Over the course of a three-week adventure, my travel companion and I ate our way from the coconut and seafood-based southwestern fishing state of Kerala, through the Thar Desert of Jaisalmer and Jodhpur near the India-Pakistan border, onto the posh Lake Palace in Udaipur where the James Bond classic "Octopussy" takes place, along the busy streets of the Jaipur bazaars and its Jain vegetarian culture, to the hotel bar overlooking the Taj Mahal (pronounced "Mahel") where we sipped tea masala at sunset, and finally back into the chaos of New Delhi and its urban multi-ethnic cuisine.
The best airline food I have ever had was that of Air India. Warm, juicy chicken in thick aromatic gravy with soft white rice with pea and paneer (cottage cheese) curry? And papadums? With fresh fruit? And creamy yogurt? And tea? I was in heaven. Then there was breakfast: a flavorful potato dosa (India's version of a crepe or pancake) with two other breakfast entrees, fresh fruit, yogurt and cheese. Not only was the Air India food extraordinary compared to average airline food, it was served piping hot. Despite how the airline crams half of India and a good handful of tourists like sardines into two levels of seating, I was actually looking forward to the 30 hours of flights I had to take with them just because they served such excellent food.
I spent my first week feasting on seafood curries, spicy daal (lentils), naan and kulcha (Indian breads), mutton, chicken and curried vegetables that were local to southern India. I ate plenty of cabbage, cauliflower, peas, potatoes and snake gourd (whatever that was), usually cooked with coconut milk. I also discovered my second and third new favorite cocktails: mango juice and vodka on ice, and Planter's Punch of pineapple juice, orange juice and rum. My first favorite cocktail, by the way, is peach juice and vodka on ice that I enjoyed abroad in Spain.
The best dish of the trip was served at the Trident-Hilton Hotel restaurant in Cochin. I ordered the Murgh Makhani, which proved to be the most succulent, captivatingly spiced, tandoori chicken I've ever experienced. It needed no gravy, no mint or coriander sauce and no rice. It was perfect. Just one bite and my travel companion ordered his own plate of it-partly because he wanted his own and partly because he knew I would spare only that one bite.
In contrast to my travel partner, I'm a very adventurous eater, especially when in India. He was skeptical of the seemingly questionable food that was sold by local vendors at stops along our uncomfortable overnight train ride from Delhi to Jaisalmer. I was delighted to find comfort in the samosa-like pastry that was served for breakfast. It was round, rather than triangular, yet filled with the same potato, peas and spices that make samosas one of my favorite foods.
The next culinary delight came in the form of a decadent buffet at our Heritage Hotel in Jodhpur, run by a member of the Jodhpur royal family. The buffet offered delicious renditions of North Indian classics like cauliflower curry, mutter paneer and sumptuous tandoori chicken and paneer fresh off the skewers. Despite it being a buffet, the waiters were attentive and eager to bring a fresh set off the skewers or a fresh basket of naan. Needless to say, I never wanted to leave that hotel.
However, it was time to move onto bigger and better things. By this I refer to the famous Neel Kamal restaurant at the "floating" Lake Palace in Udaipur. Surrounded by majestic mountains and a man-made lake filled by the monsoon rains, the Lake Palace was built on one of the lake's islands with the intention of being used by the royal family of Udaipur and his family. Now it is a posh hotel where even Brangelina (Ms. Jolie and Mr. Pitt) have stayed, in addition to Mr. Bond. Stepping into Neel Kamal was like stepping back into the Western world.
The restaurant is replete with separate servers for each part of the meal, a French sommelier and a glass kitchen where you can watch the Indian chefs concoct Indian dishes with an undeniably Western flair. We were served a delicious white fish with a mint and coriander sauce, a mildly spicy Indian chicken, an Italian flavored chicken, spinach with pine nuts, and cauliflower curry. Surprisingly, I was able to identify the rose water infusion in the Indian ice cream served for dessert after I had experienced it in my culinary exploration of Mendocino, Calif., this past summer.
Jaipur proved to be a city of gastronomic consistency. Even in the worst hotel restaurant we could have encountered, the spices were intense, the chicken was tender and the masala omelettes were fabulous. The best meal was consumed at a small restaurant recommended by Professor Lawrence Babb, a former resident of the busy city.
Indians know their curries and their marinades like they know their first names. Some restaurants are luckier than others to have access to better quality chicken and fresher vegetables, but their dishes are all dressed with the same gripping exotic flavors. I was disappointed to find that the "spicy" dishes were not at all spicy to my palette. It was also unfortunate that winter is not mango season, so I settled for the still very satisfying pineapple lassi rather than mango lassi for lunch. The two greatest finds of the trip were Indian tea masala and toasty naan smothered with chocolate mousse, not quite Indian but dangerously delicious all the while. It was an unforgettable trip, but my stomach will be in curry, gravy and naan detox for a very long time.
You can reach Leigh as she recovers from Indian food withdrawal by writing to her at at lfrivlin@amherst.edu.