In search of dhansak

Hello all,

I've been looking for ages for a restaurant that serves chicken dhansak, or dhansaak. Apparently it is a Parsi dish, not common in this area.

Have any of you come across this dish in Chicago, or in the Chicago area?

Thanks,
Alice S.

Alice S. wrote:Hello all,

I've been looking for ages for a restaurant that serves chicken dhansak, or dhansaak. Apparently it is a Parsi dish, not common in this area.

Have any of you come across this dish in Chicago, or in the Chicago area?

Thanks,
Alice S.

I never have, for one - and I would remember if I had, cos Id order it without
bothering to look at the rest of the menu if I ever saw it in Chicago It is
very much a Parsi dish (probably *the* signature Parsi dish actually).

Your best bet would be to make it yourself, or cadge an invite to a
Parsi family's home. (Making it yourself authentically is probably quite
hard, lots of different spices go into it, up to a dozen I believe). At its
best it is a quite stupendous dish. However, in common with all other
Parsi dishes (patra-ni-macchi - another fantastic dish, fish in leaves;
sali-par-edu, egg-plus-thin-stick-fries; lagan-nu-custard - wedding custard
etc), you dont really get it in Chicago (or maybe even in the US, I doubt there's
a Parsi restaurant anywhere in North America, the community is just too small).

If you want a very pale imitation (but a not-bad dish by itself)... you
*could* I suppose order Daal-Ghost, which shows up on some menus
on Devon. I believe Chopal has a Daal-Ghost, and JK Kabab House
does too (am not sure if its a special at JK, but Ive had it there before).
Daal-Ghost is basically meat cooked and served in gravy-style lentils.
It is a Muslim dish I believe, and while it does not possess anywhere near
the complexity of spices that a great dhansak would have, it isnt
IMHO a bad dish by itself (to be eaten with a roti or poured over rice
and mixed into it).

c8w

c8w,
Thanks very much for your gracious and detailed reply! I have a few recipes for dhansak, all of which are on the complicated side. The fact that the recipes are complex is not the problem; the problem is that I'd be cooking something which I've never eaten before, and not knowing if the seasoning is correct, etc. is kind of a big risk, to my mind.

The request is because I want to surprise my boyfriend with it. He's from England, and it is his favorite Indian dish. We could try to cook it together, although it would be kind of difficult, since he doesn't really cook.

Anyway, we will try the alternative you suggest, and take it from there.
Thanks again!

yep,

i've never seen dhansak here either,

the parsi community is a fairly small one - even in bombay - so if you do find one, do let us know.

i do remeber having a good dal -gosht at pakwan, if it is still there (i think maplewood, just north of devon

Hi Alice S.,

I often get lamb dhansak from Raj Darbar, in Lincoln Park--it's one of the few Indian places that delivers in my neighborhood. I can't testify to its authenticity, but it's one of my favorite dishes, and the menu indicates they also offer a chicken version.

Raj Darbar
2660 N Halsted
Chicago 60614
773/348.1010
http://www.rajdarbar.com/menu_chicken.htm

debo: Thank you so much! I'll check it out, for sure.

c8w, zim: Have you heard of Raj Darbar? Any thoughts or opinions?

Thank you all for your help. I'm very grateful!


~~~Alice

Dhansak Search Redux:

My partner is from England, where it can be said that curry is the national dish. He has taught me quite a bit about Indian food as we've explored Devon Avenue, and found other Indian restaurants here and there. However, we had never been able to find his favorite Indian dish, chicken dhansak. Dhansak is a Parsi lentil and vegetable based curry, with a distinctive slightly sweet-sour flavor. He loves it! I've collected a few recipes for it, but without knowing how it's supposed to taste I felt unable to attempt creating it. So for years, we've searched high and low for a restaurant in the Chicago area that serves dhansak. Finally, at long last, thanks to debo (thanks again!), we found a restaurant that had dhansak on the menu: Raj Darbar.

We stopped in for dinner on a Saturday evening. The restaurant itself is a little on the dark and romantic side, which suited us. We sat down in great anticipation of the great Dhansak Experience.

First came some spicy papadum with a couple of sauces, one spicy, one sweet: very good, though we missed the usual mango chutney and raita we've come to expect. We then enjoyed the sample appetizer platter, a huge mound of onion bhajia (battered and fried onion); alu tikki (chickpea batter patties with potatoes and peas); jheenga til tinka (shrimp coated with yogurt and spices, battered and fried, and coated with sesame seeds); chicken pakora (chicken coated with chickpea batter and fried); and samosas, both vegetable and beef. My partner commented that the "onion bhajia" was not authentic at all, in that it shouldn't have been bits of onion strips individually coated with batter. He felt there was way too much batter to onion, the way it was done here, and was more like onion rings. He suggests ordering individual appetizers. Even so, it was all very tasty, but we had to save our appetites for our main courses: the chicken dhansak (of course) and baigan piaz masala, a spicy eggplant dish, accompanied by some lovely rice.

My partner was quite impressed with the dhansak, saying it was pretty close to what he could expect to find in England! Coming from him, this is high praise! He did note that he was used to a thicker consistency; however, the flavors were right. I felt that the baigan piaz masala was exceptional. Overall, we were pleased that our high expectations were met, and enjoyed every mouthful.

Though the initial service was not quite as warm as the spice level in the food, the service overall was very efficient, keeping our table neat and free of clutter. We left full, satisfied, and happy to have finally found the one dish that other restaurants seem to neglect.

Thanks again to debo for the valuable recommendation of Raj Darbar! We'll certainly be regulars there from here on in.

Alice S.,

Glad you enjoyed the dhansak at Raj Darbar. I have actually never eaten IN the restaurant (just taken delivery), but you make it sound quite attractive. Will need to try that (eating IN Raj Darbar) some time...

All best,
Deb