Butter Chicken, Naan and a Thali: Indian Food for Families Who Are Not Sure

Indian food frightens parents who think it is all chili. It is mostly bread, rice, lentils and yogurt, and the kitchen will make anything mild if you ask. Children eat well here.

The thali is the answer for a family. A round steel tray with small bowls of dal, a vegetable, a curry, yogurt, pickle, rice and bread, refilled until you stop them. Everyone finds three things they like. It is the everyday lunch of the whole country and it costs almost nothing.

Butter chicken is the one every child eats. Tandoori chicken in a tomato and butter sauce, mild and sweet, with naan to dip. Dal makhani is the black lentil stew, the vegetarian version of the same comfort. Paneer, the fresh cheese, in a tikka or a butter masala is the other safe order.

Bread, rice and the sweet things

Naan from a tandoor, garlic or plain. Roti, the thin wholewheat one. Paratha stuffed with potato for breakfast with yogurt. Kids tear bread and dip, which is the correct way. Biryani, the rice with meat and spices cooked together, is a whole meal in one pot.

Lassi, the yogurt drink, mango or sweet, in a clay cup. Fresh lime soda, sweet or salty. Gulab jamun, the syrup soaked doughnut balls. Kulfi, the dense Indian ice cream on a stick, pistachio.

The street food rule is hot and cooked in front of you, from a stall with a queue. Samosas fresh from the oil, jalebi twisted and fried and dunked in syrup while you watch. No salad, no ice, bottled water always, and hands washed before every meal. Follow that and the food is the best part of India.

Planning India with kids? Start with the full India family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.