Market Heats Up with Ethnic Cuisine

When you're trying to get over a cold, the most common thing people suggest is that you drink some orange juice and eat chicken noodle soup. That may be the case for most people, but for me, when I'm sick, I want Indian food.

Born in America with immigrant parents from India, my brothers and I ate Indian food when we were sick. The spices clear your sinuses and warm your body through and through.

Since I'm no longer living at my mother's, I decided the next best thing would be the Indian food stand at Riverdale Park Farmers Market.

Radhika Sule, a Mumbai, India (or as it's better known Bombay), native, said she moved to the United States 10 years ago to pursue a degree in architecture. But she decided last year to start pursuing another passion — cooking. She started selling some Indian classics at the Baltimore Farmers' Market, including chicken kebabs, tikki chaat, which are potato cakes garnished with a chick pea stew and various chutneys, and parathas, which are meat- or vegetable-filled tortillas.  

This season Sule has brought her business, The Rustic Gourmet, to the Riverdale Park Farmers Market, and it has filled the air with the scents of curry and cumin.

Each Thursday, she sells her various parathas, chicken curry with rice and tikki chat. In addition to the flavorful foods, she sells mango lassi, or a yogurt-based smoothie drink, and a refreshing lemon-ginger drink.

It takes her a day and half to prepare the food, and often times the stand is so popular that she runs out of food.

Although Indian food is generally known to be spicy and oily, Sule said the food she sells at the market isn't spicy but still has all the Indian flavors. She also doesn't cook it with a lot of oil, because she wants to make it healthier.

Her parathas are grilled on a griddle with a little oil though, in order to achieve crispness on the outside. And the crunch is a great contrast to the filling of peas, onions and spices, in addition to cheese or meat.

She pairs the parathas and the tikki chat with three original chutneys: cranberry cumin, garlic tomato and cilantro.

Sule's chicken curry is the stuff I grew up with at home, a traditional recipe with a twist – yogurt or sour cream added directly to the curry base.

Although the curry is often paired with rice, she said people could also eat it in a wrap, called a Frankie, something commonly found as street food in India.

So here's my recipe for the Indian cure-all, curry chicken, straight from my grandmother.

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tsp. garlic
• 1 ½ tsp. ginger
• 2 tsp. yogurt
• ½ tsp. turmeric
• ½ tsp salt

For the stew:

• ½ onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp. of tomato paste, or 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• ½ tsp. of chili powder, optional
• ½ tsp. of garam masala (a special blend of spices including cumin and coriander that can be found in specialty sections of grocery stores or at an ethnic market)
• 2 cups of hot water

• chicken thighs and legs, about 8

• 2 tbsp. of oil

Directions:

1. Blend the marinade ingredients in a blender and add to chicken. Marinade the chicken the night before or for at least 30 minutes to an hour.
2. Heat oil in a pot over medium-high heat.
3. Add onions and sauté until translucent.
4. Add tomato paste and tomatoes and all of the chicken, including marinade. Cook chicken to brown, takes about 10 minutes.
5. Add water and allow the stew to come to a boil, then add spices.
6. Allow stew to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

Serve hot over rice.