india: RR (21)

i had THE BEST meal of the trip yet (i know, i keep saying that.. but it keeps being true) on saturday night at a place called RR. it was on Church Street, just off Brigade Road. wow; i can even remember addresses now! it seems everyone was worried about me going to eat here because they serve Andhra food (i.e., the cuisine of neighbouring state Andhra Pradesh), which is particularly spicy. given the fact that i have not found any of the food here particularly spicy, and the fact that i managed to eat a whole bowl of veg curry at lunch out with the lab that other native Indian grad students found too spicy, i was granted the opportunity to try this place.

instead of plates, you eat your meal off a real banana leaf. they have them folded on every table, and then when you sit down the waiters unfold it for you - rather than laying a napkin across your lap. my companion and i both ordered the unlimited non-veg meal. yes, unlimited. if homer simpson was interested in Andhra cuisine, this would be his personal paradise. once your leaf is open, waiters quickly come to the table with brimming pots of 4 options. this particular night we got (1) okra curry, (2) green bean curry, (3) dal, and (4) chutney.

quick curry lesson: there are generally 2 kinds of curry: curry served in liquid/sauce and curry served dry. i just learned that in some cases you will call curry in liquid/sauce 'gili sabji', whereas curry served dry is 'sookhi sabji'. 'sabji' just means 'mixture', while 'gili' and 'sookhi' translate to 'wet' and 'dry'.

for this meal, the okra curry was a gili sabji (actually a bhindi sabji - 'bhindi' means okra) and the green bean curry was a sookhi sabji. i'm really a fan of these sookhi sabjis. one of the research fellows made one for lunch earlier this week, which she shared with me while we were hanging out at NIMHANS. they often/always have shredded fresh coconut stirred in, and this coats all the exposed sides of the veg. delicious.

along with the 4 options, we got heaping amounts of white rice (note that Andhra Pradesh is the main rice producing state of India, known as the 'rice bowl' of India), a few papadums, a dish of sambhar (the dal of south India, which includes some vegetables in addition to lentils or beans), a dish of rasam (a complex condiment that contains curry leaves, turmeric, tamarind, garlic, chilies, black pepper, and mustard seeds), and a dish of curd (yogurt). there was also a very incredible delicious mango pickle already on the table, and some sort of graham powder which we sprinkled on our rice. the waiter came back and poured warm ghee over the powder and rice, turning it into a delicious buttery graham powder treat.

once you finish part of your meal, they come back and replenish. over, and over, and over.. until you are forced to turn them away. i ate so much, and it was SO good. the best part is that i ate the whole meal with only my bare right hand. there is something very earthy and liberating about not using utensils. maybe i'll have to keep this tradition alive once i get back to North America...