Appetizer
I live in Appleton, Wisconsin and ethnic food choices have been scarce. Within the past ten years we have seen an influx of restaurants that offer many choices from Korean, Japanese, Indian, Laotian, and Vietnamese cuisine. I want to share my experiences with my favorite Indian Thai restaurant. Being a picky eater, my wife Becky has had a challenge with persuading me to try different foods outside of burgers and pizza. She recommended trying Indian food when this new restaurant opened about ten years ago called ” India Darbar“. We rarely dine in and prefer to order take out. The choices on their menu were unfamiliar, so research had to be done. After much deliberation, I called in our first order.
Paneer Pakora, Samosa, Aloo Tikki
I hadn’t tried Indian food before and couldn’t decide on what to try for the appetizer, so we chose the Darbar vegetable platter. This trio of deep-fried finger foods comes with a dark sauce for dipping that looks like soy sauce but has a mild savory flavor with a slight tanginess. Paneer Pakora is homemade cheese that is dipped in chick pea batter and deep fried. This is not your typical fried mozzarella stick with marinara. The chick pea batter is crispy, but the cheese doesn’t melt. The consistency is firm and hot, and squeaks when you chew it like a cheese curd. The Samosas’ are a triangular shaped deep-fried pastry filled with a mixture of potato, lentils, peas, onions and spices. The pastry is thick and crispy, but chewy at the same time. The filling is dense and mild in flavor, but the dipping sauce helps. Aloo Tikki is made with boiled potatoes and a variety of mild spices. Aloo means potato and the word tikki means croquette in Hindi, so basically is a fried potato cake. My favorite of the three is the samosa with that sauce, it’s so good.
Main Dishes
Dal Makhni
Becky ordered a vegetarian dish called Dal Makhni. This dish is made with black lentils, kidney beans butter, garlic, ginger and onions. This dish is slowly simmered for many hours to create this creamy delight. Served over rice and with some nan, I loved this immediately.
I ordered the Chicken 65. This is a very spicy deep-fried chicken dish that made my taste buds tingle. The red chilies used in this gets on your lips and you feel the burn for long after your done eating. Over rice, using the nan to pick up the food with your fingers is so satisfying. Since my first taste of Indian food, I have made it a weekly tradition.
Chicken 65
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