by Susan Bryan
OK, jalapeno eaters. You think you're hot stuff? When you outgrow teething on raw chilies, try Indian food. You'll find out how complex spicy food is meant to be. A good place to start your education is India Palace on Castro Street in Mountain View. All the local Indian restaurants list the same dishes on their menus. But at India Palace, spices are mixed with more finesse. At the other places, supposedly different dishes often taste like they were made with the same sauce.
At Indian Palace, each dish is distinctively different. Isn't that what you'd expect from an ancient cuisine with sophisticated ingredients? Indians were cooking with intricate spice blends eons before Europeans tasted pepper, much less chilies. The spicy powder we call "curry" is only one of thousands of India's traditional "masalas" or blends. Each dish in the cuisine has its own distinctive flavor, thanks to its time-honored pairing with one of these traditional spice blends.
It's difficult for experienced American cooks to tell exactly which spices are in a finished dish--and almost impossible for novices. But that's half the fun of finding your way through an Indian meal. Everyone's on equal terms. In fact, the newcomer to Indian food in our foursome was best at detecting coriander, simply because she's hypersensitive to the spice.
I always feel like I'm wading into the murky depths when I start an Indian meal. The bright notes of chili and pepper zing off deep, dark mysteries of flavor. I'm enchanted by the exotic notes and intrigued by the unknown. Yet in every dish, there is something familiar to savor. One of my favorites at India Palace is homey creamed spinach. Their version is certainly more zippy than Mom's, thanks to fresh cilantro, green onions, and an after-kick of chili. But the spinach is still slightly sweet, utterly creamy and richly comforting. It comes in a vegetarian dish called Sag Paneer with cubes of soft, white Indian cheese ($4.50). And it also appears in Chicken and Prawn Sagwala ($5.50, $7.50).
India Palace's tandoori appetizer ($6) gives you a good sample of spicy India barbecue. You get bits of peppery lamb sausage, tender chicken chunks and cubes of lamb. It all comes screaming hot on a metal platter. And it's all colored garish red from the yogurt marinade that gives it a tangy flavor.
Meat dishes are not necessarily common in an overpopulated, mostly Hindu country like India. If you want to taste what commoners eat, choose Daal Makhni, or creamed lentils. India Palace's version of the mild, oniony dish mixes dark kidney beans with the small lentils ($4).
If you'd like to taste as many different dishes as possible on your first visit, order the Chef's Special Thali and Pure Vegetarian Thali under the Maharajas Royal Feast section of the menu. These complete dinners come on shiny metal trays with small samples of several entrees plus cooling yogurt raita, a rather tired lettuce salad, rice pilaf and the flat spongy bread called nan. Use the bread like edible tongs to pinch up bits of this and that in tiny, sandwich-like bites.
The Chef' Special ($10.45) is a meat-lover's feast. Peppery lamb sausage, tandoori lamb cubes and tandoori chicken come in plentiful portions. There was also a bit of tender boneless chicken tikka, which is roasted in the tandoori oven but marinated in duskier, mustardy-flavored spices. One lonely shrimp topped the tandoori platter, but then, Tandoori Prawn (singular) was all the menu promised. The peppery tomato stew on the platter was graced by a couple of cubes of lamb. A dish of overcooked peas finished off this gargantuan repast.
I liked the Pure Vegetarian Thali ($8.45) better. I can do without the deep-fried vegetable samosa with its thick crust. But I love the creamed spinach in the sag paneer. And I was intrigued by the mild, coconut-scented sauce on a dish of potatoes and peas called Navratan Korma.
Any a la carte entree on India Palace's menu can be turned into a dinner. For an extra three dollars, you get soup, vegetable, rice, yogurt raita, salad, nan and dessert of the day plus condiments. The condiments at India Palace are not throwaways. They're real treats. There's an unusual hot mint sauce, a sweet-sour tamarind sauce, and a mild mango chutney. You get a small helping of each, absolutely free, no matter what you order.
For dessert, choose Rasmalai, which is oddly described in the menu as "wild cream and Indian cheese." I think they mean "natural" cream, because it tasted better than the ultra-pasteurized stuff sold in the grocery store. The "cheese" is a soft, sweet, cardamom-flavored smush that resembles ice cream, yet remains smoothly firm at room temperature ($2.50).
In contrast, the Kheer is just sweetened grainy rice drowned in half and half. No almonds or pistachios appeared on my portion ($1.50). The Kulfi," or Indian ice cream, was a melted blob by the time it arrived in its pool of half and half ($2). And the mango ice cream was such a vivid Halloween orange that I was scared to eat it ($1.50).
Because few of the servers speak English, it can be hard to get any real information about what's in the food. But don't sweat it, chili fans, you can count on finding at least a touch of chili or pepper in every dish.
India Palace, 236 Castro St., Mountain View, 961-2858
Hours: Lunch Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m. to 2:30p.m.; dinner daily 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Atmosphere: Plastic flowers and faux chandeliers, but cloth napkins
Highlights: Tender lamb, tandoori meats, deftly spiced vegetarian dishes Reservations: yes Credit cards: yes Parking: no Full bar: yes Takeout: yes Banquet: yes Wheelchair access: yes Non-smoking: no Highchairs: yes Outdoor seating: no
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