Will work for Nan.
Sometimes people I know contemplate for an hour over what to get for dinner “what do you want” “I don’t care, what do you want” “I’m not sure how about pizza” “No I’m pizza-d out” “ Well how about chinese” “Too much MSG” “Well then you pick” “I just told you I don’t care” “Well you don’t want pizza or chinese so you do care” “ I don’t know there’s more than just pizza and chinese” “ I know so what do you want!” That conversation usually ends up with a fast drive to the drive thru (god forbid) or in my case some fast cooking before hunger pains set in and we go at each other like two wolves with one rabbit.
What’s strange is I never hear people say, “What do you want” “Oh I don’t know how about some Paneer Bhatura, a few Samosas and Shrimp Tandoori” Now that would shut me up.
Ordering Indian food can be overwhelming. Few other restaurants have such an expansive menu. For instance, Royal Taj has over 100 menu items. All those Aloos and Kormas can get complicated for most casual diners. I have a simple suggestion. Start with the bread!
Royal Taj’s menu has 18 different breads.
Nan is still the most popular. Soft and chewy, it’s perfect for dipping into whatever sauce is on the table and it’s even great by itself. What about Poori? It’s a fried bread that puffs up like a balloon, it’s flavor is sweet and almost dessert like. How about Roti? It’s a whole wheat bread or Partha a layered whole wheat bread? They all sound similar but there very different and very delicious. Nan comes in the most varieties; onion, garlic stuffed, chicken stuffed, lamb stuffed (Keema), potato stuffed (Aloo), cheese stuffed (Paneer), mint (Pudina), chilies and peppers (Hot & Spicy) it’s almost like ordering pizza.
The real trick is they way it’s cooked! Fresh made dough is slapped on the side of a huge clay oven. The oven is heated with a charcoal grill in the bottom. The bread takes on the flavors of the oven, grill and the toppings. It’s a beautiful thing. You really need to try them all and they’re all inexpensive ($2-$3 per order).
I can’t imagine making these at home and store bought Nan tastes, well like store bought pizza.
Meat Free.
Veggie lovers listen up, The cuisine at Indian Oven is a true veggie lovers delight. No more scavenging off the appetizer menu or falling back on that all too familiar salad option, Indian Oven has dozens of delicious veggie entrees that are certain to please.
The good folks over at Indian Oven have been cooking up traditional veggie dishes for decades. India has a huge vegetarian population and if anyone knows how to make a great satisfying veggie meal it’s Indians. Take a look at these two dishes, Mushroom Matar (right) and Baingan Bhuna (center) served alongside rice and Poori bread (ummm Poori bread).
The Mushroom Matar is labeled on the menu as “Tender mushrooms and green peas cooked with tomatoes & mild spices” and the Baingan Bhuna is described as “ Chunks of fried eggplant with onions, bell pepper and tomatoes with a touch of yogurt” Well the truth is those descriptions don’t even come close to capturing the savory flavors of these delicious dishes.
I’m not even veggie but I still end up ordering veggie dishes every time I’m at the Oven.
Now when you can get a meat lover to willingly order an all vegetarian meal your really cooking up some fine veggies. Truth is I don’t even miss it or really even notice the difference. The rich eggplant dish (Baingan Bhuna) was deeply spiced, not hot but very flavorful. It really looked like it had shredded meat in it. So much so, it required some picking on our part to convince ourselves it was in fact meat free, it was and it’s a excellent dinner choice.
The Mushroom Matar was exactly like the other Matar meat dishes except... no meat.
The sauce in those Matars is addicting, sweet savory and creamy. It’s also the perfect dipping sauce for that nan, roti or poori bread.
If I had grown up Indian I bet I’d be a vegetarian, unlike most cuisines Indian food really doesn’t need meat, there’s little difference in the flavor and in the end it’s just not neccesary to complete the dish. Now try saying that about the food we grew up on. We always assume without meat it’s not a meal, well if you order dishes like these two I think you’ll find a meat free meal is still a delicious dinner.
