Malgudi Garden features Indian dishes such as samosa, puri, and sambar. In this week’s edition of Culinary Crusade, Wingspan’s Kanz Bitar gives her opinion on the restaurant.
Malgudi Garden serves up some spice
Living in Texas, a really diverse state, I was able to grow up having a lot of Indian friends but throughout all these years, I had never had Indian food. So for this week’s culinary crusade, I went to Malgudi Garden to try some Indian food.
Going into this, I knew that I wasn’t going to enjoy the food mainly because I hate spicy food. However I decided to go to branch out and try Indian food.
But the few things that I really liked were the samosa, and puri dipped in sambar.
There were some that I felt I would’ve liked if it wasn’t for the spice, like chole, it had a good flavor, but the spice was too strong for me.
I don’t think I’ll be going to an Indian restaurant anytime soon, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it like I may have been before.
Bhele Poori
The word Chat, in Hindi, translates to “licking one’s fingers while eating”. Playing a big role in Indian cuisine, when going to an authentic Indian restaurant starting your meal without chat is a crime. Although chat is considered fast food it has numerous ingredients that make it moreish and keeps people coming back for more.
Chat makes me nostalgic because it brings back the times when the entire family is huddled around the kitchen counter saying “pass the chutney” or “here here try this combination”. I also remember my brother, only 3 at the time, would clutch on the countertop hoping to get a glance of the food because the rest of us were too preoccupied to pay attention to the little ones.
Most chat items are based on fired dough, containing gluten, but Bhele Pooris’ highlight is the puffed rice. This mix combined homemade red and green chutney is a satisfying snack is the evenings.
Any Bhele Poori mix.
Red Chutney
4 dates
¼ cup goji berries
½ cup tamarind water
½ water
½ red chili
1 tsp black salt
Green Chutney
One bunch cilantro
Half bunch fresh mint leaves
2 green chilies
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp black salt
¼ cup roasted gram dhal
Garnish
1 Chopped tomato
1 finely chopped onion
1 boiled potato cut into small pieces
This dish is a simple mix and eat. Add the desired amount of each chutney to your Bhele Poori mix and garnish with a onions potatoes, and tomatoes.