What to cook for a native American Guest?

Hello friends..My DH has invited for lunch,his collegue who is American.When enquired about food she said..that she is fine with any cuisine..as long as it is not Sushi..can you ladies suggest some Indo-American friendly recipes..?Thank you in advance..

Hi Supriya,

We do have some American friends who drop in for dinner/lunch, and they luv our Indian food. But do be careful with the spice factor, as in CHILLIES! I have friends, who luv Bhel puri minus the green chillies. They luv Dosas with mild chutney, hot from the pan. Make it masala dosa, with the Aloo, and they just go ga-ga! Also Puri/Bhatura with Channa masala. Naan and butter chicken. grilled chicken, as in tandoori style. They also luv Biriyani. I ahve found them not be much of dessert lovers. Specially if it is too sweet. SO I usually opt for something light and not too sweet, as in Caramel pudding or Bhappa Doi, which is light on the tummy.
This has been my personal experience. We have a friend who luvs Indian friend, by his wife is'nt not all that keen on the same, so for her I usually make Eggplant parmagiana, mac and cheese with chicken thrown in or a quiche.
Hope this helps!

Hi ANK..thank you for giving a wide range of options..Nice to know about their preference.Since its the first time I am a bit nervous.

Hi Supriya,

Dont get tensed. Cooking for them is not a problem. We can serve many of our dishes with less spice. I would recommend the following:

1. Mild spicy soup. Add more pepper than green chillies, if it is white pepper well and good.Top 1/4 tsp of butter in the soup bowl before serving. You can also go for mushroom creamy soup or corn chowder soup or cream of chicken soup.Coz these creamy soups are naturally less hot than thin & strong chicken soups.

2. Dry roast potato.Peel the skin cut into 8 or 10 pieces, take a flat pan, melt little butter and also heat oil with it, roast it along with salt and pepper and finally garnish with cilantro or parsely. If you add chilli powder add very little, just like u feed for kids.You can also add 3/4th boiled green peas and roast along with it. look great with green and brown combo.

3. As ANK said go for Naan; either butter naan or garlic naan along with butter chicken or mughalai chicken, if u want the recipe just PM me or reply to this thread i will post it.They even like our flaked parottas which we get in Indian stores(Frozen section).

4. For rice item either fried rice or simple pulaos are the best choice. If it is fried rice add carrots, fresh green peas, celery, spring onion, ajinomotto for a nice aroma and fry the basic veg or meat with ghee and oil together.

5. Try a dry chicken recipe or shrimp recipe. If the side dish for naan or parotta is chicken then opt for shrimp dry fry with mild spice.

6. Make a fresh vegetable salad, if possible add suitable vinaigrette which we get in small bottles in most of the american stores(Not even $2).

7. For dessert if you are interested in baking, bake a good cake or get a black forest cake.Else u can also try our desserts like carrot kheer, milk payasam or basundhi. Or otherwise the best way is to treat them with 2 dollops of icecream.

8.Regarding Juice since it being a lunch dont go for Orange juice try some other juices or serve them melons cut into pieces instead of juice.

Hope this would be helpfull. Will let you know if i come across more ideas.

Dear Cindhuja..Thanks a ton for wonderful ideas.Please do share the recipes here..

dont get tensed. whatever u cook just cook without spicy, like how u make for babies. ank & cinduja gave very good ideas. make some fruit salads too. dont miss making raitha. for them it is a different kind of salad. dont make anything with toomuch masala. make some apitiser. make some home made juice with very less sugar. they like home made stuff verymuch. they dont bother if it is not home made. they drink liters of juice. so while making juice make enough qty. u can make bugers with cutlet. ank & cinduja coverd everything. all the best.

Originally Posted by SupriyaDinesh

Hello friends..My DH has invited for lunch,his collegue who is American.When enquired about food she said..that she is fine with any cuisine..as long as it is not Sushi..can you ladies suggest some Indo-American friendly recipes..?Thank you in advance..

When you say native American not sure if you mean Native Indian American or just amercian..
Its o.k. Just keep it mild. Really really mild.
They would relish all our dishes.. so if you want to buy Naan (or cook too!)
and make a couple of side dishes like dhal and okra or veggie .
Or non veg tandoori chicken, kabab, shrimp cooked in Thai style..
Dont worry you will be fine:) Have a nce time and let us know how it went:)

Hi Supriya,

I have added 2 chicken recipes. Check the Non-Vegetarian Kitchen section for the thread "Non-veg recipe by more members". Hope it helps you. If possible will post more.Thanks.

Non-Vegetarian dishes by more members

Supriya.. Was confused with you said Native American - Indians..

So she's just basically an American I assume...

here's some I use [ American friendly Indo menu ;)]

1) Always a salad
2) Pulao - No masala.. just the plain ones we make with peas.
3) Curry - Some mild gravy (potato, peas, carrot, cauli)
4) Naan's

Be very cautious when using Indian veges.. No many like that. example, we love bhindi masala.. but many of my friends hate that.. ..


If non-veg.. u have more options...

(1) Tandoori Chicken - they like that a lot
(2) Some sea food - but no gravy kinda.. again dry
(3) Chicken vandaloo (?)

I know these, coz most of them order only these when we go out.. :)

Dont worry, you wil be fine..,

Hi Sup,
I had hosted a lot of Americans at home......and my observation is that as long as there is no chilli.....they will eat anything and everything.....
Most of the americans love Naan and fried Pulao.....once I had made Tamarind rice (omit chillies from the preparations and add a little more dry fruits)...it was a hit in my office......
For dinner, I prefer Fried Veg Pulao or egg fried rice or mutton biryani......
Naan or any stuffed paratha.
Curry: my choice would be cauliflower manchurian or prawn masala or paneer butter masala.......
Add a Raita/salad.
For Appetisers.....spring rolls/cutlets or pakodas will be good.
Desserts: Caramel payas with nuts on top.....or Gulab Jamuns or rasmalai will be best.......
Reagrds.