Indian table rw? [NYC]

My schedule this coming week is still up in the air, so I’ve got to count myself out for Indian Table. Hope to see you all soon at Zaab Zaab or Ming Xing, or for good eats elsewhere.

1 Like

Apologies I can’t make Thursday. I have to go to a department town hall meeting.

1 Like

you’ll be missed!

why not come to the xing fling?

Hi Folks,

i sent @Saregama a note, I stupidly took the shingles shot yesterday and I’m not in a good in a way today. I was so looking forward to getting together and eating the wonderful meal Saregama arranged but I’m having a bed day (as my SIL is fond of saying).

apologies, enjoy!

@vinouspleasure hope you’re feeling better — you and mrs V were missed, as was everyone else who couldn’t make it!

Here’s what we ate:, all from the Parsi menu for RW:

APPS:
Kolmi No PatioHead on Key West Pink Shrimp, shallot, tomatoes, roasted cumin, curry leaves. Pan Seared.

.

Marghi Na Farcha “Parsi Fried Chicken”Drums marinated in chili and brown onion paste. Panko dredged, egg coat. Raisin Chutney.

.

Irani Hotel Mutton KeemaGround goat meat, Bombay special green masala, green peas, topped with a half fried egg. Mumbai Ladi Pav.

.

Kera Na KebabGreen plantain kebab, seasoned with cumin, fresh coriander, egg wash coat. Our special green mango chutney.

.

MAINS:
Patra Ni MachchiSeasonal fish fillet marinated with green chutney, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed.

.

Mutton DhansakNo Sunday lunch is complete without this dish in Parsi households. Slow cooked goat in a blend of lentil, pumpkin, eggplant puree.

.

RavaiyaRoasted peanut and sesame seeds paste stuffed baby Eggplant, ground turmeric root, fennel, green garlic, sundried coconut powder.

.

Jardaloo Salli BotiLamb slivers marinated and braised with fresh apricot, malt vinegar garnished with potato sticks.

.

Sali MarghiChicken curry with cumin, garam masala, pepper, vinegar, ghee and fresh cilantro

.

SIDES:
Parsi Zereksh pulao — Rice with caramelized onions and barberries

.

Barbari Roti - Yeasted bread similar to Turkish naan

DESSERT:
Lagan Nu Custard — Baked vanilla nutmeg custard (served at Parsi Weddings) topped w/ almonds and pistachios
Cranberry Kulfi — Homemade ice-cream infused with sundried cranberries, wafer cigar

4 Likes

IMG_6368

Gin & tonic w/ salted cuke (great idea!)

IMG_6372

Shrimp.

IMG_6374

Plantains.

IMG_6375

Rice.

IMG_6379

Eggplant.

IMG_6383

Fish.

IMG_6384

Custard.

Oh, whoops! @Saregama Jinx! Sorry. Didn’t know you were also putting up pix.

3 Likes

My favorites
Apps - Kheema and Prawns
Mains - Dhansak and Jardaloo lamb

The Kheema was excellent, and the flavors were spot on without it being too spicy.

The prawns were an elevated rendition of the original for a restaurant setting.

The plantain kababs were different and tasty.

The fried chicken was a bit under-spiced for me, but the accompanying raisin chutney was a nice foil.

The dhansak was a very respectable version (take this as high praise from someone who grew up eating it on Sundays at the table of Parsi neighbors and whose mom it is now a specialty of), and the rice accompaniment was an adapted version of the traditional brown rice it’s served with. The goat was perfectly tender, the dal was thicker than it should be but very flavorful.

The lamb was surprisingly excellent - I like that dish, but the chef did an exceptionally good job with it.

The fish was a disappointment, to me anyway, because it’s otherwise one of my favorite dishes. Some portions arrived barely lukewarm though others were hot, but my main issue was that it needed much more of the green chutney it’s coated with.

The chicken was fine, but didn’t stand out - I expected it to be similarly flavored to the lamb, but it was just a regular (but nice) curry.

Overall, I thought this was a very good meal, and very representative of the cuisine.

2 Likes

The plantains were my favorite, and the eggplant. I was also underwhelmed by the fish, which was - in my opinion - overcooked and bland, especially in comparison to the spot-on prep of the other dishes.

The dessert was awesome and I could’ve eaten a few more of them.

I also thought it was a little weird that two dishes came with potato sticks, but what the hell, I like potato sticks.

1 Like

Me, too, hope you are feeling better! As I said last night, I have had shingles twice and both kinds of vaccines (I think one of them came in two doses). I was too “young” for the vaccine, when I got shingles the first time, but after the second time, they relented. I can tell you, as horrible as the vaccines were, the disease is (as you would guess) very much worse.

Also, me too, on that fish! Until I read @Saregama, I didn’t realize it was supposed to have a sauce. Having never grown up eating any of these foods (on Sundays or any other days), my favorite bite was definitely the Mutton Dhansak. I had to look it up today, as @Saregama kept referring to it as “goat,” which is a quite correct Indian animal identity. A new one on me! I had had the lamb with my daughter when we were there recently and still think it was also v. good. I was too full to try the eggplant, but it looked delicious.

Thanks @Saregama for putting this together! It was definitely a feast. The warm welcome at that restaurant is something special. And so nice to share it all with you, though the @vinouspleasures were definitely missed!

2 Likes

We really enjoyed the meal and company! For me the highlights were the eggplant, the jardaloo lamb, the chicken curry presented at the end, and the plantain kebab with its tasty green mango chutney. The dhansak was also good - a really nice full flavored veg and goat dish . The fried chicken app lacked salt and seasoning, tho the raisin chutney was really nice , the fish as noted was cold and lacked moistness with not enough of the green chutney. The zereksh pilaf was good. The goat keema app served with an egg and pao I thought was bland but I got it late, eggless and a bit cold so perhaps that contributed. Eggs improve everything! Loved my pineapple ginger mocktail and the custard desert was rich and good.

Really like this restaurant and its excellent chef and crew and the effort they are making!

@saragama thanks for arranging!

1 Like

I am so sad to have missed this, food looks wonderful and as ninkat said, a veritable feast.

The “potato sticks” in several pictures upthread look a lot like thin french fries to me, but it’s hard to get a sense of scale. As the names of a couple of the dishes suggest, they should be “sali”, very, very, thin slivers of crisply fried potato, closer to potato chips in crisposity, then even shoestring fries. Just as potato chips go with everything, from macaroni-tuna casserole to caviar, so do sali.

The “kulfi” above was simply described as “homemade ice cream”, but that does kulfi a great disservice. Was this one made with reduced/caramelized milk? (Kulfi is not strictly a Parsi dish, but next to the versions at Chowpatty beach in Bombay/Mumbai, made in proper kulfi cones, the next best version I’ve had was from the Parsi Dairy Farm in the same city, where discs were sliced off a kulfi log. An unconventional shape, but delicious nevertheless, and correctly caramelly through the reduction of the milk.)

About 2" long. If you’re familiar with French’s (or whatever) potato sticks, that’s the general idea.

The length is right. But how thin were these? Sali should be matchstick thin (or as Farokh Talati says charmingly in “Parsi”, the thickness of a two-pence coin – I’m in Cambridge and my other Parsi cookbooks are in NY).

Since I told you the length, you ought to be able to discern the width from looking at the several pictures of the potato sticks.

Not sali then.

Yes, salli

@vinouspleasure Think the menu is still on through next weekend if you can make it. You have all our favorites listed out!

(I was actually thinking about going back with friends who love Parsi food, but I may be maxed out on indian for a while)

1 Like

@ninkat it’s not supposed to have a sauce, rather it is slathered with a flavorful green chutney (like what you’d get as an accompaniment, using mint and cilantro but made thicker through the use of coconut).

The chutney steams into a coating like we had, I just wanted more of it (or a stronger version to flavor the fish better).

2 Likes