A few years back, Rajat and I hosted a dinner party. I made palak channa, aloo gobi and Indira at Mahanandi’s pudina paneer. Each dish was my best (if you’ll indulge me and let me toot my own horn – which really, you have no choice but to let me). Really. It was some of my best cooking. Others who were present and less biased agreed. Rajat was in charge of what I’ll call “accompaniments” – raita, salad, naan and rice. So he made raita, salad and rice and heated up a few Deep frozen naans. Our dinner guests couldn’t stop raving about how wonderful the raita, salad and naan were (hell, I’m sure they raved about the rice too and I’ve just blocked it out). Not a word was said about the dishes I cooked! And, they barely ate any of the food I made. I mean, they went on and on and on.
Oh the raita is so great.
Wow this salad is amazing.
Where did you buy these naans?
What’s in the salad? How did you make it?
It was a little weird. It was a lot weird. We laughed about it afterwards and happily enjoyed the leftovers, but clearly I’m still a little bitter. I suppose the moral of that little story (because I’ll pretend I told it to you to impart a moral and not just to rant some more) is that these accompaniments, can really make the meal:
Raita – served as a condiment along with the meal and helpful for comforting your mouth in the face of spicy heat. There are many different versions of raita. Here’s two of my favorites:
- whisk the yogurt with a fork until smooth, add a little water (see below) and then stir in a sprinkling of chat masala, cayenne pepper or black pepper and a little salt.
- to make things a little fancier, follow the same steps as above and also stir in grated or chopped cucumber.
The raita should be a creamy consistency just slightly looser than regular yogurt, not watery (as it often is at lower end Indian restaurants).
Salad – Indian salads are not like what you picture when you think of American salads. Two popular variations are:
- thinly sliced onions and slit green chilies sprinkled with lemon juice, chat masala, black pepper and salt.
- cherry tomatoes, onions, carrots and cucumbers and radishes showered with lemon juice, chat masala, black pepper and salt.
A simple salad adds freshness to the meal and also helps to keep things cool.
Naan or roti – By the time I finish making everything, I have no time for making fresh rotis. I wish I did because light, soft rotis are a nice treat. But I don’t. So I keep a few bags of frozen naan in the freezer. There are a lot of good brands, but I usually pick up Trader Joe’s or Deep brand.
Basmati or Jasmine rice -fresh fragrant rice is a must!
In case you missed it, here’s my first post in this series, Planning an Indian Menu, about What to Serve with What.
Let me know if you have any other show stopper raita or salad variations in the comments.
10 responses to “Planning an Indian Menu: And The Accompaniments Have It”
It’s not your fault. Good breads and salads are just such a treat! I’m sure everyone just knew it went without saying that your entrees were amazing, which I’m sure they were.
Now I want to go to the Indian restaurant in town and eat a ton of all the food you just wrote about…yum! (I know, I know, I’m supposed to be cooking it myself if I’m reading your blog, but I want lots of this food immediately…maybe because I’m 8 months pregnant). 🙂
u r so right but this gets depressin at time when we have spent whole day in cooking
I add a pinch of ajwain to my raita, makes it fragrant and yummy.
For cucumber raita, I find that grating the cucumbers and putting salt on them draws out their fluid. This improves their texture and upon mixing the yogurt in 15 minutes later reduces the need to add extra water because of the extracted cucumber juices (which in turn thoroughly flavor the yogurt). Also, we find that toasted cumin seed powder is a delight in raita. Shredded, boiled bottle gourd can be used in place of the cucumber as well.
@Tina – thanks for the cucumber tip. I usually just add them straight to the raita but will try salting them next time. Toasted cumin seed powder sounds like a delicious addition.
tina
what is the mean of your name ?
kindly,
1-tell me about accompaniments of various type of dish individual?
2-tell me about receipy of mint chutney, cream of tomato soup,cappecino coffee,green tee,bulls eye?
Yeah! Tina this is do true. Sometimes I feel Accompaniments are more appreciated than entrée or main course. I want to share my Missus recipe of raita. She adds powdered cumin seeds (freshly roasted and coarsely powdered using Pestle and mortar). I do not prefer package cumin powder, they have no aroma that a cumin powder must have. She also adds roasted peanuts (coarsely powdered).
You have a nice website here.
Do check out our website when you have some time. Cheers!!
After I initially left a comment I appear to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are
added- checkbox and from now on every time a comment is
added I receive four emails with the same comment.
Perhaps there is a means you are able to remove
me from that service? Appreciate it!
Ion Casino
Ion casino is a trusted and best on the internet casino site from 2010 which includes dished up millions of gamers in Asia.
Ion casino or also called Ionclub is the particular top ranking option site because that provides the best experience for
internet gambling players in Indonesia. With an established
license to operate, this provider guarantees that players create
bets without risk, credibility and may be trusted.