Who is going to tell Salil that he shouldn’t be drinking wine with a lot of his cooking?
I’d probably go with beer most of the time when eating Indian food, and I do like the gin and tonic idea. Having said that, I have taken sparkling shiraz to Indian restaurants a few times and have been pretty happy with how it worked out.
I’m another one who does not think Riesling generally works at all. The whole “drink Riesling with RS with spicy food” thing fails more often than it works for me. Yes, sweetness works with the food, but the food obliterates the wine, masking any nuance, especially with anything from the Mosel.
For most of the dishes that are popular here in the US, I find off-dry Gewurztraminer to be by far the best. The flavors compliment and stand up to the heavily seasoned food. Most other wines get overwhelmed, and the others that don’t tend to have too much alcohol, with the food making them taste even hotter (like Alsatian Pinot Gris, which would otherwise seem like a great idea).
Wine and vindaloo do not work together. I’m not usually the one to say so in these threads, but there’s no getting around this one. Beer is the answer here, something light and refreshing like a Pilsner pale ale.
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I’m certainly not going to tell Salil or anyone what they should or shouldn’t drink. I may not respect the choice, but I absolutely respect the right to make it! 
p.s. A number of years ago, Salil made a fantastic Chicken Biryani. We had 1998 ZH Gewurztraminer VT Hengst with it. Lights out fantastic match.
That’s really the only truly successful Gewurz match I have ever experienced across a wide range of Indian dishes.
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Haven’t tried any sherries, but thinking about it I’d guess amontillado or palo cortado rather than fino.
Madeira?
Two more for my to-do list!
My favorite beverage with spicy Indian curries is generally mango lassi (or really any other flavor of lassi) as it helps balance out my favorite Indian curries.
On the other hand, Indian food is quite expansive. Tandoori meats, dosa, tawa fry, and many many other dishes that may not be overwhelming in spiciness and could pair well with a few wines. When trying to pair, it’s not like we are all thinking the same curry or dish - we all have our own interpretations of the Indian food we’d want to eat, whether it is authentic or not. I’d like to think generalizing is a common mistake when attempting to pair cuisines, as this is also often the case with Chinese food (i.e. the eight very different food regions of Chinese food, as well as American-Chinese).
Like Rohit mentioned, when there is a will, there is a way. Going off someone’s recommendation is going to be tough when they don’t know the exact dishes that you will be consuming - especially when we start accounting for different spiciness levels and individual palate biases. My personal rule of thumb is spiciness increases the taste of alcohol, thus I look for lower alcohol wines with RS when I eat spicy food. As my favorite goat curry does not have any cream in it, I also would want my beverage to have a body or creaminess - thus Mango Lassi (sweet and creamy), but I could imagine a late harvest Gewurz could maybe fit the bill with RS and its heftier body. Perhaps even a Tokaji with its tropical RS and sugary body - then again the strong fruity flavors of Tokaji may contrast too much with the heavy flavors of a flavorful curry.
However, I want to make a point that this is the fun of trying to pair wine with food - thinking of combinations and trying to see if they really do work. The conversation of these topics will never cease to interest me as I find it fascinating when trying to pair wines with food in general.
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Interesting. Spiciness definitely amplifies tannin, which is why you don’t want wines like cabernet with spicy food, since the wine will taste overly tannic and bitter.
But I find that ripe, low tannin, high alcohol wines like a Turley zinfandel do pretty well with spicy food. I don’t perceive the alcohol more.
I don’t mean Turley zin with (insert type of spicy Indian dish) is some food-wine magic pairing, just that it’s something that works well enough that I could eat and drink those together and have each one be fine.
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indeed.
i can think of some Indian flavour profiles where i prefer iced tea to beer
“Spiciness” is a bit too vague a term to be that useful. I myself don’t feel like general use of spices affects the perception of alcohol much, but I feel that alcohol can accentuate piquant elements (like spicy heat from black pepper) and capsaicin heat (from chilies etc.) does increase alcohol heat. Haven’t noticed it increasing the taste of alcohol, though.
This is why it’s best to avoid high-octane Zinfandels with wines that pack a lot of capsaicin heat, but they can instead work quite well with otherwise very spicy foods, because their ample fruit and spicy undertones are a good foil to the spice in the food.
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A brilliant clarification Otto! Spiciness does have many connotations which makes it a loose adjective. I am referring more to the capsaicin heat here, which is what I allude to with Thai/Indian spiciness. I am also referring to the increase of alcohol heat, and not specifically tasting the alcohol - my apologies there.
Tannins is one that I forget to mention as well, but what you say is very true.
Drifting a bit, has anybody come across a NY restaurant with a good dhansak.
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There’s a reason one of the UK’s richest people is the guy who started Cobra Beer. Beer works.
BTW, if you don’t have it, “The Secret to That Takeaway Curry Taste” (link) by Julian Voigt is a must for us who ever lived in the UK and just miss those BIR flavors and dishes. Because one of the most terrifying things about moving here was the unfortunate encounter with a Hollywood Indian restaurant that thought Vindaloo was a dish made out of Ketchup and chili sauce.
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In Dallas I’m very lucky to live a mile away from an amazing BIR-style restaurant.
After living in the UK for a few years, I really missed that. I tried a few “good” Indian restaurants here that were inedible garbage. And then finally found this gem. Their Jalfrezi and Madras remind me of the finest joints in Birmingham.
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One of my surprising finds in recent times has been the white grenache and Indian curry pairing, with those wines from both Spain and South Africa. Occasionally I find a cool climate peppery shiraz can also work with spicy chicken dishes.
I am a big riesling lover but tend to find the dry and off-dry styles go better with SE Asian spicy food, such as Thai and Malay curries.
Cheers
Dave
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i think the reason that (at least German) Riesling works better with Thai preparations than with Indian cuisine
is that Thai cookery tends to be – even if fiery – more delicate in nature,
and Riesling can work its way in between the various spices and herbal aromas
better than it can in the Indian cookbook, where the components sacrifice individual identity
for the statement of the general flavour profile
I know this is a couple years after, but I stumbled on this post and could not disagree with you more.
It’s all personal to everyone, but I’d had some phenomenal wine and Indian food pairings that go well beyond the traditional “Riesling” to tone down spice (which is a very Western concept).
For example, recently had a 2001 Sassicaia with pongal and a 2009 Chateau Pontet-Canet with upma. Both were amazing tastings. Even had a young Napa Cabernet-Syrah blend with aloo tikki at home.
You’re underselling Indian food as a cuisine by saying Indian food needs beer and maybe a cocktail.
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My friend Shalini Sekhar, who is of Indian heritage, makes wine on her small label, Ottavino, specifically to pair with Indian cuisine. She started with Gruner Veltliner and St. Laurent. (I think she added something new, but don’t recall what, and am not sure if it’s been released yet.) But, she’d generally found Austrian wines worked well. More body with Gruner, soft tannins with the reds,…
We eat Indian food as a matter of routine and almost always have champagne, usually a rose and often a saignée with some body. If not, a beer.
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Who knew there was good Indian food in Alabama?
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