Indian savoury food has basically the same flavour profile, amirite?

Indian Restaurants abroad do not represent even 10% of the variety of Indian food. They're just popular dishes that are easy to make en-masse and are palatable to most people.

by toni65 2 days ago

That's a really well explained. I totally get the samey thing you're talking about, it's like the flavor profile is a base layer that everything else builds on. I think the huge variety people talk about might be more about the incredible range of textures and ingredients than a wide range of flavor profiles. Spot on with the plane food observation too.

by Used_Mistake6649 2 days ago

"All indian dishes" - do you realize that South indian food does not use garam masala and tastes completely different than north indian food? If you cook indian food, you would know how the ingredients vary. Indian food is not just North indian food.

by Specialist-Stay9190 2 days ago

I mean, I'm Indian, lived here all my life, and never used Garam masala until a couple years ago when trying to make Paneer Butter Masala at home. In my part of India we don't use spice blends at all usually - we use whole spices except for chilli powder, asafoetida, and turmeric, and coriander powder to some extent. Even then we don't use many typically "Indian" spices like star anise, cloves, bay leaves, cardamom, etc in daily cooking. Cumin, yes - but it's the base and is very faint. It's like laurel bay leaves, you don't notice it unless it's not there. To me Punjabi food is clearly different from Bengali food from Hyderabadi food from Tamil food etc., as different as Italian food is from Spanish food at least.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Lool I want to remind people that the Indian food that you've seen or had in restaurant isn't even scratching the surface. You haven't even seen enough to make the conclusion that there isn't enough variety. It's like me saying that all Italian dishes are the same: sauce, cheese, dough. The only reason Indian curries have "the same taste profile" is because restaurants started using the same base gravy for all their curries to save time and be efficient with ingredients. Have some home cooked food, you'll realize that the flavour profile DOES indeed differ a lot.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

OP does not. OP lives in the Persian Gulf

by Routine_Primary_839 2 days ago

OP distinctly says they do not live in India lmao

by IndustryAgitated 2 days ago

I've seen many Indians who haven't tried enough Indian food. Even as an Indian, it's really easy to be stuck having the same few dishes over and over. I stand by my statement. Hypothetical numbers but, 50 dishes having the same spices doesn't necessarily mean same taste profile. And those 50 dishes should not be the base for confusion with 1000 other dishes out there. And when yo add to the fact that regionally, the same dish can and does differ.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Nope they say they've travelled to India multiple times. No one who lives in India can have this opinion. Ops experience Might not be an accurate representation if they only ate at similar mid end multi types restaurants who use the same base gravy for everything.

by vidal08 2 days ago

I don't think they do... atleast they don't seem to be saying they do

by RegisterFamiliar 2 days ago

Candy is basically the same too if you think about it, sugar is such a strong ingredient

by Open-Parsley 2 days ago

As someone living in India, this opinion is deadass wrong. Even the regular sabzi taste different. And if you are having home cooked meals garam masala is not used that extensively. However, the base layer of prep may overlap in a lot of dishes but it's more of a foundation to build your dish on. Like Italians with their marinara and cheese.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

All I know is I love a good naan bread. More so than the actual curry.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Peshwari naan is next level

by Anonymous 2 days ago

I was in my late thirties before I tried a peshwari naan. All that time wasted.

by Gerhardsatterfi 2 days ago

This is just North Indian restaurant food. How the hell can you say you have been to Kerala and the food tastes the same as the north? They don't even use garam masala. What a brain dead take.

by siennawehner 2 days ago

Have you ever been to Taco Bell?

by Anonymous 2 days ago

The majority of the food you've listed is north Indian. The only things that aren't north Indian are still dishes that are spice heavy and popular in north India. And about the garam masala—I'm north Indian and I don't even have it at home. Try some raj kachori, jackfruit sabzi, kheer, banana sabzi or South Indian fish recipes and then come back.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Bruh, I regularly get the Dal from different restaurants at work and even same dish between different restaurants taste different and Dal is like basic bitch of the Indian dishes. . Maybe the Indian restaurants in your country sucks at cooking.

by hackettkristofe 2 days ago

You don't know much about Indian food, do you?

by Realistic_Trick 2 days ago

Almost none of the dishes in south India use garam masala.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

But most dishes do not use those spices. Gravy or curry is just one type of food. 40-50% of gravies might be using those spices but then more that probably dont. Also curry is barely scratching the surface of Indian food. The restaurant type gravy is barely made at home. I Can't eat only pizza at 5 places and then say all Italian food only uses tomato and cheese.. P.S. I actually have no idea about Italian food. I eat it regularly but I'm not from Italy and based on a 2 week visit and eating it once a month, at the Italian restaurants in my home country I'm not gonna assume I'm eating what actual Italians eat at home and make sweeping generalisations about the cuisine.

by vidal08 2 days ago

Just having garam masala and cumin in each dish doesn't give it the same spice profile. Idk why people are agreeing to this.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

I feel like I gave some examples of the nuances and the fact that it makes them have a similar base flavor, not taste exactly the same. Also if having ingredients that are common amongst most savory dishes doesn't make them similar I'm unsure what else could. That's how cooking works, using similar ingredients to another dish creates a similar flavor profile. Not the same, just similar.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Just because 50 curries may have the same taste profile, doesn't mean the other 1000 dishes with different taste profile don't also exist. I think the variety truly is being discounted

by Anonymous 2 days ago

100% agree and I'm ethnically indian too so I can verify lol

by Anonymous 2 days ago

I don't agree, but hey, it is unpopular opinion

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Ethnically Indian but do you eat and/or cook Indian food?

by vidal08 1 day ago

Never really noticed that before but you have a valid point. I mean a lot South East Asian food tends to have ginger, garlic, vinegar, soy/fish sauce as a sort main base base you build off like you said. The thing is those flavors are not anywhere near as potent, or at least not in the same way. I can squirt some fish sauce on steamed rice and have a nice snack, throw some toasted garam masala or cumin oil on the same steamed rice and it's not longer an enjoyable snack just that way.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Same applies for india really. On the coastal areas you'll see way more seafood and coconuts. In the north the food is usually more rich in milk and butter or ghee while dairy in general is not that commonly used in the south due to the north having a more cattle centric animal husbandry culture. In the northeast, due to the heavy jungles the food there consists of stuff like bamboo and in some places even insects. Just as a scratch on the surface. Really every district in the country (not just state) has a fair share of culinary diversity.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

India is very diverse too. It's 100 countries into one. Each state speaks different languages. Cuisines obviously are different.

by vidal08 1 day ago