The famous Taj Mahal

This post is long overdue! I talk about the Taj Mahal in Little India all the time here on the blog, but have yet to do a formal post about it. So here it is! Taj, as we call it, is the best Indian food I’ve ever had. And I’ve eaten Indian food at a whopping four restaurants. Ha. But seriously, even though I just recently got addicted to Indian cuisine, the other restaurants I’ve tried totally pale in comparison to Taj. My friends and I are regulars, as we eat there at least once a week. The prices are fantastic, and the food is out of this world in my opinion. It’s a no-frills kind of restaurant and the service is great.

So without further ado, here’s what we ordered tonight (and what we order almost every time we go):

Vegetable samosas.

What can I say about these? They are fried, they come out hot, they are filled with potatoes, peas and delicious spices…they are delectable.

Vegetable vindaloo.

This dish is incredibly spicy, flavorful and of course delicious. It usually comes with potatoes, cauliflower and carrots.

And everything else: chicken tikka masala in the far left corner, rice, sauces and naan.

The naan is amazing. There’s not much else to say about it. It’s chewy and crisp at the same time, warm and almost sweet. Mmmm! My favorite sauce is the green one…I think it is some sort of chili pepper sauce. It’s spicy and you can tell how much I like it by how much is missing from it The chicken tikka masala at Taj is my favorite dish. I have tried to recreate the sauce, but cannot get it right. The sauce is so flavorful, and the dollop of creamy yogurt on top really makes the dish luxurious.

Hannah, Catherine and I always share the samosas, vindaloo and tikka masala and along with rice and naan, and it is plenty of food.

With all my complaining about overdoing portions, I finally had to do something about it. I stuck to a don’t-eat-anything-off-your-plate policy tonight. The table shares everything, so I made myself a plate and stuck to it. I only had a couple bites that weren’t on my plate Baby steps.

Here’s my plate. A piece of naan (I ended up having a couple bites of another piece), a couple spoonfuls of rice covered by some chicken tikka masala and some vegetable vindaloo.

This meal makes me so happy.

Me and Catherine.

I’ll probably link to this post when I eat at Taj since I’m there so much. Is it weird that writing this post made me a little hungry again? Love, love, love Taj.

Night!

Happy Thursday

Breakfast:

Egg sandwich on multigrain bread. Yum.

It was snowing this morning! I’m so ready for spring.

I forgot to take a photo of lunch but it was the same thing I always bring to work with me: PB sandwich + a banana.

Afternoon snack of cukes and fennel.

And finally, ladies and gentlemen…

The debut of Taj Mahal! Best Indian restaurant I’ve eaten at and the best prices.

Dark photos on iPhone:

You can’t see it, but the green sauce is my favorite. I don’t know the name of it!

Veggie samosa…

My dish: rice, naan, chicken tikka masala + vegetable vindaloo.

My belly is sat-is-fied.

Food for thought –

This was a fun article, though some parts were pretty bogus. Like here:

Many American yogis are so particular about what they put in their bodies that they make Alice Waters look like Paula Deen. Sometimes, even an all-vegan, organic, low-carbon-footprint diet is not pure enough: each vegetable must be grown in an atmosphere of positive energy. Steve Ross, an influential teacher in Los Angeles, says in his book “Happy Yoga; 7 Reasons Why There’s Nothing to Worry About” that yogis must ask themselves this question in the produce section: “Are the farmers full of gratitude and love, and do they enjoy growing food, or are they angry and filled with hate for their job and all vegetables?”

Pretentious, much? I have a hard time believing many “yogis” are like this. Alice Waters as Paula Deen…riiiiiight…okay, NYTimes.

Happy Thursday!

Chana masala

Afternoon recap:

I left for my meeting this afternoon, and for about ten minutes…

…it got sunny outside!

I immediately knew what I needed — iced coffee from Think. I love iced coffee and cannot wait for iced coffee season to begin. A peak of sun after the crap rain this morning + 55 degrees = perfect iced coffee moment.

Can you tell I love Think?

Think makes delicious sandwiches and treats. My favorites are the tomato & mozzarella or granny smith apple and brie sandwiches as well as the brownies.

^One of the major reasons I will shell out $3 for a medium iced coffee from Think!

Perfection.

This cracked me up. Typical after a windy rainstorm in NYC — lots of ruined umbrellas in the trash.

And finally…dinner! Tonight’s recipe: chana masala. A little back story: For the past few months, some of my friends and I have been on an Indian food kick. We started going to this restaurant in Little India on 6th Street this fall, and now, at least once a week (if not more), I get a craving for Indian. We have been to the restaurant so many times now that the staff knows us and exactly what we order each time (vegetable samosas, chicken tikka masala, naan)…kind of funny but embarrassing at the same time. In an effort to ease my wallet, I have been trying to make Indian food on my own, but it always tastes bland or just…not right. One day I stocked up on a bunch of Indian spices and tried making a lentil soup/dal of sorts. I have made it a few times and it’s decent, but tonight, I knew I needed to try something new.

Here’s what you need:

Spices –

Dried cilantro, coriander, tumeric, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, garam masala.

Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and tomato paste (ideally I would have used tomato puree but I didn’t have any…I mixed the paste along with some water and it was fine).

I hate the smell of the stuff canned beans are soaked in, so I rinse them really well. Canned beans are so much more convenient than soaking beans overnight, so I deal. Bleh.

Here’s what you do:
If the chickpeas are canned, rinse and drain them. Throw everything in a pot (do all the spices to taste) and let it simmer away for 20 minutes! I served mine over some brown rice.

I love Whole Foods frozen brown rice because it’s cooks up so quickly and is great for single-serving portions.

Finished product along with some veggies:

This was seriously fast and delicious. The meal took no preparation and barely any clean up at all. It was also extremely cheap. The can of beans and tomato paste cost less than $1 each. The rice is a little pricey ($3-4?) but it’s so convenient and worth it (I also only used half the bag of rice). I can probably get three meals out of this recipe. The best part is that it actually tasted like masala sauce! I am very excited about that. I only ended up eating about 3/4 of the chickpeas and rice because it was so filling.

A snack of grapes and green tea is probably in my future. I have a lot of reading to catch up on — I am already slacking off one week into the semester!