Gastro experiences at the weekend - 1. station: Shalimar Restaurant

My long weekend was very stirring but supergood, I'm full of gastro and cultural experiences. As I mentioned before my mum came to Budapest to spend the long weekend with me. Since the day of my moving nears, it seems, this was our last weekend together therefore we decided that we visit every place what we want to see, visit, try for years or rather we go to those restaurants what we were talking about for donkey's years but haven't tried together yet.

1. station: Shalimar

That's the way how we finally got to Budapest's best and oldest Indian restaurant, the Shalimar last Friday. I was here for the first time last year, after we returned from India. Since I have benchmark between the real and "Hungarian" Indian restaurants, I can state surely that the Shalimar is the best Indian resturant in Budapest nowadays.

If you want to taste numerous food for friendly price, I can highly recommend the restaurant's business lunch on working days between 12 and 16. I know that not everyone can settle to have one hour lunch time but if you once got here during lunch time, you will be satisfied sure enough.

Traditionally the lunch menu is served as thali. They serve the 3 different kind of main dishes on a big metal tray in small metal pots, plus a raita (yoghurt salad), a dessert. Besides these you can find rice and naan, Indian tandoori bread.

You can always choose between 2 kinds of menu, vegetarian and non-vegetarian (with chicken). The menus contain two same type of main dish, generally "Dal makhani a la Shalimar" which is the speciality of the restaurant's chef, made from assorted lentils in a smooth gravy with cream and a dash of fenugreek. This is my big favorite. The second main dish is always variable, this time "Punjabi ehhole" chickpeas tempered with  whole spices and cooked Punjabi style. The third main dish can be - depends on which menu we order - "Shahi paneer" paneer cooked in an opulent tomato and cream gravy with fenugreek, or "Chicken curry" diced chicken breast simmered with a fine balance of spices and herbs. The dessert is always "Gulab jamun" which are fried milk balls in a syrup with a hint of rosewater and cardamom.

And one more thing which is very important: the waitor, waitress always asks how hot do you want your dishes. Keep on your mind that an Indian chef's taste buds are not the same as ours therefore who generally can't stand the hot, ask without hot spices because the mild also comes off quite hot. I who can stand the hot flavours compared to the average, always order my food mildly hot but I also sweat a bit from it. :)

Shalimar Indian Restaurant

Address: 1072 Budapest, Dob utca 50.

Open: every day 11:30-16:00 and 18:00-23:30

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Indian Naan Bread

I love naan since our 4-weeks holiday in India in 2010.

During our trip we travelled a lot within the country. We just bought a return ticket to Delhi and back, had a Lonely Planet guide and that's all. Okay, we knew of course some place what we definitely wanted to visit but nothing more. We didn't decide how many days we spend here or there. Just enjoy the country, know and talk to the people and try to understand this culture what is totally different from what we have seen before.

Before we left for India, everyone worried about me and asked "What will you eat there?" I didn't know the Indian cuisine too much at that time but I said "I love Indian foods, so don't worry, I won't die by hunger!" Now I know since I REALLY knew Indian cuisine during this trip, it's one of the most colourful, varied and interesting kitchen in the world.

As I mentioned we travelled a lot (Delhi - Agra - Varanasi - Kathamndu,Nepal - Mumbai - Varkala beach in Kerala - Kochi - Delhi), everywhere 2-3 days (on the beach about 10 days :)), depending on how much we liked the place. Everywhere we stopped we tasted the local speciality therefore I can say we never ate two times the same dish.

Indian food is different from the rest of the world in the whole cuisine, in taste, cooking methods. It's a perfect mix of several cultures and ages. Food in India, just like the Indian culture, has been influenced  by various groups, civilizations during the centuries, leading to the diversity of flavours and regional cuisines what we know in modern India in our days.

One of the most important part of the Indian kitchen is the Indian bread. There is a wide variety of breads which reflects the diversity of the whole country, culture. Different varieties include: chapati, roti, paratha, naan, papdum etc.

Naan is cooked in tandoor from which tandoori cooking takes its name. I have already mentioned tandoor before in the post of Turkish Ramadan pide.

First I bring the recipe of naan what I prepare many times especially for a light dinner, house parties next to dips.

I don't know yet where I had found this recipe on internet but I remember that I tried it with my best friend, E. for New Year's Eve.

Ingredients (5 pieces):
25 dkg plain flour
110-130 ml milk
2 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

+ 1 tablespoon melted butter for brushing
+ cheese (normally I make naan without it)

In a big bowl mix the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Make a pit in the center of the dry ingredients in the bowl then pour in it the milk and oil mixture.

Mix together the dough first by wooden spoon then knead it by hand for 8-10 minutes to make a smooth, soft dough. If it's too thicky, add a little flour to it. Divide it into 5 small balls.

The original recipe said we should set aside, cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave for at least 1 hour in a warm place to double in size. I experienced there is no difference between we don't wait at all or we leave the dough for 1 hour so do not worry, as soon as you finished kneading the dough you can start to bake them.

For the lack of tandoor at home preheat a simple frying pan. Start to roll out the dough balls into oval, teardrop shapes (as you like) and place the naan in the hot frying pan and grill for 1-2 minutes or until there are brown spots on its surface then turn to grill the other side of naan. If you want at the step you can put some grated cheese on the top.

Brush them with melted butter and serve hot.
 

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