Roti enews:: JULY '06

1. SPECIALS FOR JULY

Appetizer: Tandoori Talapia Salad - Fresh filets of talapia, basted with olive oil, pepper, salt, garlic and lemon juice, placed in the tandoor until golden on the outside and soft and buttery on the inside. It crowns a fresh green salad tossed with a lime dressing to deliver a light and healthy appetizer. $8

Main Course Lamb dish: Karahai Gosht - Tender cubes of fresh Lamb are sauteed and braised in an aromatic sauce of red chilies (they are not as hot as the green chili), cardamom, garlic, pepper, coriander, ginger, cloves, onion and bell peppers, and garnished with thin slices of fresh ginger. It is a regal North Indian dish with an opulent flavor, prepared for you by our award winning chef at Roti in San Francisco. $17

Vegetable dish: Mushroom Mattar - Fresh mushrooms and sweet green peas are sauteed with onions, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, coriander, cumin and fenugreek, and garnished with the unique taste of crisp fried Kari leaves, borrowed from South Indian influences. A vegetarian varietal to add to our stable of great organic and fresh vegetable dishes. $10

Coffee: Enjoy a fresh roasted, rich blend of coffee served in French press style right at your table. Decaffeinated coffee is also available. $5

2. WINNER The winner of a complimentary dinner for 2 valued at $60 for the month of June is: Marc Teixeira

CONGRATULATIONS, and please continue to add your business cards to the collection bowl at the front of the restaurant, and fill out the feedback forms in the guest check envelope after you complete your dining experience. This will insure your chances for future monthly draws of a Roti dinner for 2 valued at $60.

These complimentary dinner prizes need to be used within the month following the draw, so the June '06 winners should call in and reserve their table within the month of July '06. We will notify winners by phone as well as by adding their names to the newsletter.

3. RESERVATIONS As of JULY 15, 2006, you can make your reservations by accessing Open Table. You can also call in and leave a reservation request before 4pm on our main telephone number 415 665 ROTI (7684).

4. MEET THE CHEF Our executive chef is Davinder Pal Singh. He grew up in India in the state of Punjab, in a village called Kot Bakhta. The nearest big town is Batala, which is a 1 hour drive from the major city of Amritsar.

He was inspired by his mothers passion for cooking as well as the fact that his father ran a farm and so they grew all their own fresh herbs and vegetables as well as raised free range chickens and cows. His mother often made him his favorite dish Palak Paneer (of course, fresh spinach from the garden and cheese from the farm cows). Monthly, she would crush her own spices (like garam masala, coriander, cumin, black pepper, cardamom, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, dried rose leaves) and mix them into her family's favorite dishes. Daily she would make a fresh batch of Masala sauce as well as a mint chutney made from garden fresh hara pudina (green mint) and dhania leaves and seeds (see Indian Immersion question below). Everything she used was fresh out of the garden so Pal and his siblings grew up with a variety of aromatic and colorful vegetable dishes as well as home made cheese (paneer) from the cows on the farm.

His mother (and family) now lives in Gurdaspur and still cooks using her own spice blends.

5. TASTES OF INDIA Our first tasting of bite size portions of food complimented with a 2 oz. tasting of selected wines will be held on Saturday, July 15th from 4:30pm to 5:15pm. The chef, one of the owners, as well as Giovanni the manager and his staff will chat about the foods and how they are prepared and why the wines are so well paired with them. We will be tasting and discussing Tandoori Talapia Salad (a fish dish) with Naan, Karahai Gosht (Lamb), Paneer Bhujia (cheese/vegetarian) with 'champagne' sparkling wine and a selected red wine. We will finish off with a discussion of the spices used in the dishes. It will be an informal, communal, family style seating arrangement and each person will be charged a flat rate of $10. Please arrive by 4:30 pm to enjoy the food and educational discussion. You are most welcome to stay after the tasting is completed and enjoy many of our other fine dishes on our dinner menu.

6. RECIPE RELEASE Now it is time for the gourmet cooks among you to download the PDF file of our recipe for Mint Chutney and to take it directly to the kitchen and get cooking... It is a versatile chutney that can be used as a baste on fish, or as a base for a dressing on your favorite seasonal greens. Click here to download the recipe.

7. HOLIDAY SCHEDULE Please note that Roti will be closed on July 4, 2006. Every other day in the month we are open and we are pleased to welcome you from 5pm onwards. Our other dates of closure in the year are Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Years Day.

8. INDIAN IMMERSION a. What is a Sari (Saree) and where does the word Sari derive from?
b. What is dhania known as in your local food market?
c. How long is the Ganges (Ganga) river?
(see answers below)

Indian cultural activities out and about town... in addition to Roti being the cultural experience of great Indian Cuisine in the West Portal 'Village':

• Gautam Malkani author of Londonstani, his debut novel set in the South Asian community of the London Borough of Hounslow. Author book signings at Cody's Books, 1730 4th St Berkeley on Friday July 14 @ 7pm, and Booksmith, 1644 Haight St in San Francisco on Monday July 17 @ 7pm.
• Yakshi, a concert featuring Sarod and Guitar, at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, Samsung Hall, Thursday August 17 @ 7pm.

9. ANNOUNCEMENTS Deepali Kumar, the manager of the restaurant, has returned home to her family in Montreal. We wish her all the best and thank her for her service at Roti.

Our new manager is Giovanni Santos Difilippo, a man of international flavor, and fluent in Italian, Spanish, English and German...and now he just needs to work on learning Hindi. From a distance he could pass as an Indian. Giovanni will be in the restaurant Tuesday through Saturday to ensure you have a unique and exciting experience at Roti.

Standing in for him on Sunday and Monday will be our effervescent blonde, and definite non-Indian (in this lifetime anyway), Andrew Scoular.

 

To send us your suggestions and comments for future newsletters, please email us at rotinews@yahoo.com . Please do not use that email to unsubscribe from the newsletter. The link at the end of this newsletter will be the most automatic, immediate, and effective way to unsubscribe.

We look forward to seeing you at Roti in the near future. Warm regards, Susan Gujral On behalf of our family, the Executive Chef and the great staff members of Roti Indian Bistro, West Portal.

Answers to Indian Immersion Questions a. A Sari (Saree) is the beautiful women's fashion item made out of a single piece of fabric, measuring from 5 yards to 9.5 yards, and draped around the body and over the left shoulder.

The etymology of the word is from the Sanskrit word 'sati' which means strip of cloth. This evolved into the Pakrit 'sadi' and was later anglicised into the word 'sari' (pronounced sah-ree), although some etymology derives it from the Sanskrit word Chira which means cloth.

b. Cilantro, Coriander or Chinese parsley. The leaves and the seeds are used in Indian cuisine.

c. 1557 miles (2510 kilometres), according to Wikipedia and Bryant University, Smithfield, RI.