Did I want to go on a Punjabi culinary adventure where most of the dishes were total novelties? Yes. In this line of work, new tastes, dishes and the unexpected are what we live for. But throw in the added gift of Nandita Wadhwa doing the cooking and we were all in.
News of Nandita’s roaringly successful Curry Nights supper club at Chloe’s in Charlbury ‘READ ABOUT IT HERE had reached our ears, diners raving about her authentic Punjabi food.
So understandably her next date – a six course menu at The Grain Store in Middle Aston (£55 a head) on Saturday night – was a hot ticket, and totally sold out.
The recently opened lovely cafe, whose day time offering is pretty damn good too, REVIEW: The Grain Store in Middle Aston was the perfect setting; its open plan, welcoming space ideal for such an introduction to Nandita’s revered food.
Running a weekly Thursday night service in nearby Heyford, her varied Curry Night feasts are hugely popular, and yet this pop-up offered Nandita the chance to flex her culinary muscles further and attract a new audience.
As hoped for, the food was wholly unexpected, there being numerous dishes on the seductive Punjabi Feasting menu that we’d never tried before.
The poppadums and chutneys which kicked us off were par for the course, except that the authentic poppadums themselves were spicy and beautifully crisp, the homemade tomato and chilli chutney rich and vibrant, ‘mum’s’ zingy, smooth coriander and mint sauce totally moreish. We had to ask for more to avoid leaving any smirch of the delicious accruements behind.
Then the beautifully textured aloo chaat, a street food dish with sweet, sour and chilli hits, which despite the complex flavouring, crunch of pomegranate seeds and piquancy of tamarind, you could still taste the potato.
The fish amritsari which followed on the other hand was an utter unknown, the white bassa marinaded in spices and then fried, sat on a juicy slice of grilled pineapple, topped with masala lachha (layered flatbreads) and toasted peanuts. What? So much for my tastebuds to take in. The vegetarian alternative – dhingri mushroom – was as much of a favourite – tangy, juicy, soft inside, crispy on the out, as seen here
Another surprise appeared in the form of the tamatar ka shorba in a glass, which despite its description on the menu remained an enigma – the spicy tomato consomme, strong in flavour yet delicate in delivery. The accompanying raita on naan, a raita take on coleslaw that as a fusion, didn’t work for me. I’ll take the tamatar ka shorba on its own anytime though.
By this time we’d almost forgotten about curry itself, but it snuck in right at the end; the murgh do pyaza made with caramelised onions and served with jewelled pulao rice.
Creamy with yoghurt, the chicken is marinaded in garlic and ginger overnight and then fried, sealed and spiced. Heavenly. The methi matar paneer for the veggies enabled the bite of the cheese to offer the same tenderness. As for the rice, once we’d scooped up every last drop of curry, we ate the rice with a spoon, allowing its fragrant flavour to shine through. Yes Nandita!
How to end – with a rose ras malai cake with cardamom and saffron with a thandai flavoured mousse, nut crumb and rose petals.
Any criticisms? Not really. The tamatar ka shorba glass was too hot to pick up, the rose was almost overpowering in the pud, but in the grand scheme of things our unexpected journey through Punjabi made for a magical evening.
And yet it was so humble, her husband Rishi helping serve the food, the BYO policy ensuring that the tables of friends, birthday parties and families enjoying the party did so in style – wine, champagne and even a bottle of Baileys flowing.
But in terms of taking Punjabi food to the people of Oxfordshire, none of us had any idea what a treat was in store.
So go next time, and linger over each mouthful, diagnose the flavour and spicing combinations, and revel in the pure unfamiliarity of the food. Because the amount of work that goes into each and every dish, served from a foreign kitchen, still created a wonderful communal, community atmosphere, the acoustics ensuring that the noise level was lively and everyone had a great time.
To find out what Nandita is up to next and sign up for her next pop-up go to https://www.currynightswithnandita.com/services-1