15th of September, 2012. If the winner does not want the prize, we will pick another winner. The winners are responsible for any customs duty applicable in their country. We will send the prize by regular post. Please do not ask us to courier the prizes.

Winners

Abhay Sharma
Alice Lum
Amy Ruth Warran
Colin McFayden
Genflour Suyom Dator
Heena Hussain
Jack Slockbower
Jennifer Koszewski-Nwaokoro
Jessica Calo Pugate
Konathan Liou
Katelyn T Miller
Liz Delphais
Maddie Chera
Mayank Rathod
Michael Sanjorge
Nikhil Porwal
Nishant Dua
Pia Kainiapanaiken
Priyanka Tanwar
Priyaranjan Nayak
Rekha Thakoor-Schultz
Scott Mckinney
Shalini Mukherjee
Tammy Moody
Vishy Kiny

Please send us your mailing address via Facebook message or use the contact us form and mention your Facebook profile name so we can match it.

Twitter Follower Car Sticker Giveaway

indianfoodsguide@gmail.com (Administrator) — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Earlier this year, we gave away a free car sticker to many of our Facebook fans. We are now giving upto 50 away to our Twitter followers and anyone who follows us. An image of the sticker is shown at the bottom of the article. The sticker is 12 X 3 and sticks on the inside of a car window. The sticker has a black background and golden letters.

In order to get this sticker, you have to do the following

You need to follow us on Twitter and retweet the message about this giveaway to your followers.
If you are already an existing follower, retweeting our message to your followers or tweeting a message "#FF @indianfoodguide" will get you an entry.
We will contact you via Twitter's Direct Message to get your address and the number of stickers you want (not more than 2). We will mail them out shortly.
Please request the sticker only if you are really going to stick it on you car.
We would greatly appreciate it if you would help spread the message (by sharing this link with your friends) and get others to follow us too. We will announce more giveaways, such as cookbooks, dinners etc as we hit new milestones so help us get to those milestones.

Thank you for being a fan and supporting our effort to help build a better site dedicated to Indian food.

An alternate approach to the Indian Buffet

indianfoodsguide@gmail.com (Administrator) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

When you think of Indian food, the first thing that comes to most people's mind is the buffet. People love the Indian buffet because they get to eat till to their heart's content. As a diabetic, buffets are something I try and avoid but its often hard to avoid them, because your friends and family members like to enjoy a good buffet. Also, many restaurants sometimes do not offer you food from their regular menu when they serve buffets. Its a dilemma that I often face. In general, buffets are a problem for the following situations and reasons

Diabetics - If you are a diabetic like me, or have family members who have diabetes, you know that diabetics have to control their portions. The buffet is not the right place for that. Its like taking an recovering alcoholic to a pub for a celebration. Most buffets are priced with the expectations that their patrons will probably eat at least 2-3 rounds. If you are a disciplined diabetic, you will probably eat much less than what you paid for.

Individuals on a diet - While you may not be diabetic, you may be pre-diabetic or on a weight loss program and again buffets are not the place to be.

Wastage of Food - Buffets encourage people to waste food. If you don't like it, ditch it (for fans of the movie Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron - "Thoda Khao, Thoda Phenko"). I have seen many plates go to the trash can with the food having been barely eaten. For a country with a high poverty level, its a criminal waste to throw away such food.

Can something be done to perhaps change the way the buffet system works in India? Perhaps...This is a thought from how food is served in my office cafeteria. A lot of the food such as salads and pastas are served by weight. You pick what you want on your plate, they weigh it and you pay by the ounce. The maximum price you pay per plate is capped, so if you take more, you don't have to pay extra for it. It works great for someone like me as I need to control my portions. Perhaps with a little help from technology, we could be take this concept to the buffets. Patrons will be provided bar codes when we opt for the buffet. Every time they go for a helping, their plates are weighed and go against the bar code. The patron know where they stand every time they refill. The restaurant can keep a couple of pricing options at 60%, 75% and 100% of the buffet value so people can decide what band they want to eat at. For those who want to go flat out, they can and for those who want to be more careful also have an option.

It may sound crazy and we wanted to see what our readers think of this. Thoughts welcome. Please leave your comments below.