Welcome to Three Reasons, a new online column that tells you exactly what you’ll find at various stops around St. Louis. We won’t just tell you that a new restaurant has opened, we’ll tell you what to get there. We won’t simply report that a festival is happening this weekend, we’ll tell you what parts of it truly can’t be missed. Consider them recommendations or think of them as simple suggestions. Either way, here’s three reasons to go. Charismatic, puckish Indian chef and cookbook author Raghavan Iyer will touch down at Washington University this week to help Indian students and others celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. There is plenty of foodie fun scheduled with an impressive spread of Indian delicacies. Here are three reasons to go see what it’s all about:
1. A free – and tasty – cooking demo. Tonight, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., you can go see Iyer’s Turemric Trail cooking demo at the Tisch Commons at Washington University’s Danforth University Center (DUC) for free. Even better? You get a taste of baingan nu bharto (roasted eggplant pâté with garlic and red chiles on crostini).
2. The only thing better than a late-night dessert buffet is one that ends in chiles and ice cream. The lavish dinner menu on Saturday, one of many throughout the weekend planned by Iyer, will feature sabudana vada (tapioca pearl fritters with roasted peanuts, chilies and coconut-sesame sauce); malai methi kebabs (marinated lamb rib chops with fenugreek-cream sauce); simla mirch shorba (red bell pepper soup with cashews, cardamom and Thai chilies); chukandarka salade (warm spiced beet salad with crumbled paneer, organic greens and golden raisin-ginger vinaigrette); avial (a South Indian wedding stew of seasonal vegetables in coconut-chile sauce served with cream of wheat polenta); konkan muchee (wild salmon with turmeric poached in coconut milk, red chiles, malt vinegar, cinnamon, scallions and grape tomatoes, and served with eggplant-garlic pâté and spinach basmati rice); pork vindaloo (boneless pork loin seared with fresh ground spices and robust vinegar-garlic sauce and served with spinach basmati rice); baingan murghi (avocado-stuffed boneless chicken breast with eggplant sauce served with spinach basmati rice); and ananas ambol (pineapple stewed with blackened red chiles and unrefined cane sugar served over vanilla ice cream).
3. You can meet the curry master. The big finale is with Iyer himself. The author will sign copies of his comprehensive 2008 cookbook 660 Curries Saturday 3:30 to 6 p.m., at Ibby’s at the DUC.
For information, time and many more delicious details, click here.
This article appears in Nov 1-30, 2010.