Taste of India Suvai

FOOD

Suvai serves a daily lunch buffet, with Sunday bringing an expanded selection. Its Sunday menus show a particularly broad South Indian range, extending from steamed and fried tiffin dishes to regional chicken preparations and fragrant rice, alongside familiar paneer curries. Street-food snacks, seafood and several styles of Indian sweets add to the spread. The dishes below are examples from those Sunday menus; the selection changes.

Idli and medu vada make a fitting introduction. The soft steamed cakes and savory lentil fritters belong to the South Indian breakfast tradition but also form part of this larger lunch. Sambar, a tangy lentil-and-vegetable stew, accompanies them. Ghee dal offers another lentil preparation, enriched with clarified butter. Sweet corn vegetable soup and cream of chicken soup have also appeared among the Sunday choices.

The savory snacks deserve attention of their own. Gobi Manchurian brings cauliflower into the Indo-Chinese repertoire, while pakoras supply fried appetizers. Pani puri takes a different approach: hollow, crisp shells served with a filling and flavored water. Chana bhatura combines chickpea curry with puffed fried bread; another Sunday selection pairs aloo tikki, potato patties, with ragada, a pea preparation.

The vegetarian curries include several distinct preparations. Paneer butter masala puts fresh Indian cheese in a rich, buttery curry, while paneer shahi korma offers another treatment of the cheese. Bagara baingan gives eggplant a substantial role, joined in the rotation by mixed vegetable curry and arbi fry, made with taro. Poori bhaji pairs a potato preparation with fried bread, while salad and chutneys accompany the cooked dishes.

Chicken Chettinad gives the meat selection a Tamil regional connection, while karampodi chicken adds another South Indian preparation. Tandoori chicken supplies a roasted choice, taking its name from the high-heat oven used in its cooking. These dishes bring different regional traditions and cooking methods into the expanded lunch.

Seafood examples include shrimp 65 and fish Amritsari, both from the fried-appetizer side of Indian cooking. The latter takes its name from Amritsar in Punjab, widening the geographic reach of the meal. Paya and parotta offer a different combination: a slow-cooked trotter stew with layered flatbread. The bread accompanies the gravy, contrasting with the fried breads served among the snacks.

Biryani is a substantial part of the selection in its own right. Alongside vegetable biryani, Sunday menus have included Seeraga Samba chicken biryani and Ambur chicken biryani. Seeraga Samba names the small-grained aromatic rice associated with Tamil cooking; Ambur identifies a Tamil Nadu biryani tradition. Those distinctions offer useful context for diners more accustomed to biryani made with long-grain basmati.

The sweets continue that range. Coconut kesari is a semolina sweet, while elaneer payasam takes its name from tender coconut. Saffron paal payasam belongs to the milk-based pudding family, and gulab jamun supplies familiar syrup-soaked sweets. Masala chai has also appeared on the Sunday menus, bringing spiced tea alongside dessert.