Like classic musicals, Indian cuisine features vibrant colors, mixes dynamic ingredients, and inspires spontaneous love songs when lips get too hot. Dramatically swoon over Indian cooking with today’s Groupon: for $15, you get $30 worth of dinner and drinks at Saagar Indian Cuisine located in Gaithersburg.
Taste buds range over Saagar Indian Cuisine’s vast menu, sampling succulent standbys and unusual fare from all-across the Indian subcontinent. Soak up lakes of South Indian rasam or mulligatwany soup ($4) with a plate of pakoras, deep-fried chickpea fritters filled with spinach, chicken, or Trojan hushpuppies ($5–$7). Sizzling kabobs march out of the clay tandoori oven to grace tables with chicken tikka ($12), almond-soaked prawns or salmon ($14), and lamb boti marinated in yogurt and herbs ($13). Chickpeas peek out from lush spinach and tomato flora in the saag chana ($9.95) and other vegetarian specialties and a variety of different curries simmer chicken, goat, and other meats in unique combinations of ingredients, such as the nilgiri korma’s blend of mint, green chilies, and coconut milk ($11.95–$13.95). Hotheaded diners test their munching mettle on the UK-style phaal ($10.95–$13.95), an extra-spicy curry that, if finished, comes with a complimentary beer for guests 21 and older and pocket veto rights over what CD to listen to on the ride home.
Saagar Indian Cuisine
Traditional spices and culinary techniques from both the northern and southern regions in India guide chefs as they craft more than 100 dishes. They skewer prawns marinated in an almond cream and sprinkle spices atop roasted eggplant. In the kitchen, a clay oven heartily bakes ginger lamb chops and bread stuffed with dried fruits. The chefs also cook up their own phaal curry dish, described as “excruciatingly hot curry, more pain and sweat than flavor,” on the menu. As a reward for taking on the phaal, they offer a free bottle of beer or fire extinguisher to any diner that finishes it.