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If you're craving
significantly different cuisine, head for New Mother
India in Waltham, a neat and spacious restaurant with
white walls trimmed with polished dark woods brightened
by a few tasteful Indian decorations.
Comfortable booths ring the perimeter of the room with
tables in the center. And if you need help with the menu,
affable owner Sham Sahni will assist you.
His recommendation of
vegetable samosas as an appetizer is a good choice. Crisp
little pastry turnovers are filled with mildly seasoned
potatoes and peas.
Lightly fried vegetable fritters (pakoras), combining
minced spinach, potatoes, green peppers and onions, are
particularly appealing, especially with a splash of dark,
fruity tamarind sauce
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And for an excellent
restorative first course, there's lentil soup, with
smoothly pureed peas and lentils seasoned with a modest
amount of garlic.
Freshly baked Indian
breads, hot and smoky from the clay oven (tandoor) or the
wood-burning grill (tava), are a delight, whether it's
the light and moist tandoori nan or the crispier rectangular
tava paratha. Both are delicious vehicles
for the refreshing cucumber and yogurt dip (raita).
Not to be overlooked is the plate-size papadum, lightly
salted, transparently thin wafers so brittle they
disintegrate on contact.
Traditional vegetarian dishes include home made cheese in
bed of spinach flavored with (saag paneer); spicy
pan-roasted peas and mushrooms (mushroom matter); and
almost a dozen more.
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Red-tinged tandoori chicken,
marinated in yogurt, mild species and herbs before baking
the clay oven, comes on a sizzling platter surrounded by
an inviting array of fresh vegetable and accompanied by
white rice. And while the lamb saag is not particularly
attractive, buried in a murky dark-green mixture of cream
spinach, spices and herbs are tasty morsels of tender
lamb.
A decent wine list is
over-shadowed by a sizable collection of imported beers
and ales. And though they are American pies and cheese
cakes, the little cheese balls soaked in scented honey
syrup (gulab jamun), or the
unique kulfi --- a special Indian ice cream made from
slowly simmered milk with crushed nuts are highly
commendable finals.
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