Panipuri (or golgappa), Indian street food served up in a restaurant:
In THE BATTLE OF THE BAKED POTATO, butter won, with bacon and cheese, sour cream and cheese coming next in the poll.
It's now the turn of side dishes to do battle. This is going to be a difficult battle, side dishes vary a lot from country to country. But here goes.
A side salad is a small dish served to accompany the main course of a meal. For the purposes of this post and poll, I'm excluding condiments (eg pepper, salt, vinegar), dips (eg aioli, crème fraîche, guacamole, hummus, pesto, raita, salsa, sour cream, taramasalata), sauces (eg apple sauce, barbecue sauce, gravy, ketchup, mayonnaise, miso sauce, mustard sauce), and chutneys, pickles and relishes. The side dishes in this poll are solid!
My favourite side dishes are beans, Bombay potatoes, bread, carrots, fries/chips, halloumi cheese, hash browns, mixed vegetables, mushrooms, onion bhajis, onion rings, patatas bravas, peas, spring rolls and tarka dhal, with saag aloo being the side dish I most like. It's when I go to Indian restaurants that I go town on side dishes. In my opinion, a saag aloo is the king of Indian side dishes. Saag means spinach and aloo means potato. The dish is a mix of spinach and potato. Just as mint and chocolate go together, spinach and potato work perfectly together.
Saag aloo:
My least favourite side dishes are artichoke, aubergine/eggplant, brinjal bhaji, courgette/zucchini and water chestnuts, with Bombay duck (also known as bummalo) being the side dish I most dislike. Bombay duck, a species of lizardfish, is a very smelly fish! I defy anyone to like it!
What are your most and least favourite side dishes?
Have you noticed that increasingly at restaurants side dishes have to be ordered to make up the meal you want?
I've noticed that at restaurants I have to order more side dishes to make a meal that I want to eat. Before covid and the cost of living crisis, restaurants are increasingly presenting things as side dishes that were were once part of the priced-up main course plate. I often have to separately order battered mushrooms and onion rings to go with my burger and fries main meal when once they were thrown in. Likewise when I order a fried breakfast at a greasy spoon cafe here, I have to separately order grilled tomatoes, hash browns and sautéed mushrooms to go with my bacon, sausage and eggs when once everything was thrown onto my plate. Clearly restaurants aren't thriving. I hope restaurants recover as I love the idea of communal eating.
Below is a poll where you can anonymously select your most favourite side dish. Unfortunately only one pick is allowed in the poll.
Given that anything can be served as a side dish, it wasn't easy compiling this poll. A poll on this site can only have a maximum of 20 answer options, so unfortunately there was no room as poll options for: aloo gobi, artichoke, asparagus, aubergine (aka eggplant), bean sprouts, beetroot (aka beet), bhindi bhaji, bok choy, bokkeum, Bombay duck (aka bummalo), Bombay potatoes, brinjal bhaji,broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage (including Sauerkraut), champ, chickpeas, chole, clapshot (aka clapshaw), courgette (aka zucchini), couscous, crispy seaweed, croquettes (aka croquetas), dumplings (eg gnocchi), fried onions, halloumi cheese, jeon, jjim, jorim, kale, kimchi, leeks, lettuce, mashed potato, mixed vegetables, namul, neeps and tatties (a Scottish haggis side dish), onion bhajis, onions (including fried and sautéed onions), pakoras, papad (aka papadams), parsnips, patatas bravas, pigs in blankets (aka kilted soldiers), prawn crackers (aka har beng), roast potatoes, saag aloo, samosas, souse, spinach, spring rolls (including pancake rolls (aka chun guin)), squash, swede (aka rutabaga), sweetcorn (aka corn), sweet potato fries, tarka dhal, thoran, tomatoes, truffles, tteokbokki, turnips, water chestnuts, yams and Yorkshire pudding.
I think fries/chips will win the poll, with baked potatoes/loaded skins, bread, pasta, rice and salad faring well in the poll.
I want to thank @EnigmaInitiative for her invaluable advice in compiling this poll. Obviously, any mistakes with the poll are my mistakes unless 'other' wins!
Please see the first comment below to see what has won each battle of the food and drinks so far.
Bombay duck:
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29 comments
I'd happily eat only side dishes, tapas style, but yes, seems like an excuse to pay more . . .
Aloo chana - curried chickpeas - would be a fav, as would boquerones - pickled anchovies.
I love a good tapas though if it's good I'm not always happy sharing!
I've never eaten pickled anchovies.
@spunkycumfun
The problem with boquerones is that one serving is never enough.
Friends of wonder why I demand a table to myself when we go out for tapas!!
@lindoboy100 I wish pubs serving food here offered tapas dishes.
@spunkycumfun
There's a cracking restaurant in Edin, Mother India, does tapas style indian food. The menu isn't overly complicated and the food will take you back to the real India. Thoroughly recommend it if you're ever here!
Funnily enough, the latest craze for many pubs around town is offering 5 or 6 tapas style dishes for sharing, usually things like haggis fritters, fish goujons, hummus and flat bread, olives. Seems really popular . . . and I'm starving now!!
@lindoboy100 I hope that craze reaches Nottingham.
When eating meats, sweet potato with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar.
Eating fish it would be steamed veggies.
A salad with pasta dishes.
You clearly know what side dishes you like. Good on you, and thanks for stopping by.
@spunkycumfun
LOL That's not set in stone, I change it up, some times.
@countrylive2 A change now and then is always good.
Deviled eggs.
I forgot about devilled eggs as a side dish. My apologies.
Pussy, warm soft licks
Only a side dish? I thought that would be a main course!
I am a picky eater so I could rule out most of the choices right away, leaving four: baked beans, fries/chips, hash browns, and rice. Then it became difficult. I finally went with rice, even though there are many types of rice and not always available in some restaurants. And as a picky eater the main dish is usually a steak or Bar-B-Q chicken, both great with rice.
I've had rice with chicken but never with steak. I always have fries with my steak.
@spunkycumfun Yeah, I generally have fries with steak since a rice side dish is seldom available. I have had rice a few times when available and it tastes great when mixed with the steak juice and sauce. I'm getting hungry now . . .
@RUmytranny I could eat a good steak now!
Fries would be my favorite. But I like veggies like green beans, spinach, carrots, and fresh salads to go with my main dish.
I love most vegetables as side dishes, but I'll never order a salad as a side dish.
For some reason right now I have a craving for onion rings. 😂
I'm now craving marmalade on toast!
Other - Lebanese rice (with vermicelli), batata harra (spicy Lebanese potatoes) stuffed vine leaves (Lebanese style over the Greek version), Turkish bulghur pilaf, saganaki (Greek pan-fried cheese), chard with black-eyed peas (Greek and Lebanse dish), grilled vegetables mix (mushroom, bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant), hortopita (Greek wild-greens pie), gigantes (Greek baked broad beans), Cretan dakos (rusks with chopped tomatoes and soft cheese).
All my favorites.
My list missed out some great side dishes. My apologies.
I almost voted for fries but realized a thing dating back to when I was a kid. For me it isn't a meal without bread of some sort. This attitude is so ingrained that I hardly think of bread as a side. Now for breakfast the bread is toast or pancakes and the side would be hashbrowns. Baked beans are always a side I will skip.
Like you, when I go to a restaurant I've had to re-think what a side dish. Once bread, and I mean fancy bread, was free if you just asked for it in a restaurant. I understand with food inflation why it's not free nowadays. Restaurants seem to be operating on fine margins nowadays.
@spunkycumfun Restaurants are having a hard time and that is a sad thing.
@justskin1 It is sad. I hate seeing restaurants close down as they are all about communal eating and socialising.
I went for bread here as I enjoy vegetables, and mac and cheese and potatoes and pasta too. So many to choose and I couldn't just choose one..
Another great battle here, and I hope you enjoy a Fantastic Friday and may it be a great start to a wonderful weekend..
Bread is always welcome as a side dish to a main course. It helps to mop up the gravy or sauce!
Mashed potatoes
I like my potatoes mashed with butter, grated cheese and a little bit of milk.
@sexstarvedme1966 I must start adding black pepper to my mashed potato.
@sexstarvedme1966 Mustard. Now you're talking!
The truth is, my dear friend S, that food has never been one of my main interests, and it’s becoming even less so over time. As for dining out, I only do it once or twice a year, in summer, when there’s some commitment with a visitor, or, more rarely, with family. Though lately, what they enjoy the most are the barbecues prepared by their father: my husband, Dan.
But frankly, when it comes to a side dish, if I have to choose one, and I will, you’re going to be surprised because it’s not on your list: Alioli! 😃 That is, if it can even be considered a side dish, which for me, it absolutely is. They never give me enough of it... As you know is a paste, or cream, made from raw garlic mixed with olive oil and salt, all mashed and emulsified… But let no one ask me for a kiss after I’ve eaten it! 😆
I love aioli. Just to make the poll manageable, I arbitrarily excluded dips as side dishes.
I voted for baked beans, as that is my favorite. But given my aversion to vegetables in general, I eat garden salads the most.
The option is like being given the least is fries. Not that I don't like them it's just that they're so common I get tired of eating them.
What kills me is breakfast places that include hash browns (aka early morning fries) with EVERYTHNG, including pancakes, grits, home fries, toast, etc. I mean REALLY? We need BOTH?
Though popular here, hash browns aren't so commonly found as in America. They're usually served as part of a fried breakfast.
For the record, Brussels sprouts won THE BATTLE OF THE VEGETABLES, bananas won THE BATTLE OF THE FRUITS, basil won THE BATTLE OF THE HERBS, garlic won THE BATTLE OF THE SPICES, cashew nuts won THE BATTLE OF THE NUTS, sunflower seeds won THE BATTLE OF THE SEEDS, roast beef won THE BATTLE OF THE ROAST DINNERS, cheesecake won THE BATTLE OF THE PUDDINGS, pepperoni won THE BATTLE OF THE PIZZA TOPPINGS, Caesar salad won THE BATTLE OF THE SALADS, green beans won THE BATTLE OF THE BEANS, watermelon won THE BATTLE OF THE MELONS, tomato-based pasta sauce won THE BATTLE OF THE HOT SAUCY DIPS, barbecue sauce won THE BATTLE OF THE COOL SAUCY DIPS, vanilla ice cream won THE BATTLE OF THE ICE CREAMS, capellini (aka angel hair) won THE BATTLE OF THE PASTAS, steak won THE BATTLE OF THE BARBECUE, romaine lettuce won THE BATTLE OF THE LETTUCES, honeycrisp apples won THE BATTLE OF THE APPLES, stout won THE BATTLE OF THE BEERS, whisky won THE BATTLE OF THE SPIRITS, clam chowder won THE BATTLE OF THE SOUPS, sourdough bread won THE BATTLE OF THE BREADS, liver won THE BATTLE OF THE OFFAL, roast turkey won THE BATTLE OF CHRISTMAS FOODS, Old Fashioned won THE BATTLE OF THE COCKTAILS, Americano coffee won THE BATTLE OF THE COFFEES, English breakfast tea won THE BATTLE OF THE TEAS, maple syrup won THE BATTLE OF THE PANCAKES, barbecue sauce won THE BATTLE OF THE CONDIMENTS, ribeye steak won THE BATTLE OF THE STEAKS, portobello mushrooms won THE BATTLE OF THE MUSHROOMS, beefsteak tomatoes won THE BATTLE OF THE TOMATOES, barbecue crisps won THE BATTLE OF THE CRISPS, strawberries won THE BATTLE OF THE BERRIES, crab won THE BATTLE OF THE SHELLFISH, vanilla yogurt won THE BATTLE OF THE YOGURTS, jasmine rice won THE BATTLE OF THE RICE, chicken wings won THE BATTLE OF HOT FINGER FOODS, cheeses won THE BATTLE OF COLD FINGER FOODS, dry red wine won THE BATTLE OF THE WINES, tap water won THE BATTLE OF WATER, blueberry muffins won THE BATTLE OF THE MUFFINS, cheese won THE BATTLE OF THE CHARCUTERIE, cow milk hard cheese won THE BATTLE OF THE CHEESE, burgers won THE BATTLE OF FAST FOOD, olive oil won THE BATTLE OF THE OILS, beef stew won THE BATTLE OF THE STEW, cow milk won THE BATTLE OF THE MILK, and butter won THE BATTLE OF THE BAKED POTATO.