Indian food at the beach

[summerstyle]

Hi all - I've posted in the food section but also posting here for traffic.

For those who are pedantic amongst us - AIBU for requesting recipes from an internet forum?

Just back from a lovely weekend at the seaside in a vibrant multicultural area. There were loads of Indian families on the beach who at lunchtime brought out the most amazing smelling food.

Most of the groups seemed to have chapatis and curry.

I love Indian food but have never thought of it as beach/picnic food.

So I'm after some ideas for great Indian food that can be eaten cold, and/or suitable for beach days / picnics.

Recipes or links to recipes would be amazing.

Thank you

No idea what those families had with them but I think cauliflower curry of some sort would be lovely cold. Or potatoes and cumin – almost like a spicy potato salad.

If you could smell it surely it was hot, just make / reheat a curry or food of your choice and put it in a food flask.

We live by the beach and often take sausages and bacon down like this to make rolls of out in the morning or take a stir fry if down there for the evening.

I have an Indian friend who brings pakoras and coriander chutney (both homemade) to picnics, including on the beach. She makes the pakoras from whatever is available in her kitchen or garden - cauliflower, aubergines, onions, whole chillies, potatoes... It's always very delicious.

Never heard of Bhaji On The Beach?
Not really about food per se but such a great film. 😁

I'm 80% sure it wasn't hot. Some of these families had been at the beach for hours before they started to eat and it was tuppaware boxes taken out of bags for life etc. Unless had been heated up sufficiently by the sun and it was a blisteringly hot day.

Great tip about putting sausage rolls etc into thermos flasks! Will definitely try that out.

You can carry stuffed parathas in keep-warm type lunchboxes. Aloo paratha, cauliflower paratha, palak paratha.

Pulao type rices with vegetables. Khichri. Upma.

I got caught out the other day, i was on the beach with a friend for lunch, she offered me Pakora, like a fool i took it, never thought to ask which type it was, it was bloody haggis pakora 😩God awful stuff. Even the seagulls thought twice.

You are not wrong. We often pass large groups on our local beach. Soo tempting to just sit down and hope someone passes something to us. It just seems so sociable and delicious all at the same time!

Poha pulao and Subz ke shami (rice and vegetables, as well as vegetable patties) are on my list to try

Lots of Asian people visit our beach and bring big pots of Biryani, samosas, spicy salads, pakoras, onion bahji types of food with them. If you have an Asian sweet shop near you go and have a look at the savoury food they sell in there, that is the type of food to eat cold.

My next door neighbour coiks all the beautiful Indian snacks mentioned above. Since Covid we have little ritual where we take some gins in a tin and a the snacks to the park. We sit on a bench and put the world's to rights for a couple of hours

I do love that film. I haven’t seen it for years.

https://bombaysweetcentre.co.uk/our-menu/

What do you think tiffin boxes are for? Portable food.

Years ago I used to buy food from that shop and the one on the corner across the road. Delicious.

My partner is half indian and used to have 'curry picnics' on the beach with his Indian side of the family, he said they used to take curry, samosas, the rest of the usual sides etc and eat them cold. We always have a bit of a laugh about his famous 'curry picnics' because he says it used to be so embarrassing when other families had usual picnics with sausage rolls, sandwiches etc but his family would whip out a full meal

Curry cold is nice. I like it cold for breakfast on toast, never thought of taking it as a picnic though.

We live a city with a large Asian community and the families who picnic near us are amazing- gazebo, full size barbecue, twenty or more
people, huge feasts. Makes my offerings look pathetic!

As a lover of cold curry I can imagine going to the beach with leftover jalfrezi, a few onion bhajis, some roti or naan, and a bit of salad, would be a thing of great joy.

We make rotis and then some various dips and transport them every where.

@summerstyle check out Yotam
Ottolenghi (lots of books available but also does regular guardian recipe articles) his books simple and test kitchen are fabulous.

I also love Shadi from unicorns in the kitchen (I get her emails - more Middle Eastern but equally portable and delicious).

I also love Bazaar by Sabrina Ghayour.

loads of recipes on bbc goodfood etc.

Don’t limit yourself to Indian - also google Pakistan or Asian for recipe ideas.

We try to keep picnics simple but often take samosas, bhaji and pakoras. Personally, curry hot or cold is too messy and requires plates and cutlery.

I always buy your spices. 😍

The film Bhaji On The Beach was my first thought too when seeing this thread title! Good film.

Aside from that, samosas and accompanying Indian dips would be tasty and easy to take to the beach.

They wouldn’t have been chapattis. Probably thepla / methi or another kind of paratha.

Veggie samosas can be eaten hot or cold anytime, any where