I set off in quest of Indian cuisine last Sunday.
On Sunday 2nd March 2008, I went to the India House on Newhnam Road with some Queens’ members after our trip to Oxford. After we were seated, the Indian waiter asked if we would like to have something called poppadom. I did not have a clue what that was. I simply trusted my friends and had a go at having one poppadom as my starter.
Life is full of surprises. After a while, the waiter brought me my poppadom. It is a thin, crispy Indian lentil wafer. It just resembles a giant potato chip that you have to break it into pieces! The poppadums are served with 4 different kinds of dips– chopped onions, green minty chutney, mango chutney and one spicy ‘unidentified’. For my first try, I spooned little bits of mango chutney onto my poppadom pieces. It’s mouth-watering! Of course, I tried all the dips except the spicy one!
When I settled down to the menu, I found myself completely clueless about Indian food. I decided to count on my friends to choose the right type of curry. As I prefer a very mild curry, they suggested having Kurma. Kurma is a style of Indian curry made with yogurt or coconut milk, often accompanied by chicken or lamb. I finally ordered Kurma chicken with boiled rice!
I continued my quest on Tuesday night. I went to another Indian restaurant called Maharajah Indian Tandoori Restaurant on Castle Street after class with my MPhil classmates.
A guessing game began once I entered the restaurant. Approaching our table, the waiter asked, “may I get you something to drink?”
“Lassi,” my classmate replied.
“Lassi, please.” another clasmate said to the waiter.
What is lassi? I could guess that lassi must be a kind of beverage. Lassi is in fact a frothy iced yogurt drink. It is either salty or sweet. One of my classmates even had two glasses of lassi – one before and another one after the meal. I guess I should try the sweet lassi (pineapple or mango lassi) next time!
To whet our appetite, we had papadums (the term that this restaurant used for ‘poppadoms’). My classmate suggesed me having Korma as it is a mild curry. I ordered Korma chicken and a special type of naan bread (naan bread with almond and coconut) which the waiter claimed that it goes well with Korma.
After my second ’expedition’, I realize that ‘Kurma’ and ‘Korma’ are just the same style of curry and ‘Korma’ is sometimes spelt as ’Kurma’. Surprisingly, I had KORMA/KURMA chicken TWO times within THREE days!
Honestly speaking, I think ‘Korma’ chicken tastes better than ‘Kurma’ chicken. Maybe Korma/Kurma chicken will become my touchstone order in every Indian restaurant in Cambridge!!
Garlic naan bread from Sainsbury’s
