Talk:Indian cuisine

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Indian cuisine was the Indian collaboration of the week for the week starting on November 18, 2005.

For details on improvements made to the article, see history of past collaborations.
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[edit] The Indian Cuisine template is gigantic

This template is gigantic, isn't there a way for someone to shrink it down. It literally takes up a third of the top of the page and really takes away from the page content, or perhaps make it a template to put on the bottom of the article page.--Christopher Tanner, CCC 03:55, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] incorrect article

South Asian cuisine differs depending on ethnic gorup.Balochis are Pakistanis yet they do not have any connection to india.To call South Asian cuisine "Indian" is heavy POV.it is like calling European cuisine "German cuisine".-Vmrgrsergr 02:51, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

South Asian cuisine Indian cuisine, Wikipedia:Naming conventions (common names). Cuisine of Balochistan, as you rightly mentioned, should be a part of the article on Persian cuisine. Punjabi and Sindhi cuisine would be appropriate in this article. Please note that the adjective "Indian" in this title has nothing to do with the Republic of India. It is used more in the cultural and geographical sense of the Indian subcontinent. For this reason, the article was renamed from "Cuisine of India" to "Indian cuisine" several months ago. deeptrivia (talk) 06:55, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Coconut water vs coconut milk

In the beverage section I had changed coconut milk to coconut water. Because Coconut milk is used in recipes as an ingredient while the coconut water is used as a beverage. Why was the change reverted? I also checked with other references in wikipedia and it said the same thing. Coconut milk is used for cooking. I have seen coconut milk being used in mojitos and with Amarula (African liquor) but never in Indian cuisine as a beverage while coconut water is widely used as a beverage in all parts of India. --Kaveri 17:50, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

I've changed coconut milk to coconut water. Coconut water is the beverage. Coconut milk is used for cooking. Gnanapiti 17:55, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lack of raw vegetables

I must say that to me, the distinguishing feature of Indian cuisine versus most others I've tried is the lack of fresh or raw vegetables. Everything is cooked so thoroughly that any nutrients present in the vegetables must be completely cooked out. I think something about having no raw / fresh vegetables deserves mention in the article, because that feature is different from many other cuisines of the world. =Axlq 05:37, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

the perception might be because of the restaurant food you eat in and outside India. Not all food is overcooked. Also a lot of food is steamed in steam pressure cookers that is healthier than sauteing and keeps nutrients in.
A typical everyday meal has atleast one raw vegetable mix like Koshimbir in Maharashtra - finely chopped vegetables flavoured with spices, in curd/yogurt or course ground groundnut/peanut. There are many fresh Lonache/Aachar in Maharashtra made from fresh uncooked carrots, cauliflowers etc. Also, steaming a vegetable is done at various levels in various recipes, not all vegetables are cooked to death. --Kaveri 20:06, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
I think Koshimbir is the same as Kosambari. Gnanapiti 20:48, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Well, I suspected that my perception of overcooked vegetables in Indian cuisine arose from my experience in numerous Indian restaurants, but I also have several Indian friends to whom I mentioned this, and they didn't deny it. Maybe this has to do with where they're from.

I had concluded that the tendency to overcook may be a result of historically poor water hygene. For example, it probably isn't healty to eat raw vegetables washed in Ganges River water, which has been polluted for generations by sewage and corpses, so cooking everything thoroughly would prevent infectious illnesses. In such a case, raw vegetables may be less healthy than cooked. =Axlq 05:11, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Ganges doesn't cover whole of India. It doesn't cover even 15% of the land. Besides rivers, there were/are huge number of wells and lakes in all towns and villages. Gnanapiti 14:51, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
Yes, obviously. I used the Ganges as an example. =Axlq 07:27, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
Raw vegetables are fairly uncommon in many cuisines in the world, precisely as you say because of hygiene issues. Nightsoil is a common fertilizer world-wide, and it's a good idea to cook vegetables fertilized with it.... This was no doubt known long before Pasteur. Chinese cuisine, indeed, uses even fewer uncooked vegetables than Indian -- in Indian tradition, many fresh chutneys and raitas include uncooked vegetables. As for "any nutrients present in the vegetables must be completely cooked out", if this were true, India would be completely depopulated, don't you think? In fact, most nutrients are not destroyed by cooking.[1] --Macrakis 13:52, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Confusing sentence in Elements section

"Chana is used in different forms, and may be used whole or processed in a mill that removes the skin, eg dhuli moong or dhuli urad, and is sometimes mixed with rice and khichri (a food that is excellent for digestion and similar to the chick pea, but smaller and more flavorful)."

This might have got all confusing due to multiple edits. At present it does not make sense. I am changing it to:

These are used in different forms, and may be used whole or processed (which removes the skin), eg dhuli moong or dhuli urad. Chana is a food that is excellent for digestion and similar to the chick pea, but smaller and more flavorful.

I am not sure if it makes sense still but I tried. --Kaveri 20:10, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Our article on chick peas says that chana is a type of chick pea - it's not a different thing. Secretlondon 03:40, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

They're the same species. Chana is the larger, lighter-colored chickpea that is also used in Mediterranean cuisine, and kala chana is the small, darker-colored chickpea used mostly in Indian and Pakistani cuisine. Badagnani 04:28, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

I thought so but wasn't sure. So in addition to rewording the sentence now I am also deleting the sentence about chana is similar to chick pea. --Kaveri 19:04, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Adding an external link

I would like to add http://www.dhrishticreations.com/files/recipes.htm as an external link under traditional cooking. This site gives many recipes traditionally used in South India.

I would like to add the Indian Cuisine page on Webaroo - http://www.webaroo.com/webpack/lifestyle/indian-cuisine - It's a collection of blogs that give Indian recipes. These blogs are updated on a regular basis. There is also an option to download the collection on the computer and receive updates. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sheece (talk • contribs) 13:41, August 23, 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Merger proposal

I have placed a merger proposal tag on the section for Tikka Masala. This is a large amount of info to have on just one dish inside a cuisine article, especially when there is more information on the dish on this article than the Chicken Tikka Masala article. I think there should be information on dishes in the article, just this much information isn't needed when an article for this one food items already exists.--Chef Christopher Allen Tanner, CCC 06:53, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Most of the info was about Anglo-Indian cuisine and the development of that. Very little mention of tikka, so I removed the title. Iciac (talk) 01:21, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] hmmm

The pictures on this article make me hungry 217.65.158.13 (talk) 14:16, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pork?

Is pork ever used at all in mainstream South Asian cuisines? Le Anh-Huy (talk) 10:35, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Culinary Explorations of India

It is a monthly newsletter about Indian Cuisine and distributed by Easy Tours Of India. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Azad.eti (talk • contribs) 10:34, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Can you identify this dish?

What is it?
What is it?

Can anyone tell me what is it? It is made with the same mixture as the dosa, but is a bit different. Could it be Utapam? The picture was taken in a street in Varanasi. 80.178.114.234 (talk) 15:00, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Tenti dela

Need to determine what species the Indian vegetable tenti dela (used in Indian pickles) is. Badagnani (talk) 22:01, 11 May 2008 (UTC)