Madhuban Special Andhra Thali
South indian food has always been my favorite. When I got invitation to try a sattvik south indian place in cross point mall, Gurgaon, I readily accepted. This place is being run by a south Indian lady and hence my expectations were high as I was expecting home type delicious food.When I reached there, I was greeted by the owner herself and she explained me the idea behind this place. I liked the simple decent setup of the place, soothing music playing in the background and some inspirational quotes on the frame.
We started our meal with rasam and papad. The papad was crunchy and seemed to have been prepared with zero oil. I loved the taste of rasam, thick gravy, not too spicy and yet delicious. Rasam is like a south Indian Soup and it has medicinal properties too. Rasam is very useful to fight cold, cough and fever.
Next came rava idli that was very soft and spongy. The taste of sambar varies with each region\location\restaurant. A thick sambar with wide variety of staple and seasonal and plenty vegetables made it a delightful combination for idli. Four different chatnis in small bowls was served as an accompaniment and each of them was finger licking.
While we were enjoying our meal, the lady explained that Satvvik as the name recommends means no garlic and no onion and also less spice and less oil. The amazing taste undoubtedly leaves no space to think whether it is sattvic and doesn’t have any onion\garlic – The food here is cooked with great love and utmost care. Definitely it is a delight to your palate whether you come here for sattvic food or simply would like to have the feel of home cooked vegetarian south Indian. I felt as if I was at my friend’s grandma’s place in Andhra.
Next was Pesarattu Upma (dosa) which was served with Coconut chutney, tomato chutney, ginger chutney, and Bengal gram chutney. I never had dosa stuffed with upma before. Yes you heard it righ - . Dosa stuffed with upma instead of smashed potato. It was crisp again very less oil and super delicious. (Pesarattu Upma is a traditional breakfast dish of Andhra Pradesh. Its a whole green gram lentil (moong dal) dosa stuffed with Upma)
And then came highly recommended Andhra thali that had ten small katoris along with Mirapakaya Bajji(chilli bhaji or mirchi pakoda), Aloo Bonda and Dal Wada and hot puris. Thali consisted of Andhra Korma, Kache Kele ka Sabji, Rasam, Sambhar,Dal with gourd, Andhra Pulusu, Maajjiga Pulusu (kadi),Andhra Pickles, Kanjisivi (powder), Ghee, curd, coconut rice and pongal(sweet dish). Each curry had a distinctive taste. One of the best Andhra Thali ( earlier I had been fan of thali at Andhra Bhawan) that I have had so far. We finished our meal with a nice filter coffee.
The amazing experience of sattvic south India food at Madhuban is a must try!
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