little india

lunch in kuala lumpur's little india was quite remarkable today. while i have always thought that i loved indian food, i am quickly realizing that i know very little about it. fortunately, with malaysia's ethnic indian population, we are getting a primer on a lot of the dishes that we have never had stateside. our lunch today at sangeetha, a southern indian vegetarian restaurant, proved to be quite a learning experience. i had the quick set lunch, costing rm $7, about $2 us. here is a run down of everything included on the tray. from top left and working clockwise, first is kuruma, a spicy vegetarian stew of chickpeas, potatoes, peas, cashews, tomatoes, chiles, star anise and cloves. second is chapatti, a crispy fried flat bread made of whole-wheat flour. next is appalam, crispy crackers made of dahl flour and scented with caraway and cumin. next is a special sweet dessert from the kerala region called semiya payasam. it is a tapioca and vermicelli noodle dessert cooked in rich coconut milk, scented with cardamom and a soft sour plum (similar in size to a raisin) that i had never had before. it was great, a really nice finish to the spiciness of the other components. next is a curd rice, a type of rice pudding made with yogurt, spiked with green chiles, sesame seeds and a fried chile pepper garnish. next to that is sambar rice made with sambar powder (a curry spice mix), turmeric, tamarind, tomatoes, onions, dahl and onions. finally is a biryani rice, basmati mixed with veggies, spices, cardamom and a few vanilla pods.
i finished the meal with masala tea, a really decadent tea flavored with spices and milk. masala chai is literally 'spiced tea.' in the states, we usually refer to this type of tea as simply 'chai,' although in india, chai simply means tea… along side the masala chai alina and i had gulab jamoon, a very rich milk dough made with condensed milk and a bit of flour, seasoned with rose water and cardamom, fried and soaked in a mixture of simple syrup, honey and rose water - out of this world. a far cry from the first time i had indian food on breckinridge lane with merilyn, carl and my brothers. i remember that the server offered us desert and we accepted, not having any idea what we were about to get. then after the gulab jamoon arrived at the table, all three of us boys, in our early teens, were hysterical with laughter at the completely unusual and foreign dessert we were presented - my, what a difference 20 years makes… here i am writing about the finer points of a great dessert that at one point in my life had me laughing so hard i was seconds away from peeing my pants… it must have been those moments - eating in indian, chinese, lebanese and greek restaurants, along with the traveling our parents did with us that got me where i am today - writing about a great southern indian lunch i just had in kuala lumpur, malaysia.
along side my set lunch, alina had chapatti set which included a few wedges of the same tasty fried whole wheat flat bread i had, along with kuruma, curried dahl (lentils) and aloo matar, a dry curry of potatoes and peas.
we finished the afternoon with a walk through little india, checking out sari shops, bangles and sitting outside the masjid mosque watching kuala lumpur's indian muslim population fill into the beautiful building, hailing the call of the muezzin for the adhan, the call to prayer. it was a peaceful and serene experience, hearing the melodic chants bellowing from the minaret above. david