Dear Patron:

I hope all is well with you and your loved ones. Everyone at Ajanta is doing well and the business is quite good.

Our customers loved the dishes we introduced last month. We received more compliments for the vegetarian dish, Baingan Baghare, than anything else on the menu. The lamb and chicken dishes were also popular, although some customers were surprised by the sauce for the lamb dish. Instead of the usual curry base, the lamb is cooked in a lentil based sauce. For me, this was comfort food. It was my most favorite dish and the lentil sauce gave a nice feeling of fullness and satiety. The lamb appetizer, Shami Kabob, seemed not to excite too many diners and therefore will be discontinued this month.

Following are the new dishes being introduced for the month of February 2010:

Spinach and Feta Cheese Samosa: Samosas, the triangular pastries, are a well-known Indian appetizer and in their popular version are usually made with a potato and pea filling. In this version, an original Ajanta recipe, the samosas are stuffed with spinach and crumbly feta cheese. The spinach is lightly sautéed with spices: cumin, fennel powder and chiles. The feta cheese is added to the spinach and the mixture is spooned into thin, rolled out pastry, which is folded into the traditional triangular samosa shape and then fried. The samosas are served with a sweet and sour tamarind sauce.

Mangalore Chicken Curry: Named after the city of Mangalore, South India, this chicken dish has many flavors that distinguish South Indian cuisine: coconut, fenugreek, mustard seeds, peppercorns and dried whole red chile peppers. Boneless chicken pieces are sautéed and then simmered in a sauce made with onions, lemon juice, coconut milk, garlic and spices. The spices include cumin, coriander, turmeric and paprika. As is common in South India, the spices are roasted whole and then ground up just before being added to the sauce, giving the sauce a distinctive flavor not found in North Indian curries.

Dakshini Gosht: This lamb curry from South India has a richer sauce than found in most South Indian curries. Boneless lamb is braised in a sauce made with onions, coconut milk, tamarind, almonds, sesame seeds, nigella seeds, sunflower seeds and spices. The spices include coriander, turmeric, paprika, red chiles and fenugreek. As is usually done in South India, the whole spices are freshly roasted first and ground just before use, giving the sauce a rich, haunting aroma that lingers on your palate.

Daal Kabila: The vegetarian entrée this month is a lentil dish from the northwest frontier region of India. Among all the lentil dishes served at Ajanta, this is my favorite. The lentil used in this dish is Urid, which has a creamy, buttery texture. The urid daal is cooked in a tomato based sauce flavored with fenugreek herb, ginger, lemon juice, cilantro and garam masala (a mixture of toasted ground cardamom, clove and cinnamon). These seasonings give the sauce a sharp, savory flavor that lingers on your palate for some time to come. In India, this dish would be eaten spicy hot, so order it as hot as your palate will permit.

The following dishes will be discontinued to make room for the new dishes:

1. Lamb Shami Kabobs

2. Methi Murg

3. Rogan Josh

4. Sambhar with Vegetables

It is always a pleasure to see you at Ajanta.

Sincerely,

Lachu Moorjani