My friend sent me some information about Indian style dining along with a few recipes. She lived in India for a while and has a firsthand experience with Indian cuisine. So here it is in her own words.

Fragrant rice – have been making this for over a year and we really like it. I add a little cumin with the other spices. Adding some extra butter at the end before fluffing the rice makes it supper fluffy.

Butter chicken curry – I cheat and make mine with an already made paste. Paste can be purchased for $2 at a grocery store, it looks like this. Other already made Indian chicken curry paste will do just fine, too. Saute in butter a medium sweet onion and 2 – 3 cloves of minced garlic. Add some cumin. Cut chicken into 1″ to 2″ cubes. Add the chicken to the onion/garlic saute. Pre-mix the paste in a small bowl using hot water until smooth and add the mixture to the pan. Cook 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is done (cooking longer may dry out the chicken). Can add heavy cream if you like. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with rice.

Naan, roti or other Indian bread – unless you have a tandoor, or a volcano in your back yard :), you have to buy this from a store and toast it in the oven. It’s still a pitiful alternative to the real thing from the tandoor.

Salad: I like to serve cut up cucumbers, onions, carrots on a plate and dip them in a mixture of plain yogurt+chopped onion+cilantro+salt+dash of cayenne pepper. They call this a salad in India.

Dessert alternatives:

1. Ripe mango sliced over vanilla ice cream (real simple and popular in Indian restaurants in Mumbai)

2. Kesar Kheer

• ½ cup rice
• 4 cups milk
• 8 tbsp sugar
• 6 cardamoms
• ½ tsp saffron
• ¼ cup pistachios (plus some to decorate)

Soak pistachios in water for 2 hrs. Rinse rice, add half of the milk and cook stirring. Cover and cook for 15-20 min until soft. Add saffron, cardamoms, sugar and remaining milk. Simmer 10 minutes or until the rice is thick in consistency. Sprinkle with pistachios. Serve hot or cold.

For a drink, try mango lassi.