Had an egg dosa for the first time, recently. I really liked it. https://www.archanaskitchen.com/egg-dosa-recipe
I'm autistic, so whatever dishes have the least amount of saturation into my clothes. Yes, I take my shirt off before I cook.
FYI : Biryani is all over India (multiple varieties) and came by way of Iran/Persia/Middle East. Also there are varieties within regions. Just look at the varieties of pickled foods alone and you'll see even within regions of India there are tons of varieties of the same food. It's kind of like saying you like "American BBQ" -- which region? Texas, Carolinas, KC, Memphis, hell, you may be able to throw in Cali and Hawaiian now. And in Texas alone there're probably 3-5 different styles of BBQ. One thing about Indian food (at least if you're into South Indian food with meats and fish) is the food in India tastes way different than restaurant food. A lot of it has to do with the fact the meat, fish, and rice all taste different. I like North Indian and South Indian food, but prefer South Indian. I'm not as much into the cream and cheese (although I like cream cheese... imagine that) of many Indian food variations made worldwide. If you go to states like Goa, you can indulge on the seafood side of Indian food. If you like naan, there are also like 100 different varieties of Indian flatbreads similar to tortillas and naan but different grains and methods used to make them : puri, chapati, dosa, poli, parotta, paratha, etc. and each of these have their variants. You said you liked "dosa" which is like a crepe. There's something similar in Ethiopia called "injera" although the taste and ingredients are different. I was in an Ethiopian area of Dallas and decided to pop into a restaurant years ago to try the food since I'd never tried it before. I like dosa more, but it was still something different. I was surprised Ethiopian food was spicy, but they love their berbere (pretty hot spice) and I loved their doro wat. lol. I pretty much love curry from any country, though. I kind of love spicy food no matter where it's from. It's amazing how you can follow the history of trade routes by noticing food from different cultures. Like if you smell some of the food in Ghana cooking, a lot of it smells like Indian food because of the similar spice use. I learned that when a co-worker brought in the food she cooked. I was like "that smells a lot like Indian food". There's a lot of Indian spice/European slave trade influence in African, Middle Eastern, Jamaican and Trinidadian cuisine. If you go to China, there is a rice porridge called "congee", and if you're in South India it's "kanji". I'm sure one country got it from the other. Some variant of it is all over SE Asia. Glad to see we have some people on here willing to experiment with foods of the world. I remember learning only a few years ago from Chinese co-workers how much areas like Sichuan/Chengdu love their peppers. Eating at "Chinese" restaurants all my life in America, I thought it was pretty much "fried rice and fried this and fried that with chili sauce on the side if you want it". Then I learned about true Sichuan cooking and how much those people love peppers and I was in love with the cuisine : Spoiler *that was the sound of fear in Kerala*
I’ve had Injeri and don’t think it’s that similar to Dosa as it spongy while Dosa is crisp. It’s interesting that you bring up Indian influence in Africa as Somali food is similar to Indian and they have breads almost identical to chapati and and their rice dishes are very similar to biryanis. They also make Sambusas which are pretty much the same as samosas.
Speaking of things like chapati, injera, and tortillas but I remember reading somewhere that every human culture has some form of flat bread. For example during Advent Scandinavians make Lefse which is a flat potato and wheat bread. Jewish culture has matza. In China “bing” are a category of flat bread type foods. In the US pancakes are essentially a flat bread. It makes sense as if you have grain the easiest bread to make is flat bread as you don’t need to worry about figuring out how to get it to rise. It’s a couple of easy steps from making flour, mixing it with water to make porridge and then baking or grilling it to make a flat bread.
I've been wanting to have this dish for a couple of years, ever since I saw this episode: https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/the-best-thing-i-ever-ate/videos/hot-and-spicy Next time I'm in San Fran...
Oh yeah, samosas are awesome. They're one of my favorite snack foods. Also, whether or not the dosa is crispy depends on the type. Masala dosas tend to be thinner and can be crispier. There are dosas that are made with dal (lentils), rice flour, millet flour... again, from different regions, so there are a variety of these. Some are soft and thicker like pancakes while others are crepe-thin like masala dosas and injeri. I don't think I've ever tried Somali food. I may have to change that once this COVID runs its course or I get the magical shot. Yeah, I noticed that when I noticed the similarities among chapatis, dosas, rotis, tortillas, etc. Even in the Bible they mention "unleavened bread", so the Hebrews were rocking it back then. I'm sure it existed long before that for the very reason you mentioned. The different flavors come from the grains used and the method of cooking like hot stones, brick/stone ovens, flat pans, deep frying, etc. Like I've always said, the world is a lot more similar than many of us want to give it credit.
Oh man, that looks good. That kind of food is why I love "Viet-Cajun" seafood. It seems similar. Hot, spicy and seafood. What's not to like?
It's not the spiciest I've had, but it's the food that made me say "wth?" the first time I ate it. They use sichuan peppercorns in the cooking and if you've never had it, it'll leave a numbing/tingling sensation on your lips/tongue that leave them buzzing. It's weird. I'm not a huge fan of them, but I don't mind them being used. I have friends that aren't big fans, though.
Chili crab is a classic Nonya (Chinese Malay) dish. If you like sweet and spicy flavor profile That’s a good cuisine.
The hottest cuisine I’ve had was Sri Lankan. There spicy food is hot hot hot and their sweet food is super sweet.
Define "spiciest"? Some people think "spicy" and mean "hottest". Some people think "spicy" and mean "tons of spices" but not necessarily hot. For example, there are tons of people that cook Indian food that isn't "hot" but very "spicy". My co-worker from Ghana cooked food that smelled very spicy/Indian if you smelled it, but not a lick of heat because she couldn't take it. Hottest foods I've had are any number of "let's try to kill them" foods like Nashville Hot Chicken, hot wings, or Viet Cajun shrimp/crawfish where the seasoning level is "atomic" and their whole goal is to make you regret it, but if you're talking just "hottest" as an actual national cuisine it would be Thai, Indian, Chinese/Sichuan. I've had some Caribbean food with scotch bonnets that was pretty spicy. I've eaten some stuff from Nepalese friends that were crazy hot. I've had "Thai spicy" (aka, the 'secret' spice levels at some Thai restaurants) that were crazy hot. That picture I posted with the sichuan pepper chicken (not mine, btw) isn't overly spicy since the peppers were only about cayenne hot so I ate the peppers, too, but if they had used scorpion or reaper peppers, I don't think I'd even want to attempt it. There's hot and there's nuts. That's one of those I'd have to try. Generally I'm not a huge fan of sweet and hot (which is odd because I like Thai food). Like if eating curries, I prefer Indian to Thai, but still like Thai. The problem with a lot of these is if I go into a restaurant, I don't know if I'm getting something authentic or not which is why I try to stay away from "fancy" restaurants and would rather hit up mom & pop stores in some cultural hood. I plan on visiting India in the next couple of years, but Singapore is also high on the list just for the cultural food mish-mash alone. lol.
Good point about spicy versus hot. Colloquially spicy means hot but most Indian food is spicy but not necessarily hot. I like hot food especially from chilis. But spice for the sake of spice can be distracting. Like too much cardamom or cloves overwhelming the dish. Thai spicy hurts me going in and coming out. But it tastes fantastic.
I know exactly what you're talking about. So many people/places royally screw up Italian sausage by putting way too much fennel seed in it, a little goes a long way.
Yeah. Most restaurants have to tame the heat down. I've never been to Thailand to try "real" Thai food, but I would guess it's hotter than the average Thai restaurant here (?). There are restaurants here that make it really hot for some people, though. I've never found Indian food here as hot as most of the Indian food I'd get from eating at the average Indian family's house, though. But like everything else, everybody is different so there are Indians and Thai people that probably like heat, but nothing crazy while others seem like they're out to kill people with peppers, but that's normal for them.
granted, I’ve only spent a week in Thailand, but we did hire a local for night market tours and cooking classes, and of course, we ate out for a week, and we insisted that we like it “Thai” hot. I’ve had INCREDIBLE meals at Thai gourmet here in Houston, and I’ve also had some marginal meals there.....but it’s always been MUCH hotter than what I experienced in Thailand. Of course, other decent spots in Houston like Kanomwan and Night Market aren’t nearly as spicy.....so it’s tough for me to tell what is right. Regardless, I LOVE Thai food......and South Indian is in my top five. North Indian doesn’t suck, but south is what I learned to love with my South Indian friends/coworkers.
