Indian Culinary Adventures

Mmmmmm Indian food! I've had more this month than I've had in a year and that is a good thing (well, maybe not for my waistline, but man has it been delicious!!!).  Here's some of my recent culinary adventures.

Spice Court

I looked up Indian grocery stores in San Diego and came across a bunch on Black Mountain Road. I know from my time living in Indiana and visiting friends in New Jersey that some of the best Indian food comes from hole-in-the wall restaurants in the midst of strip malls dominated by Indian stores, so I figured it was a good place to check out (note - any Indian strip mall of repute in New Jersey also has a Dunkin Donuts).  Spice Court was a small market, with a fair selection of Indian spices and packaged goods as well as a small produce section and a rather plain dining area (the Copper Chimney Restaurant) with a few tables. I checked out the handwritten poster menus on the wall and decided to get one of my favorite Indian foods for lunch - Masala Dosa. 

Masala Dosa from the Copper Chimney 

I hate to use this expression on my blog, but OMG. It was good. Real good. I loooooove Masala Dosas!!!! Basically it is a thin crepe (made from fermented rice crazily enough!) filled, in this case, with a spiced potato mixture and accompanied with various chutneys - cilantro chutney and a few others I didn't recognize (not my favorite part of the meal - the dosa could stand on it's own) and a cup of dal. Altogether a phenomenal lunch, under $7.

Bombay Bazaar

Next, I headed across to the larger Indian grocery store, Bombay Bazaar. This place got some bad reviews on Yelp that I don't quite think are fair. It was well stocked, had lots of specialty items, and was fairly well organized, especially compared to some of the other markets I have been to for my armchair traveling food adventures. I found absolutely EVERYTHING on my list and didn't even need to ask for help! 

I was totally amused by the Pillsbury brand naan bread!!!!

my haul!!!!!!

Oh man, I bought SOOOOO much at the market! I came with a few recipes in mind, and stocked up on a bunch of spices and specialty ingredients. I got a couple types of bread (whole wheat roti and parathas), mango chutney, cilantro chutney, tamarind paste, curry leaves, a cheapo frozen meal of onion uttapam, toor dal, a snack mix (khatta meetha - a sweet and spicy blend of gram flour noodles, puffed rice, grean peas and peanuts), asafoetida powder (which I refer to only as ASSafoetida powder because it smells so gross), and mustard, fennel, carrow and fenugreek seeds. I also picked up some Nag Champa incense because it reminds me of my friends in PA who always burn it during their band practices:)

Cooking blog to follow!!!!