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Indian Food for the French?

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Indian Food for the French?

Postby karadekoolaid » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:32 pm

I've just received a request to prepare an Indian meal for 30 couples, members of the Caracas Alliance Francaise.
Immediately I see a dilemma here; am I right in assuming that most French people don't eat anything remotely "spicy" (ie hot)?
Fine, said he - here comes 120 different variations on cucumber raita....

Thoughts or experiences, anyone?

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby Joanbunting » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:57 pm

Hi KK

Curry powder is used in France (very badly in my view) and they do understand such things as Vietnamese food and the spicing, but a full blown curry ? It depends.

If they are well travelled then I find that they are much more open to new tastes and gastronomic experiences. Having said that hot does not do it for them. Even my beloved late friends (late not due to what they ate chez nous you understand) could never have coped with a vindaloo for example.

On the other hand I would never never offer anything remotely chilli hot to our more conservative neighbours. Almost without exceotion they love the bits that go with a curry - poppadoms, naans, raitas and most of all chutney. Onion
bhajis or pakoras are much liked - even by the neighbours, as long as i don't tell them they are Indian.

The Alliance Francaise members are not necessarily French - they just want to speak the language.

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Jan 11, 2013 3:27 pm

I was in Myanmar last week

It is full of middle aged French tourist (almost as many as Brits I think) - so many of them have been to Vietnam & the rest of SE Asia that Burma is the obvious next destination. A lot of French tourists go to and love Thailand too

Anyway, they all seemed to thoroughly enjoy the Burmese food, which runs to mild curry, and the occasional blastingly hot relish on the side

Milder, richer flavoured curries, such as korma & dopiaza should go down well in my experience, with all the "bits"

Would they have asked you if they hadn't wanted curry?

French OH and his friends liked an Indian meal.

ETA and all my Friench friends like an Algerian meal, again mildly spicy with hot condiments available (harissa can be heaad bangingly hot). In my experience Paris Algerian food is hotter than food served in Morocco and Tunisia

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby Sakkarin » Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:08 pm

If you have to go for milder than usual, one of my favourite curries anyway is Keema Mutter, which is really quite mild, but very very moreish. I always used to use a recipe I cut out of TV Times in about 1976, but have tried a couple of other recipes since, and have to admit that Mamta's recipe is better than my TV Times one, although the version I make is halfway in between the two, with a drained can of chick peas thrown in too and a couple of extra chillies.

Image

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EDIT: The Achari Chicken Tikka recipe in this pdf that I've raved about elsewhere on here is gorgeous, but quite mild too. Might give you some other ideas too, and an interesting curry booklet anyway...
http://www.nationaleatingoutweek.com/peters%20old%20site/recipesuc.pdf

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby yariso » Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:31 pm

A decent curry can be seen as a slow cooked spiced stew, a la beef bourguignon minus the wine! A nice beef rendang - http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/beefrendang_78767 would be good. Or a slow cooked lamb shank in madras sauce might be an idea - http://www.mayakaimal.com/recipes/lamb-shanks-madras.

If you want full blown British takeaway style, try cr0.co.uk for some great recipes. You need to make a base sauce first, i would try Cory Anders base - http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/in ... 772.0.html and from this you can make a multitude of very authentic takeaway curries.

Mmmm curry!

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby karadekoolaid » Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:48 am

Thank you everyone! Extremely helpful,seriously; I'm putting together a menu right now. I've left a message for my contact and specifically asked how many French nationals will be there; if the vast majority are Venezuelans, then I know I'll be all right.
One of the specific points in the original request was that they were looking or a cuisine none ( or at least, very few) had tried before. My contact was one o the (Indian) guests at the Diwali feast I cooked up a year or so ago. There will be no beef or pork - this is really out of respect to any Hindu or Muslim guest. Vegetables? Yep - I've got hundreds of options. Bits and bobs? Wonderful;I'm already thinking Vadas, mutthries,little shots of Rasam or Indian-spiced soups, pakoras maybe; a bhaji (sweet potato and courgette work wonderfully together) and probably some chappatis, which are easiest to make and will hold up to re-heating.
My gulab jamun are now getting close to the real thing,so there's another.
Ideas flooding through my mind right now!!

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby AZCook » Sat Jan 12, 2013 2:26 am

Hi Clive, I always think cooking dinners like this are great fun. I've found that people who aren't familar with Indian cooking are mainly put off by the thought of overly hot dishes, and even I, a lifelong eater of Indian food and curries of all heats, don't always like fire eater specials - but am sure you already thought about that!

Sounds like you pretty much have things sorted - just thought I'd add a few mild dishes that I like and that would probably be enjoyable for curry novices and afficianados alike.

Two of my fave chicken dishes are Goan Galinha com Coentro (Goan Chicken Cilantro Curry) and Tandoori Chicken and are always a huge hit and simple/quick to prepare in advance (both are marinades) and on the day (blast in a hot oven). If shrimp/prawns are readily avaibable and within your budget (they might be very cheap in Venezuela for all I know!) a Prawn Balchao is really worth making and also simple/quick to put together.

An aromatic non meat Biryani and/or rice pilaf made with basmati rice are wonderful and most people eating it for the first time can't believe that rice can have such an amazing aroma. Pappadoms if you can get them are fun and everyone loves them.

Serve with ice cold beer :D

Stokey! Myanmar! Wow!

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby karadekoolaid » Sat Jan 12, 2013 1:32 pm

Thanks,Odette - two good suggestions there. I'd forgotten about the basmati pilaf - you're right; both the delicious aroma and the appearance will always win over an audience!
Pappadums? Oh how I wish....they're not available here and with all the bureaucratic nonsense involved in importing anything at all, would probably not arrive till next year!

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby karadekoolaid » Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:39 am

Just to follow up with the end of the saga.
I offered the organisers three alternative menus; one, pretty much classic Indian food; the second, totally vegetarian and the third, somewhat more adventurous.
I'll be making samosas, Makhani chicken, broccoli with whole spices, basmati pullao rice, tarka dal and Gulab Jamun.
Definitely well within my comfort zone.Whoopee - no complications!

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby Joanbunting » Tue Jan 22, 2013 3:06 pm

Can I come too please?

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Jan 22, 2013 3:14 pm

"What's the blandest thing on the menu?"

Hadn't seen this for ages, well worth a revisit!


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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby Dena » Tue Jan 22, 2013 3:16 pm

Sounds brilliant KKA, I'm sure it will be really enjoyed. :thumbsup

Looking forward to the review :D

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby hungryhousewife » Tue Jan 22, 2013 3:46 pm

It sounds DIVINE!!!!! I am salavating at the thought of it all! Lucky them!!
Hope it all goes brilliantly, and looking forward to your 'write up' of the event!!

HH

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby BelgianEndive » Tue Jan 22, 2013 6:23 pm

Hi Clive: they are in for a real treat! As far as "spicy" goes, the French can handle North African couscous which usually entails the use of harissa which I personally find rather hot, hot. However the fact is that the French do not know Indian cuisine well. We have virtually no Indian restaurants in Paris and in Brussels I know all of 2. Curries are not that popular and just not known in general. Thai curry pastes are beginning to be sold here in supermarkets and some of them are quite hot. OH who is terribly French, had a total dislike of curry, I think mainly because he had no experience with it. When we first went to India five years ago, he learned to appreciate some of them. He loves a biryani with lamb and I have made Mamta's recipe, and he loves a dhal. He is not keen on chutneys and the French really don't know it well, although they'll eat onion jam with foie gras. :roll:

So the "spicy hot" factor doesn't really matter that much, it is more a matter of the "unknown" Indian cuisine, curries in general which might present a problem for them. We regularly go and have a meal at our Elephant Bleu in Brussels which is a very good Thai place with mostly hot food, although not really Indian.

And as Sue says, lots of us have travelled and like those far away destinations. Close friends of ours have just returned from Myanmar (there at the same time as you Sue. Hope you had a great time!) and we'll be off to Thailand in a month.

Good luck with your dinner, it sounds grand!! :thumbsup

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby karadekoolaid » Wed Jan 23, 2013 2:20 am

Thanks, all - I'm delighted that all the dishes are ones I've cooked about 1,000 times before.
Having said that, I notice I'll be cooking lots of classics - Chicken Makhani, Tarka Dal, Raita, Gulab Jamun... so I'd better get it right!!

Sakkarin - that video was brilliant! :clap :clap :clap

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby Dena » Wed Jan 23, 2013 12:05 pm

I am always a little ashamed to be a Brit when I see that video. I gave up going to Indian Restaurants late in the evening just because of that sort of behaviour. I know it just shows the ignorance of people who behave like that but I am still ashamed. Thank heavens for that team of actors/writers who can laugh at such ignorance.

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby Mamta » Sun Jan 27, 2013 8:50 pm

Hello KK
I haven't been here for a while, had to re-register today!
Your menu of Chicken Makhani, Tarka Dal, Raita, Gulab Jamun sounds great, nothing too spicy. Rice or Naan/chapatties?
May a I suggest one fresh vegetable bhaji/dish also, whatever is in season? Saag-Alu or Potato and spinach (not in the style of Indian restaurants, often using tinned spinach) can be pretty well accepted, both ingredients being regularly used in French cuisine.
By the way, are you planning to add a little rum to the gulb-jamun syrup ;-), like rum baba? How are you serving them, warm or chilled? If you serve warm GJ, they go very well with vanilla ice-cream.
Whatever you cook, have a great meal. How about some pictures for us :-)?

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby karadekoolaid » Mon Jan 28, 2013 2:29 pm

Hello and welcome back,Mamta!
Unfortunately, the event had to be postponed because the hall had been double-booked :(
Never mind; I spoke to Razia (who had been coordinating everything) and she thought it might be on for April.At least everything is planned now!
Very wise suggestion Mamta. I had actually forgotten to add that I was going to prepare Broccoli with whole spices, as well as the chicken. Not a traditional Indian vegetable, but the spicing ( coriander, cumin and kalonji seeds) on the recipe I tried was really exotic, and I felt the barely steamed broccoli would stand up well to being retained in a Chafing dish without losing its colour.
My original menu choices included lots of fresh vegetable dishes, but still...
Given that there's only a tiny oven in the "kitchen" we'd have been working in,I opted for chapatis which,I decided,I could about get away with preparing an hour or two beforehand!
Fingers crossed for April... :thumbsup

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby Sakkarin » Mon Jan 28, 2013 2:45 pm

Image

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Re: Indian Food for the French?

Postby Mamta » Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:35 pm

Take a few picture KK, when you eventually have the function.
Why are you crying Sakkarin? Is it the thought of not getting your hands on all that food :lol: ?

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