A Taste of India

This month our YUM box was filled with snacks from India. Our family dined at Tandoor in Maple Grove last evening. Maple Grove is only fifteen minutes from our house, so we just finished our India Trivia contest as we got to the restaurant. Charlotte won for the second month in a row. This month everyone did well on the quiz.

We each ordered an entree and then we shared it with the others at the table. Caleb ordered chicken strips with fries from the children's menu. His choice also happened to be the only entree that was not Indian. The children's menu also had butter chicken with rice which Charlotte went with and seemed to enjoy. 

We took photos of course. We do this more for other people to see what something looks like in case they ever want to be adventuresome and try foods from other countries.

Charlotte's Butter Chicken

Megan's Chicken Fried Rice

Caleb with his chicken strips and fries

Jeremy's Chicken Tikka Masala

Joe's Dal

Gulabjamum came with each of our meals.

Mango Cake to share

Beth & Joe's Tandoor Platter Combo that had Chicken Tandoor, Chicken Tikka, Shrimp, and Salmon

Vegetable curry served with the Tandoor Platter.

We enjoyed our food at Tandoor and both households ended up with lots of leftovers. We did not take pictures of the three different types of naan, the yogurt with cucumber and carrots dip, and the two appetizers we tried of Paneer Pakora (deep fried cheese) and Potato Chops. If you are interested in descriptions of the food, check out the link to Tandoor's Menu.

We learned the history of food in India. Going back to the Middle Ages, the Mughal Empire was one of the wealthiest empires in the world. Food was especially important to them. The rulers were served five hundred dishes of various foods every day. 500!! Much of what is considered "Indian cuisine: today originated from the Mughal Empire. 

Back at our house, after dinner, we taste tested the snacks in our YUM box. It was unanimous. Of all of the snacks we have tried so far, India's fared the worst across the board. For all except Joe it was the first time we had tasted cardamom and four of the six were not fans of any snack with cardamom in it. There were eleven snacks total. I liked seven, Joe liked four, Megan liked three. Jeremy liked four. Charlotte liked four. Caleb liked nine. These were odd results as Caleb is usually the pickiest of all of us, hence the chicken strips at dinner. Joe is usually the least fussy about food. We give Megan a pass as she is pregnant, and her taste buds are more heightened than normal.

Joe and I have enjoyed exposing the grandchildren to other cultures through food. We appreciate that Jeremy and Megan enjoy adventures as well. Tasty food and good company, at least once a month, makes for a fun evening (or lunchtime) out.