Indian Food and Wine
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Have you ever thought about what wine to pair up with an Indian Curry, or a Samosa?
Well the following article is a fascinating read:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/08/WIGOOQ59H11....
Below is a summary of the outcome, but I recommend you take a look at the whole story.
regards,
Doc.
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1 SIMPLE SPICE
Many home-cooked Indian dishes rely on a single spice, or at most three spices, as seasoning. Black mustard seeds are often popped in hot oil to "bloom" their flavor, called "tadka." Turmeric weaves through much of Indian cooking; sometimes in conjunction with one other spice, often black mustard seed.
Food: Samosas and pakoras. (For an optimal wine experience, hold the raita.) Biryani rice dishes. Ruta Kahate's Tangy Shredded Cabbage Salad, which uses the tadka technique. Desserts such as Kahate's sublime cookies, Cardamom Nankaties.
Wine: Let the spice suggest the wines. This is also one of the few categories where sparkling wine was a clear winner -- including a Moscato d'Asti with the cardamom cookies. Be mindful of the amount of chile or citrus used. For dishes with mustard seed, minerally and peppery red wines, or grassy white wines, mesh well. For turmeric, rosé, floral whites and leathery red wines go well.
Examples: Champagne and sparkling wines, dry Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Albarino, dry Viognier, Syrah, Mourvedre.
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2 LIGHT SAUCE
These dishes begin with a masala (spice) mix, though not too complex, and the natural sweetness and some mild acid from tomato. There can be a little dairy and the resultant gravy -- not a full-on sauce -- is leaner.
Food: Everyday Dal, and many other dal recipes; Black-Eyed Peas in a Spicy Goan Curry and other coconut-milk curries; and the channa masala (chickpea curry) found on restaurant menus. Dishes like kadhai gosht, a heavier preparation with 10 or more spice components, also fall into this flavor profile. This is a versatile group, which despite acid from tomatoes, is also sweet, especially if it includes pulses and legumes (peas and beans). In this instance, an okra dish with the heavier gosht sauce actually jazzes with red wine.
Wine: Tomatoes require wines with plenty of acid, though not as their defining trait. Fortunately, this category lends itself to the broadest range of options. In particular, rosé shines. Reds should be fruity and relatively light. Whites should be more silky than sharp, and some sweetness can balance out high acidity.
Examples: Aromatic whites (Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Muller-Thurgau, Sylvaner); dry Chenin Blanc; dry or late-harvest Riesling (depending on the sauce); red or white Cotes du Rhone. Young, fruity cooler-climate reds like Grenache/Garnacha, Lagrein, Zweigelt, Barbera; lighter Pinot Noir. Dry Rosé.
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3 HEAVY SAUCE
These are the dishes you're most likely to find translated as "curry" in English. They're complexly spiced, often first marinated, perhaps seared in butter, then layered with cream and finished with ground or sliced nuts.
Food: Cream-based lamb korma and chicken makhanwala are two archetypes. The popular chicken tikka masala, in which tandoori chicken is then sauced, is another popular example. The vindaloo dishes can fit in here, although if they are very hot, as they should be, it's time for beer.
Wine: With modest amounts of dairy, a lighter red can work -- even a Syrah. If the sauce is creamier, turn to a higher-acid white.
Examples: Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, sweet Riesling, Beaujolais, Syrah, red and white Cotes du Rhone or Rhone-style wines.
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4 TANDOORI
Bright red and grilled in the ultra-high temperatures of the clay tandoori oven, poultry, meat and fish are first moistened with a long marination in yogurt, a spice mixture and a puree of fresh ginger and garlic. The spice mixture varies from cook to cook, each with her or his secret masala, and can vary according to the meat to be seasoned. The yogurt (and sometimes lemon juice) also tenderizes the protein.
Although the signature bright red color in this classic preparation should come from the cochineal additive, restaurants often go the easy way by using synthetic food coloring. Some kitchens substitute paprika, and that, too, affects your wine choice.
Food: Tandoori chicken, tandoori fish
Wines: Of all the categories, this one is most dependent on the meat or fish being prepared, so traditional rules often apply. Lamb, for instance, warms itself to Pinot Noir and fish to Muscadet. Leaner white wines like Sauvignon Blanc also work to balance out the presence of acid like lemon juice, and reds should have relatively high acid.
Examples: Cabernet Franc, especially lighter Loire Valley wines; Pinot Blanc; red Cotes du Rhone; Barbera; Pinot Noir; Lagrein; Zweigelt; Viognier; Sauvignon Blanc; Muscadet.
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5 FRESH AND GREEN
Chopped spinach, chopped cilantro and other greens are basis of the "sauce" in this class of dishes.
Food: Saag paneer (chunks of farmer-like cheese with minced spinach), green fish curry.
Wine: Here's the one category where white wines work almost exclusively, regardless of the protein (fish, chicken, cheese or red meat). Look for wines with more green fruit and grassy or herbal flavors, and a leaner texture. Skip the oak. A fully dry rosé works well, too, though it can bring out any sweetness in the dish.
Examples: Dry Chenin Blanc; Dry Riesling; Muller-Thurgau; unoaked Chardonnay, like Chablis; Sauvignon Blanc; Albarino; Pinot Blanc; Cabernet Franc rosé.
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Really interesting doc...
Really interesting doc... thanks for this!
And I wonder what about chinese food... More and more chinese are now drinking grape wine :)
JJ
Dunno bout all that Doc; but
Dunno bout all that Doc; but I had Indian kitchen the other night with a good bottle of 'Portuguese made - Douro Tinto' from Macau (not unlike a Shiraz). Bloody marvelous!
可怕的不是进步速度慢，而是止步不前
Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still
@kingstadlux neither do I, I
@kingstadlux
neither do I, I don't drink wine. The article is US based, but I guess the general ideas are waht it's all about. Anyway, it's good to see that "beer" is a good all purpose accompaniment, can't go wrong with that eh? ;-)
regards,
T. Tempest. DCA
____________________
"I'd love a thousand words in a foreign language." Tang Yuchuan
Tsc Tempest Photography at http://www.kong-xi.com/doc.html
That Douro Tinto sounds
That Douro Tinto sounds good, might try it next time I go Indian.
Re the local wine, a lot of smaller (and some bigger) supermarkets are selling a Great Wall 1999 Red (I think it's a Cab Sav) that's just superb for about RMB35 each. Just about to start the last of the 10 I bought back in October. Gotta say a lot of the Great Wall reds are pretty good.
Hard to beat a good red with any food, although a nice Semilon seems best with fish.
interesting to read how
interesting to read how foreigners view our food and categorise it! and how different these categories are from the way we actually cook!
Please enlighten us. PS,
Please enlighten us. PS, Indian is my favourite food if I am eating out, but have no idea of how to cook it. The closest I have got was helping to instal a cowdung oven in an Oberoi hotel some 25 years ago.
i'm no great cook myself,
i'm no great cook myself, but i can say that indian restaurant food is very different from indian home food - as must be the case everywhere.
like chinese food, indian food varies from region to region. some of it is really simple, like dals, and some pretty complicated, like lamb, and pulao.
i found that post amusing because it categorises only the food served in restaurants, and that too only north indian food. the rest of india cooks very differently. even in the north different communities use different ingredients. for example, some use garlic, ginger, tomato and onion in almost everything; others use just turmeric, mustard seeds, asofoetida and mango powder. i dont know anyone who uses butter, cream, nuts, all in one dish, on a regular basis! must be having iron stomachs.
thats why we find `indian kitchen' and `jewel of india' (inzhuhai) overrated and overpriced.
if u want any specific recipes, let me know.
I have eaten at both of
I have eaten at both of those places - the food seems quite different between them. Are the claiming food from different areas ? I prefer the food at Jewel of India, but the prices are crazy. I often eat at the Indian Kitchen with it's much better ambience - it's expensive but acceptable. Actually went there tonight and the food seemed more spicy than normal (for them) - more like what I would expect.
I know its not the topic,
I know its not the topic, but I really enjoyed a cask of Red Lumbrisco on my holidays. I cant understand why casks are not marketed here...Macca..maybe you ???
Interest receipe, but where
Interest receipe, but where do you buy spices in Zhuhai, i have tries to get tumeric , cardamine, and other curry spices at supermarket and local market without any luck. So if you could point me the way, I would really appreciate it.
hi james, go straight to
hi james, go straight to macau, do not pass go, do not collect $ 200. maybe grab some paprika as well as its a no show in zhuhai t.t.b.o.m.k. small point of order... its cardamom.
some spices are available at
some spices are available at the Indian kitchen, but they have big packs. if u r a regular there, they might sell some in small quantities to u.
hong kong has many indians; so does guangzhou. u may find more indian spices there.
macau too has some indian spices- never tried them, though.
do u cook Indian food regularly?
to roy: the indian kitchen is run by south indians, the jewel.... by north indians. hence the difference. ask for south indian food in the indian kitchen. jewel...'s food is too non-spicy for indians, at least for me.
JEWELS FOOD IS TOO NON SPICY
JEWELS FOOD IS TOO NON SPICY FOR INDIANS.
hi jyoti,
i want to just let you know that our customers are mostly foreigners who dont like toooo spicy food, thats the resaon we cook our food less spicy .but we always ask our customers if they prefer spicy, medium or non spicy.
and also our gravy are always made with rich ingredients e.g cashew nuts,cream and also butter thats why our prices are a little high then the indian kitchen.
and also looking ate the way prices of lpg gas, chicken, oil and milk have gone up i think we are still better priced.
I have eaten Indian for many
I have eaten Indian for many years, well before it became fashionable to do so, and as the Indian food has become more popular the "heat" has seemingly gone out of the cooking ... or is it me becoming more acustomed to it.
The very first time I ate Indian, a kindly old Indian came up to me and said, this is how you do it. Order a main, say Madras Beef, order some rice and a side dish such as cucumber raita. Keep them seperate and take from each as you will. When / if the beef gets too hot, cool it down with the raita.
It was excellent advice, but I find these days there is no need for the raita. Which is just as well as neither of our 2 local Indian restaurants can (in my opinion) make a decent cucumber raita.
I do understand though that to stay in business the spices need to be toned down. As it is, I am amazed at the number of Chinese eating Indian in these restaurants. In my experience, mostly the Chinese don't like the taste.
My first trip to China some years ago I ate every weird and shitty thing the locals threw at me (as they love to do to), and on my final day I said .... OK, I have eaten your food choices all week, now it's my turn to buy for you. As it happened I had spotted an Indian restaurant the day before and that's where we went. They couldn't handle it. Several of them have since aquired the taste, but most of my guests that night have refused to try again.
Never again have my Chinese hosts tried to shock me with local "delicacies".
Jewel of India, I ate at
Jewel of India, I ate at your place recently and enjoyed your food. I was a little put off, that I paid 20rmb for a 2.7 rmb can of beer,(700%) or less when you figure wholesale price ! so this will maybe deter me from returning as I like beer or 2 or 3 with my meal.
Just went back to Jewel of
Just went back to Jewel of India had dinner the day before yesterday, the food was fantastic and it was worth the price we paid .Thanks Gope and your employee.
hi blue moon, which beer are
hi blue moon,
which beer are u talking of ?? we only sell kingfisher at 20 rmb which is in bottles.please let me know which beer can did u drink and when was it ?
hi blue moon, I am still
hi blue moon,
I am still waiting for your reply ???
Hi, I love Indian food in
Hi,
I love Indian food in general,and at our ZhuHai restaurants in particular(Both of them)! Think you guys being a bit harsh! :)
Prices might be bit high,but its probably coz we keep comparing them to chinese places! Sooo used to everything being cheaper here!
Forgetting as well the owners have bills to pay as well and manage still to make profit!
We had a dinner at Jewel the other night- it was 3 of us,had a bottle of wine and a very decent meal-paid about RMB400....that is cheaper than regular take aways at home( i mean if incl.wine)!!!
Peace:)
K
I agree with Kittens; I
I agree with Kittens; I think you are being too harsh.
The Jewel of India's food is fantastic and well worth the extra price.
I have never had a single dish that was less than great there.
I thoroughly enjoy the food, décor & ambience of the restaurant.
Plus the fact Gope is all-round top bloke too!
If the prices are too high; might I suggest the local Muslim noodle stand?
可怕的不是进步速度慢，而是止步不前
Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still