Delicious delicate bites of potato, lentils and vegetables layered with tamarind and cilantro chutneys, thoughtfully sprinkled with yoghurt, onions, and lemon. These are all familiar elements of Indian cuisine, but at Charm City Chaat, Asya Ollis wasn’t serving up just any old curry.
Ragda Pattice
Pav Bhaji
Chaat is the name for the street food Ollis grew to love while traveling in Mumbai and since introduce to Baltimore. Recently, more than 70 people gathered in the Creative Alliance’s new Marquee Lounge, enjoying libations, while dishes were prepared on the spot, in much the same fashion as India’s street carts and stalls. Each line was an excuse to chat and share in anticipation for the next dish. All night long I heard from people who hadn’t seen this side of Indian food before. Only one of my fellow diners had previous experience with chaat: Jan Angevein, a Creative Alliance member, experienced chaat first-hand and felt Ollis’ menu was as good as anything she had in India.
Sue Colley and Jan Angevein
The dishes served were diverse and delicious, and were comprised of recurring spices and flavors that brought the menu together seamlessly. The presentation of two puri dishes, each a crisp flour puff, filled with seasoned potatoes, finished alternately with spice water and a yoghurt sauce, best exemplified this idea. Because the dishes had a similar base, it was the finishing touches that differentiated the crunchy, flavorful explosions in your mouth. My favorite dish of the night, bhel puri, was a mix of puffed rice and lentils flavored with tamarind and sprinkled with red onion and a crispy fried topping made from chickpea flour. In some ways, this dish was the evening’s anti-curry because it was just so strikingly different from any Indian dish I’d ever had the pleasure of. The vegetable mélange served in pav bhaji most resembled a traditional curry, albeit one you could manage to eat on the go because it was presented with a buttered roll instead of rice. The pav bhaji had a wonderful subtle heat that grew with each bite but was never overwhelming. It was clear Ollis’ dishes were a hit because by the time I reached the station serving ragda pattice, the potato pancakes were already gone and I could only sample the accompanying curried chickpeas and chutneys. The sweet carrot puree of the pasayam dessert, served with a crunchy almond topping, soothed my disappointment however. If the first serving didn’t do the trick, the second certainly did!
Dahi Batata Puri
Carrot Pasayam
Ollis unveiled the dessert to a round of applause proving there’s an enthusiastic audience willing to explore regional Indian cuisine in Baltimore. Her previous presentations of Indian fare have been for smaller and more intimate gatherings of no more than 25, like the supper club she hosted at the Women’s Industrial Exchange. Corine Dsombre, had also attended one of Ollis’ previous supper clubs and noted the differences in the two experiences, while gushing, “The food is just as delicious!”
Above and beyond the flavorful delight of Charm City Chaat, the experience also seems particularly well timed with a more general appreciation for street food stemming from all ethnicities. Americans have developed a more robust appreciation of food from other areas of the globe, like China and Italy, where previously our expectations of those cuisines was limited to fried rice and pizza, respectively.
David Pake and Maggie Babb
Mari Washington and Andrea Thomas
Ollis readily acknowledges that some stellar restaurants, particularly in DC, are already making inroads into introducing American foodies to the diversity of Indian cuisine though the broader public still associates India with wildly hot curries and tandoori chicken. Worse yet, said Ollis, is when an entire cuisine is judged on the taste of one standard dish, “and that one experience turns them off forever.”
Her experience with Indian cuisine was the exact opposite, in fact. Spending three months travelling in Asia in 1998, Ollis said the colors and diversity of flavors in India resonated with her. After her trip, she also spent two years working alongside an Indian cookbook author and doing cooking demonstrations of her recipes. Those experiences inspired her previous food events and she returned to India this past fall for two weeks to specifically research the street food she loved and wanted to bring back to the States.
“I was curious how people would respond,” said Ollis. “People have an idea of what this cuisine is, and I wanted to expose them to something new and light and flavorful.”
For more information about future events email info@sadyasouthindian.com.
