Chef Raj fell in love with cooking at 18 in Punjab, India. When he moved to the U.S., he brought traditional recipes and flavors with him, spending years honing his craft in the kitchen.
After 25 years in Malden, Chef Raj’s Taste of India has opened a new location in Swampscott.
“We were navigating around the area to find more avenues of cities and towns to look at. We were in the Malden area for 25 years and we just wanted to try something new,” Chef Raj’s daughter, Jahnvi Punj, said. “We saw the place was for sale, and it just was the perfect spot.”
Taste of India, at 197 Essex St., held its soft opening Saturday, October 17.
The restaurant features authentic Punjabi and North Indian flavors. Warm spices and rich aromas greet passersby, while earthy and creamy notes fill the restaurant. As Chef Raj learned from his family, Punjabi cooking is rooted in traditions and techniques passed down through generations.
“It’s very meaningful that we’re able to carry the recipes we were given from our grandparents, our grandmothers, and my dad is able to bring that forward to Swampscott and deliver it to families here now,” Punj said. “A lot of the recipes started with him just observing his mom in the kitchen.”
The mango lassi, a yogurt-based drink, offers creamy sweetness with a hint of tang. Chicken tikka masala features tender marinated chicken in arich, tomato-based curry infused with aromatic spices, while fluffy basmati rice rounds out the meal. Vegetable samosas feature a crispy shell filled with potatoes and green peas seasoned with cumin, coriander and other warm spices. With a variety of naans, Taste of India staff highly recommends the peshawary, which is filled with sweet ingredients like raisins and nuts.
Punj said one of her favorite dishes is chaat, a popular Indian street food that combines crunchy textures with tangy, sweet and spicy flavors.Taste of India has a papdi, samosa, tikki and dahi vada variety of chaat. The Boston Globe had featured the restaurant for its samosa chaat, featuring vegetable samosas topped with chickpeas, yogurt, tamarind and mint chutneys, onion and spices.
“That’s a very popular appetizer,” Punj said. “Along with getting the butter chicken and chicken tikka masala. For vegetarians there’s also the paneer tikka masala, which is equivalent as well. It serves very nicely with the garlic naan or plain naan. We can always adjust the spice levels as well.”
The restaurant is intentionally intimate, with just a few tables and bars seating along the windows.
“We had a smaller restaurant in Malden as well. We carried that forward into the Swampscott location to be able to interact with our customers individually,” Punj said. “I think we’ve been able to do that in Swampscott so far – to establish those relationships with our customers.”
Punj also helped decorate the space with statues, decorative vases and colorful designs.
“We’ve all had our own contributions to make this place very family-like, very homey,” Punj said. “The main vibe was for when customers come in, they get transcended to Punjab, India, and they’re almost able to step into a new world that’s different from outside.”
Related
Source: swampscotttides.org
