Indian

Here's something cool to know: even though most Indian restaurants have a tandoori oven, it’s actually a Middle Eastern invention: originally a ceramic oven, often a one-piece pot suspended over a flame.

Back in the 1940s, a New Delhi restaurant fashionable with Bollywood stars installed one. Media hounds snatched up the story and the craze went around the world so fast that the high-heat cooking (on the verge of incineration) is now exclusively associated with Indian cuisine.

Out of the oven

So here’s what pops out of that hellish inferno:

• Tandoori chicken, lamb, goat or fish. Whole pieces of meat marinated in yogurt and aromatic spices (sometimes in red food dye, too). The yogurt tenderizes everything, and then is wiped off before the meat is blazed. A tandoori dish is a great start for Indian first-timers. For the best choice in terms of PointsPlus™ values, go for the chicken or fish.
• Tikka chicken, lamb or fish. These are small, boneless chunks of meat marinated in the tandoori stuff, but then threaded on skewers.
• Sheek Kabobs (in other words, “shishkabob”). No yogurt marinade here. Spiced, ground and pressed lamb is wrapped around a skewer for the leanest choice from the tandoori oven.
• Na’an. The dough for this flat bread (an Indian tortilla, if you like) is thrown against the side of the oven walls then peeled off when brown. The bottom is crunchy; the top, puffy and soft.

Over the fire
Indian cuisine relies heavily on braising, a fancy term for stewing meats and vegetables in a spiced broth. Those spices — and the dishes — are curry. In genuine Indian cooking, the blend of spices depend on the individual taste of whomever is manning the kitchen, so it will be different at every place you try.

Almost any of these dishes — except for Rogan Josh — can be made vegetarian. So here’s what comes off the stove:

• Vindaloo. A nose-spanking, banging-hot stew that usually includes potatoes and is finished off with vinegar. It’s probably the hottest thing on the menu. By the way, the hot stuff in those chiles is fat (not water) soluble, so the only way to kill the burn is a little yogurt or butter on the na’an.
• Madras curry. A step down in pain from vindaloo, this tomato-based stew has lots of mustard seeds and onions and not much else. It’s a goopy gravy served over rice.
• Biryani. A mild, fragrant curry with lots of vegetables, incorrectly ladled over rice in most American restaurants. In India, the dish is layered with rice in a big basting dish and slow-roasted--sort of Indian lasagna.
• Kashmiri curry. A very mild curry with lots of nuts, cinnamon and cardamom, often in a cream-laced sauce. It’s exceptionally high in PointsPlus values.
• Korma curry. A better choice than kashmiri curry. This creamless curry is mild but aromatic, full of cinnamon and cloves. Its creaminess comes from a yogurt marinade before the meat is braised.
• Dopiaza. An onion-lover's paradise. This sweet curry (cardamom, cloves, coriander) is made with lots of onions (the name means “two onions”)slow-cooked until they melt into the fragrant sauce with the meat or other vegetables. Caramelized, ultra-sweet onions are spread over the stew when served.
• Bhuna curry. A dry curry with no additional liquid in the sauce. The meat cooks in its own juices with the curry spice blend. Most restaurants have their own bhuna blend, so ask to make sure you’re getting your choice of mild, hot or very hot. Bhuna curries are a great choice for your healthy lifestyle.
• Rogan josh. A heavily spiced but relatively mild lamb curry. North American restaurants make rogan josh almost exclusively with tomatoes and onions, as well as stewed meat or vegetables. It’s another great choice.
• Tikka masala. The best of both worlds: the tandoori oven and the stove-top braise. Chicken tikka from the skewers are tossed into a mild, aromatic, tomato-based sauce and then simmered until the spices permeate the meat.

Side dishes
Indian food is served with a bewildering array of condiments, often placed in small bowls all over the table. Some are put down without a word, but there’ll be an extra charge on the bill (ask to make sure before you dig in). Others come free with your order. Here’s a quick run-down:

• Dal. Stewed lentils, served plain and mild, a great bite of starch to cool off the curry. Chana dal is made with yellow lentils.
• Chutney. A jam-like, vinegary condiment often made with mangoes but also with a huge array of fruits and berries. Tastes best spread on the tandoori meats or stirred into the rice.
• Puri. Fried bread that is really high in PointsPlus values.
• Raita. A thick, salted yogurt sauce with cucumbers and onions. Some restaurants offer a version made with low-fat or even fat-free yogurt.