At the India Day Parade in Manhattan (my first) we got Indian food from the stalls that lined the tiny park (I wish I could be more specific but I don’t know which park it was… but it was between 26th and 23rd streets and bordering Broadway, I think). The parade was okay. I was kind of disappointed, because it was just a bunch of floats that were not very cool and a bunch of really thugged out Indian teenagers. Also, I didn’t know that we weren’t allowed to walk IN the parade… I thought when you went to a parade, you could participate in the marching, etc. Nope… you stand on the side and watch people who are not very excited about their role in the parade wave to you half heartedly from a float, or you watch uncles with shiny hair and shiny mustaches dance and clap… or you listen to people shout slogans…. yeah, anyway, this is not as important as the food, which we had plenty of…I got a mixed appetizer plate for $4, which had a variety of fried pieces. I generally don’t like eating Indian food out, because it mostly always sucks, because it all tastes the same. I’ve never had spectacular Indian food in a restaurant. Usually it’s typical, or a little below par. Anyway, here’s a picture of the fried feast:
Looks pretty spicy and oily, huh? The onion chutney was really yummy, and the pakoras (the darker brown pieces) were spinach pakoras and also crispy and tasty. The potato ones (yellow filling) did nothing for me. The giant pieces are stuffed and fried hot peppers. They also tasted very bland and chalky in my mouth (too much potato).
Now, too bad I don’t eat meat, or I could have tried some of this tandoori delight, which looks amaaazing:
Tandoori food always looks so good. People need to make more vegetarian tandoori items, not just Paneer (which, btw, I only get when I’m in Bombay, and never in the US).
However, I did get some food that reminded me somewhat of Bombay… some Pav Bhaaji!! Except for the fact that it tasted nothing like Bombay Pav Bhaaji, where spicy bhaaji (vegetable dish and in this case, potato and tomato based) tops well buttered and grilled/toasted/fried bread, and then onions and lemon are piled on this lickable, sloppy mess, and you eat it all on a busy Bombay street, or on dirty Chowpatty Beach…that is real Pav Bhaaji. This Pav Bhaaji was pretty decent, even if it was only because of the memories it conjured up…
janki…
this blog is fantastic. very cute and very janks. don’t stop mentioning that you’re a vegetarian and that you don’t know what meat-eaters eat in the various situations in which you find yourself eating.
take care,
robbie
Was it perchance Madison Square Park? That’s going to be my guess. The next time you’re there, try the frozen custard at the Shake Shack, which is right in the park. In my personal opinion, I’ve had better, but people absolutely rave about it, so given your passion for frozen treats, I think you should give it a whirl.
Anyway, love your blog and can’t wait to read more — especially about the delicious food introduced to you today by yours truly!
[...] Aug 19th, 2007 by traderjanki Since it was Independence Day, I really wanted to celebrate by eating Indian food. So on Wednesday, we shared some delicious Pav Bhaaji in our apartment. Pav Bhaaji (pav=bread; bhaaji=vegetable) is a spicy, sloppy street food unique to Bombay. (The last time I ate this dish was last independence day, and I blogged about it here.) [...]