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Jewel in the Crown

Indian Cuisine

By Carole Kotkin

Indian cooking is heating up in kitchens around the country as American chefs begin to uncover the secrets of this complex and deeply flavorful cuisine. Regional Indian restaurants and those featuring Indian-fusion themes are opening everywhere, and Indian-inspired dishes show up on menus in all sorts of dining spots. It’s an expanding cuisine that is being cooked with greater authority and flair than ever before in America. For years, Indian restaurant food in the United States was the antithesis of fine dining. It was cheap, filling food, eaten in hole-in-the-wall curry restaurants in ethnic neighborhoods. Most of the food was based on northern Indian cuisine, but the scene is changing. Chefs are serving not only the now-familiar tandoori specialties and chicken tikka masala but also are introducing the cuisine of the southern part of the country, with its vibrant vegetarian dishes.

On every culinary front, the boundaries between traditional cuisines are giving way to fusion and now it’s India’s turn to be the newest player on the fusion front. Indian cuisine is having an impact on American cooking few could have imagined 10 years ago, before Americans had fully developed a taste for adventurous boldly flavored food. While some chefs use the spices as backdrop to their own styles of cooking, others borrow more liberally from traditional Indian cuisine applying Indian techniques to ingredients that are rare or unknown in India.  Prominent American chefs, like Lydia Shire at Biba in Boston,  Gary Danko at Gary Danko’s in San Francisco, Nora Poullon at Restaurant Nora in Washington D.C., and Rocco DiSpirito at Union Pacific in New York, have been putting tastes of India on their menus for some time. For Norman Van Aken of Norman’s in Miami, experimenting with Indian spices has long been an important element in his cooking. “We have done an entire Tasting Menu on Indian Cuisine. I think it’s a natural with the climate we have here. One of the dishes we do is a roasted squab with yogurt and Indian spices,” he says. Another trailblazer in applying Indian spices to local ingredients is Chef Allen Susser of Chef Allen’s in Miami prepares dishes like crab cakes with mango chutney and cool orange riata served with red snapper and vindalloo made with lobster. The trend is not without its critics, however. Neela Paniz, chef and co-owner of Bombay Café in West Los Angeles and author of Bombay Café cookbook, says, “Some of the American chefs do not have a true understanding of Indian cuisine and use spices incorrectly, like sprinkling unpalatable un-toasted mustard seeds over a dish.”

The creative blending and use of spices are the heart of Indian cooking. Indians have been the acknowledged masters in the use of spices for over 2,000 years. The variety of spices and condiments is staggering and each region uses different spices in their food. Neela Paniz, of Bombay Café says, “Almost every spice you can name goes into an Indian dish-- cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, bay leaves, fennel, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds, nutmeg and mace.. either ground or used whole and more delicate, complicated flavors also are emerging, including mustard seeds and curry leaves.”

The food of India varies from region to region because of religion, geographic location, and  history. Before India’s independence it was divided into 600 semi-independent kingdoms ruled by maharajahs and wealthy landowners, as well as large tracts ruled directly by the British, and each developed its own cuisine. There are now presently 37 different Indian states, (the number of states changes with new political situations) each with its own language, history, literature, dress, and culinary traditions. The people of Kerala, in the southwest, enjoy shrimp and coconut, unknown in the meat-loving northwest. In Bengal and Andhra Pradesh and other southern states, the staple is rice; in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in the north, the staple is wheat. People from Gujerat, north of Bombay, eat nothing grown underground, consequently no garlic and onions. Four centuries of colonization by the Portuguese in Goa influenced the Goan cuisine with ingredients like palm vinegar. Muslims abstain from pork, and Hindus avoid beef. Madhur Jaffrey, the Indian actress and  author of more than a dozen Indian cook books, recalls in her book Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking, trading lunches in the schoolyard; and she’s not talking abut peanut butter and jelly. “The kids carried lunches filled with regional specialties that also reflected their religious dietary restrictions,” she writes. Jaffrey, a Hindu, would bring quail and partridge prepared with onions, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper and yogurt. Her Punjabi friend of Sikh faith would bring wheat parathas filled with pomegranate seeds and eaten with a sweet and sour homemade turnip pickle. Her friend from Gujerat, a Jain who followed strict vegetarianism, would bring pancakes made from legumes called pooras. Her Muslim friend from Uttar Pradesh would bring beef cooked with spinach and flavored with chiles, cardamon and cloves.

As a child growing up in Bombay, Neela Paniz, of Bombay Café,  was exposed to the marvelous dishes prepared by her family’s cook, whom Paniz considers to be one of the best in all India. After moving to Los Angeles almost 30 years ago, she grew homesick for real Indian food. Her aunt taught her to cook, and later, on vacations in Bombay, she studied with the cook her family employed. When she opened the 75-seat Bombay Café 12 years ago, she began to break the rules of Indian cooking and create her own exciting style. She has taken full advantage of ingredients not readily available in the India of her childhood such as fresh seafood and vegetables like lettuce and broccoli to create an Indian-California innovation. “Indian cuisine is probably one of the most ancient cuisines and likely one of the most complicated but it’s finally making its emergence into the Western world. When people recognize that there is a lot more to Indian food than the bottle of curry on their spice shelf, then the acceptance is much more favorable,” she says. Although Bombay Cafe does a range of tandoori and vegetarian dishes, she has introduced her customers to Indian “street food” as well. That would include such dishes as chat, which features seupuri—dollar-sized crisp crackers, flat or puffed, made of semolina flour—that are topped with potatoes, onions and contrasting chutneys. They are served like mini tostados with a noodle, called sev, which is made of chickpea flour. “Puffed ones are served with lentil dumplings and potatoes and smothered with yogurt and chutney, “ Paniz says. “There are many tastes and textures: The crunch comes from the puri itself, the flavor from the lentil dumpling, the sweet and sour chutney made from tamarind and dates.” In addition there is panipuri, puffed puri with a hole broken on the top with sprouted mung beans and cumin-mint water. “ You can pop those into your mouth, and it’s a shot of fabulous flavors, “Paniz says. “These are foods that are easy to dispense from a cart and don’t require much refrigeration, because there is no meat involved. The flavors come from a variety of chutneys.”

“For me, Tabla is like a dream come true. I always wanted to mix and match Indian with European food, but in India I was told it couldn’t be done, that Indian spices were too strong for European food,” says Executive chef Floyd Cardoz of the fusion-Indian restaurant conceived and developed by restaurateur Danny Meyer and Michael Romano, Meyer’s executive chef and partner at Union Square Café. Cardoz was born in Bombay 40 years ago of Goan parentage--therefore his Portuguese colonial name. He first trained in India, but he also honed his craft in Switzerland before coming to New York about 10 years ago where he landed a job as executive sous-chef under Gray Kunz at Lespinasse, a four-star restaurant that has no inhibitions about breaking cultural barriers and infusing classical French food with Asian flavors. Cardoz and  Romano went to India where they observed, ate and learned about the cuisines of various regions. Ultimately, they decided the key to Tabla’s (named after tunable Indian drums) menu would be to use the freshest of seasonal American foods and prepare them with Indian flair and French technique. Three Tandoori ovens are built into the Tabla scheme. Two are located in the main level Bread Bar at Tabla  where hot, fresh flat breads and casual home-style foods are featured. When the lid of the oven is removed, it reveals charcoal lining the bottom that reaches temperatures of up to 900 degrees. When preparing the thin cakes of bread (naan) that accompany many Indian dishes, the cook applies the batter directly to the side of the oven. The bread sticks to the side and is done within a minute. Among the breads is a naan with rosemary and olive oil served with lemon-chive raita, and tandoori “pizza” of Goan spiced mushrooms. The third tandoor is in the kitchen of the balcony level Tabla where more elaborate prix fixe, seasonal menus are  cooked. Here, chef Cardoz cooks Goan spiced Maine crab cakes  and serves them with tamarind chutney, and braised lamb shoulder with lamb loin and green baby artichokes, fennel, black pepper and cardamom sauce. Cardoz’ subtle use of spices shatters the notion that Indian food is always exceedingly spicy. Tabla’s extensive wine list is evenly divided between young whites and reds to go with the aromatic and spicy flavors of Cardoz’ food. “Older wines are too subtle and would be wasted on my food,” he remarks. There are 10 sparkling wines on the list that Cardoz suggests be served throughout the meal. “Champagne is cold and crisp, making it good with many spice blends,” Cardoz explains. In Ruth Reichl’s three-star review of Tabla in the New York Times, she said, “This is American food, viewed through a kaleidoscope of Indian spices.”

Ask New Delhi born Ashok Bajaj who opened the legendary, The Bombay Club in Washington, D.C. in 1988,  just a few blocks from the White House, about Indian Fusion food and he will tell you, “It’s America--some would like to see authentic Indian; others would like touches of it. There’s room for both. It’s like Italian or French nouvelle cuisine. You develop, you learn, you take ideas.” You may have to wait at the bar for one of the tables at The Bombay Club, much favored by presidents, senators and celebrities, but with a chilled glass of Riesling in hand you won’t mind. “We were the first in the U.S. to do sophisticated classic regional Indian cuisine, and that’s what we still do,” Bajaj continues. The food at the Bombay Club is a culinary trip through India. He respects the centuries-old Ayurvedic tradition concerning food combinations and blending of spices, believed to promote good health and to heal. Indian dishes tend to present a number of distinct, equally strong flavors—some sweet, some hot, some sour, some salty—so that the combination will provide flavors that will harmonize.  “A healthy meal at Bombay Club would include a balance between sweet and sour (chutney and pickles) and include fresh vegetables, lentils, yogurt, rice chapati, perhaps meat, but always pickles”, Bajaj explains. A serious wine connoisseur, Bajaj says, “Wine is an integral part of Indian food since ancient history. They are even growing wine grapes in the Western part of India. Of course, it’s in the preliminary stages, but at least it’s a beginning.” Bombay Club has a list of French, Italian and American wines. “We try to educate our customers to choose the wines that will complement our food—Rieslings, Gewurztraminers, Rhones, Pinots and Chardonnay—but guests still ask for Cabernets that don’t go well at all,” he says.

As the flavors of India are becoming more commonplace on U.S. menus,  Indian foods and seasonings are filling supermarket shelves almost as fast as they are being embraced by chefs. Immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka propel the movement. Bags of colorful lentils, blocks of tart-sweet tamarind paste and jars of cardamom pods line Indian grocery shelves. Indian spices like black mustard seeds, fenugreek and fragrant, extra long grain basmati rice, essential for fine Indian cooking, is no longer a curiosity. Basmati rice is routinely imported now and is also being grown in Texas. Linda Bladholm has written The Indian Grocery Store Demystified, a comprehensive guide through the maze of ingredients found in over 9,000 Indian grocery stores in America. “Shopping in an Indian market is challenging, but with persistence and an open mind you will unearth a rich treasure trove of Indian ingredients. Experiment, explore, ask questions, taste, and try new things,” she advises. If there is no Indian grocery where you live, go to www.indiaplaza.com for a wide variety of Indian ingredients.

Across the Atlantic in London neighborhood “curry houses” have been  as ubiquitous as pubs, but authentic regional restaurants have opened all over town to join the 2,000 existing Indian restaurants in London. At the newly opened Cinnamon Club on the site of The Old Westminster Library, chef Vivek Singh from the Rajvillas Hotel in Jaipur and consultant Eric Chavot of London’s Capital Hotel are turning out dishes that stretch and lighten the traditional repertory, without loosing the basic integrity of traditional Indian cuisine and the superb wine list an exceptional food of chef Vineet Bhatia at Zaika has London abuzz.

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