<p>I love Indian food, but I’ve never made it myself. I had some wonderful Indian food the other day, in a cafeteria (but sourced by an Indian restaurant). One dish was a yellow lentil dal, the other was a vegetable stew with potatoes. I’d love to be able to make things like that, especially since S2 is a vegetarian.</p>
<p>Can anyone recommend a source of recipes/instruction, preferable online?</p>
<p>google any madhur joffrey recipe.</p>
<p>Type in <code>Palak Paneer</code>. It is delicious and completely vegetarian.</p>
<p>For a beginner, you may want to try allrecipes.com. They have many Indian recipes and they are rated by users which I find very helpful.</p>
<p>And realize that it’s ok to buy spice blends like garam masala and curry.</p>
<p>I made this once and it was very tasty:
[Roast</a> Chicken Breasts with Garbanzo Beans, Tomatoes, and Paprika Recipe at Epicurious.com](<a href=“http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roast-Chicken-Breasts-with-Garbanzo-Beans-Tomatoes-and-Paprika-242113]Roast”>http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roast-Chicken-Breasts-with-Garbanzo-Beans-Tomatoes-and-Paprika-242113)</p>
<p>[Saffron</a> Rice Pilaf with Apricots and Almonds Recipe at Epicurious.com](<a href=“http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Saffron-Rice-Pilaf-with-Apricots-and-Almonds-2807]Saffron”>http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Saffron-Rice-Pilaf-with-Apricots-and-Almonds-2807)</p>
<p>And if you have any energy left, make
[Caramelized</a> Cumin-Roasted Carrots Recipe at Epicurious.com](<a href=“http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Caramelized-Cumin-Roasted-Carrots-357271]Caramelized”>http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Caramelized-Cumin-Roasted-Carrots-357271)</p>
<p>Vegetarian D especially liked the pilaf. And the chicken dish would be just as tasty without chicken.</p>
<p>Choose your yogurt carefully – I found that Greek yogurt was a little too thick – I’d prefer something a little thinner like Dannon (but that’s just me).</p>
<p>Trader joes has sauces in a jar which are good.
Lots of vegetarian recipes.
I havent tried this, but it sounds good!
[Potato</a> Cauliflower Curry-Gobi Sabzi Recipe-Aloo Gobi Sabji | Padhuskitchen](<a href=“http://www.padhuskitchen.com/2013/02/potato-cauliflower-curry-gobi-sabzi.html]Potato”>Potato Cauliflower Curry-Gobi Sabzi Recipe-Aloo Gobi Sabji - Padhuskitchen)</p>
<p>You can thin out Greek yogurt to Dannon-type consistency by stirring in a little milk–that’s what I do when cooking Indian dishes, and it works fine.</p>
<p>This is my favorite Indian dish–kind of a pain to make, but just delicious (serve with basmati rice):
[Chicken</a> Curry with Cashews Recipe at Epicurious.com](<a href=“http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Curry-with-Cashews-231358]Chicken”>http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Curry-with-Cashews-231358)</p>
<p>I recommend against trying to substitite low fat or nonfat yogurt in this recipe. The full fat kind gives the dish richness and makes the sauce creamy.</p>
<p>One dish I’ve never been able to duplicate well at home is a sagwala (spinach sauce). I’ve tried several versions, but they just don’t come out at all like the restaurant kind. I’d welcome any tired and true recipe!</p>
<p>First locate a good Indian grocery store. Start with simple things you can cook. Try to eat the same thing at a restaurant and see how close you can get. If you have Indian friends ask for feedback…</p>
<p>Start with the very basic rice (from Costco or Indian stores). Then add this or that seasoning, etc. Go slowly. We’ve been cooking Indian food for decades but we’re lucky to have tons of Indian friends who provide input.</p>
<p>I have a couple of good Indian vegetarian cookbooks. The breads are pretty easy and fun to make, although I have to confess, I buy dal now at Trader Joe’s, and they also have a “Middle Eastern Flatbread” (not the naan which is okay) that is really good warmed up.</p>
<p>I love Indian food and cook it all the time. I would strongly recommend Madhur Jaffrey’s cookbooks. In her older cookbooks, she leans in the direction of authentic recipes collected from people in various regions. She uses the real ingredients, making suggestions for substitutions if necessary. She also developed some methods adapted to a Western kitchen that does not come with a person who spends hours every day grinding up spice blends with a mortar and pestle. 
The explanatory notes and lists/descriptions of ingredients are great. My two favorites are “An Invitation to Indian Cooking,” and “A Taste of India.” In recent years she has come out with some simplified books, such as “At Home with Madhur Jaffrey.” Not bad, but if you really want to cook Indian food, not what I’d pick. (The earlier books are not intimidating at all, BTW, at least not in my opinion.)</p>
<p>The other key thing is to go to an Indian grocer to get the ingredients. They are MUCH cheaper there. If you are in the NYC area, you shouldn’t have a problem. There are a lot of Indian markets and restaurants in Jersey City. There’s a big Patel market on the Post Road in Norwalk. (Those just happen to be the ones I’ve used most.)</p>
<p>A easy shortcut is to buy a jar of sauces. Wegmans carries two different brands with different about 1/2 dozen different flavors and levels of spieces. Very tasty, easy and fast. You can then add in additional spice to taste, or add more yogurt or tomato to get more sauce.</p>
<p>If you are in an area with indian grocery store, go inside and walk around and chat with the staff. They are usually very helpful and will point out spices and veggies as a good starting point.</p>
<p>I haven’t had much luck with the jarred sauces. I don’t care for things that have a lot of emulsifiers and stabilizers. I feel the same way about salad dressings. </p>
<p>We do like this spice paste that I get at our local grocery store. The recipe is very easy, </p>
<p>[Kitchens</a> of India Paste for Butter Chicken Curry, 3.5-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 6): Amazon.com: Grocery & Gourmet Food](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000V17MLS]Kitchens”>http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000V17MLS)</p>
<p>It’s a good way to try Indian cooking without investing a lot of money in different spices. Be forewarned, it makes your house smell terrible.</p>
<p>I never use ghee. I use vegetable oil. I’m with you on paneer, Lergnom: I’ve made it a few times and always found it to be ho-hum.</p>
<p>Not Indian, but there’s a great Thai dish with fish in a tamarind sauce with lemon grass. Yum!</p>
<p>BTW, if you have an Indian grocery store near, pick up some chaat masala. It’s a spice blend. Pretty much goes with anything but is really great with chickpeas and yogurt. If you eat any Indian snack, odds are decent it has chaat masala on it or in it.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice! I’ll start with the Jodphur recipes…</p>
<p>I swear by Julie Sahni’s “Classic Indian Cooking” . She makes a big point of helping Americans to cook indian food in American kitchens. [Indian</a> Cooking Class: Six Things I Learned from Julie Sahni; Exploding Mustard Seeds, 4-Minute Rice (SpiceLines)](<a href=“http://www.spicelines.com/2010/08/indian_cooking_class_six_thing.htm]Indian”>http://www.spicelines.com/2010/08/indian_cooking_class_six_thing.htm)</p>
<p>Mark Bittman recently did a nice write-up on dal in the NY Times magazine <a href=“New York Dals - The New York Times”>New York Dals - The New York Times; …and lookit that, his muse is Sahni. :)</p>
<p>I cook a lot of Indian food as my husband is Indian and I love the food. At first all the spices can be intimidating, especially if you are using a cookbook to make everything from scratch. Plus it is very time consuming for some recipes. My Indian friends introduced me a long time ago to the various mixes which are shortcuts for so many dishes. If you can find an Indian grocery store near you that will be your best bet. You can also buy some mixes on Amazon.</p>
<p>For the dal recipe you can make a traditional curry using a Shan product called Dal Curry Mix. On Amazon search for “Shan Dal Curry Mix” and you will see the package. It lasts a long time and while it calls for mung/moong dal and masoor dal you could use toor dal. These are dals you get in an Indian store. You can also order the dals on Amazon as well. Shan makes a lot of mixes but there are other companies to try. It depends on the region and what taste you like.</p>
<p>If there are Indian grocery stores in your area try the different ones. Be sure to check for bugs as there is not as strict guidelines from one place to another. One thing that annoys me is even though there are supposed to be expiration dates many times there are not or it can be way past the date so be sure to check that. That annoys my husband too! One really good chain store is Patel Brothers. They also have some recipes on their website.</p>
<p>One more thing…you can try out some of the frozen foods and packaged ready made meals at these stores before you try and make it. Some better than others. My husband is so envious of all the choices as there was nothing available when he first came to the US.</p>
<p>We have a buttermilk mix we bring from India to make a cooling curry. You can either look up a recipe or buy something like: Aachi Butter Milk Kulambu Masala. I haven’t tried that as I have my homemade powder that I just add yogurt and vegetables.</p>
<p>For the buttermilk curry you can use any vegetable but the Indian squash or white pumpkin you buy at the Indian stores are perfect for this recipe.</p>
<p>I like Julie Sahni much better than Madhur Jaffrey. I’ve used the Trader Joe jars, but they really aren’t nearly as good as making things yourself. Bittman is very good at taking international food and getting the essence of it right while still simplifying.</p>