[Photo Courtesy: Soni Satpathy-Singh]
Aside from universal health care and Justin Trudeau, Canada has given us yet another reason to visit: poutine! But do Americans really need to travel across borders to get our fix?
Essentially the dish can be described as a mound of French fries topped with cheese curds and a brown sauce, which may be a thinned and mildly spiced chicken, veal, or turkey gravy.
There are twists and takes on this traditional dish. Canada, being a melting pot of various cultures, also has a wide variety of poutine fusion dishes, such as Korean, kimchi topped poutine, Tex-Mex versions with avocado and bacon, and even Indian style poutine a la butter chicken. Though New York pales in comparison to the sheer number of places that offer both traditional and fusion poutine, there are restaurants that have it on their menu. Yet there is only one place in Manhattan that serves Indian poutine: enter Desi Galli’s desi poutine—found in their new East Village location.
We had the opportunity to catch up with Desi Galli’s chef owner PriaVanda Chouhan to talk about the inspiration behind her novel dish.
Desi Galli is known in NYC as a restaurant that offers high quality fresh Indian street food. Chouhan cooks up everything from rolls to chaat to biriyanis. Then earlier this year, she opened a second location in the East Village which offered every menu item found in her flagship location with an addition that had the media buzzing: desi poutine.
Why the buzz? Manhattan is certainly no stranger to fusion foods, especially not Indian fusion foods. Still so, Chouhan’s spin on poutine was to be the first desi poutine that would be offered on the island.
The dish, a poutine inspired by tikka flavors, is Chouhan’s favorite out of everything she offers and is a nod to her Canadian and Indian roots. Chouhan is from Montreal and says she missed having access to Indian poutine, a fusion dish that is more common in Canada. So what does a chef do when they crave a taste of something not readily available? They cook it up, perfect it, and put it on their menu of course!
“I was constantly craving poutine and could not find an Indian version in NYC. I also wanted to have something that was a wow factor for the new location and came up with the Desi Poutine,” Chouhan said. “In Montreal, we eat poutine for breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc. But we (Canadians) especially love to eat it after a night out!”
The desi poutine can be found at the Desi Galli East Village location from the time it opens at noon until closing time, which means 3AM on Thursday- Saturday, amidst a neighborhood brimming with nightlife. Chouhan speculates poutine is the best way to end a night out, and her desi poutine an even more perfect way to punctuate the night with fries and masalas.
But what exactly makes Chouhan’s desi poutine so, well, desi?
“Desi poutine is vegetarian based; I use our tikka masala gravy over gluten free fries, top it with shredded paneer cheese and a dusting of Indian spices” she clarifies. Chouhan said her poutine has been met with a lot of excitement and rightfully so. “Who doesn’t love fries smothered in tikka with paneer cheese,” she gleams.
Smitten with her take on desi poutine, we had to know—were there any other fusion dishes Chouhan was working on?
“I have a lot of ideas that I am building on right now,” Chouhan revealed. “I would love to have time to get in the kitchen and experiment. However, with the new location only about four months old, I have been dedicating my time to both Desi Galli restaurants. We will launch another creative Indian item in due time!”
To read more about Desi Galli click here! And if you’re in New York, be sure to visit one of the two locations listed below.
DESI GALLI CURRY HILL
101 Lexington,
New York, NY, 10016
contact@desigalli.com
Tel: 212-683-2292
DESI GALLI EAST VILLAGE
172 Avenue B,
New York, NY, 10009
contact@desigalli.com
Tel: 212-475-DESI (3374)
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