Indian food is varied, both in it's savory dishes and it's sweets, but is more famous for it's spicy dishes. Some friends of mine told me that they would often see that the food being served was milder then that served to other Indian clients. Fearing that their western clients couldn't handle the spice they would cut back on the chili.The solution they found was ask for a Indian friend to order the food so that they would get the full spice. Has anyone experienced this?
I can't say I've experienced it - I've only been warned at restaurants that dishes would be spicy, but this wasn't in India. Once I said that I didn't mind that it was meant to be spicy, they seemed to just dish it up like normal! I like spice - I think I would be disappointed if I got a weaker version of a dish!
I've experienced it before when I was travelling in Malaysia, apparently they have this thing called sambal which is basically squished chili? I don't know. But I was told that it was pure chilli, served as a side to the dish I ordered called nasi lemark, which is rice with a fried chicken. fried egg, nuts and some other stuff that I can't really remember. But yes, it was VERY spicy. I don't think I've ever eaten anything as spicy as that and I'm not really planning to. But yes, point is that Asian cuisine can be pretty extreme with the spices and for those who don't live in Asia and grow up eating Asian food (or at least not used to), they burn. I wanna chime in on Indian dishes as well as I've eaten at some Indian restaurants here, but I think they've been adjusted to fit our taste, so I don't think it'd be an accurate representation of authentic Indian cuisine/dishes.
Having an Indian-born wife and family has helped me avoid this happening to me, but I have found that the spiciest Indian dishes are comparable in heat to the spiciest dishes available in Indian restaurants in the UK. There are a large number of ex-pat Indians in England, particularly in the area I live in and this has led to us having a wonderful selection of high-quality restaurants with the taste of India here. Having said that, the experience of eating good Indian food in the UK can never compare to the magic of India, but its a nice reminder of it.
The worst was when I ate something so hot that I broke out in sweat all over my face and my chest. It was the spiciest curry I have ever had in my life, but it was so good that I could not stop eating it! I must say that you should tell the cook how hot you want it because they will go full hot!
I think they are able to tell for the most part when someone is a tourist, and I'm sure that they've gotten their fair share of complaints from tourists about the food being too spicy to consume (because some people aren't used to it and just don't expect that amount of spice). It's probably easier to just start out with a less spicy dish being given to the tourists because you can always add more heat, but it's hard to take it away.
Oh, I love those dishes! I learned how to make them when I was on vacation in Penang - I love doing cooking classes! It definitely was spicy though - but delicious! That was one of the places where I was warned about the spice level too - in sambal and nasi lemak, as well as Indian style curries I had there!
I am an Indian and I've grown up eating this food but the spice content can get to even the natives sometimes. At home, we usually have a toned town variety of the cuisine because honestly, consuming hot food regularly isn't the best thing for one's health. But then again, India being a multi-ethnic country, there isn't one stand alone cuisine that can proclaim itself to be the only Indian cuisine. South and North-east Indian food is not spicy at all, in terms of heat. The most prominent tastes in South Indian dishes is sourness and sweetness, while the North East follows the palette of the Tibetan cuisine, which means that it is actually rather mellow and gentle on your tongue. It's typically the North that loves to put all the chili in the kitchen into their food! I've only moved to the North last year, and I still have problems adjusting my digestive system to the spicy food here.
The area in the UK where I live also had some fine Indian restaurants also, but when it comes to spicy food, I often find that authentic Indian cuisine isn't that hot. A lot of places in the UK will add extra spices to their dishes just because it's what us Brits like, rather than make it the way it's meant to be.
I agree, one of the main differences would be having a extremely spicy dish on a hot day. One of the main reasons there are so many spicy dishes in Asian cuisine is the cooling effect you get after you eat them, your body starts to sweat and your body will cool down.
Indian food is not just spicy, but deliciously spicy. I thought curry was the main flavorful ingredient used in Indian dishes but that only showed how ignorant I was before experiencing real Indian cooking. The meats and vegetables look beautiful and you can really taste hot chili peppers, tumeric and ginger in many common dishes. Beautiful, just like the people. @SirJoe I didn't know about the cooling effect before, so thanks for that tidbit.
I don't find Indian food to be very spicy at all. Then again, I eat everything spicy, so maybe I'm just used to it. Is it possible that the Indian food that I've eaten elsewhere is milder compared to what you actually find in India?
I'm Canadian and I for some reason didn't mind the Indian spicy food at all. It's a unique taste and flavor. It's a completely different experience eating in India than it is back home in Canada. I quite enjoyed it so I can't really say I have had that happen. It varies between people and what they like, though. Cheers and happy holidays.
I would definitely like not to be treated as a foreigner so as not being able to stand the chilly spices. I love eating chilly food. However, perhaps they already have had the problem with foreigners not being able to stand chilly food, therefore they decided to just offer them milder versions. That is fine, however, it is good to know they may do this in Indian restaurants, so that one can say beforehand, before ordering a meal, to just be served something they would serve to a local.
