Indian Cuisine

Today I had the pleasure of having lunch with Anita and Katelyn at Saffron on West Main in Kalamazoo.  Saffrons was open on January 19th, 2004 and has been open for 10 years and 2 months today.  The owner began working under his brother in a restaurant in Boston after they had moved to the United States.  This is where he began learning how to cook Indian food properly and all the cooking secrets.  He eventually moved to Kalamazoo and opened up Saffrons on his own.  At first there were only three people running the business when it first opened.  To be quite honest, when I had decided to experience Indian food, I was quite nervous  thinking what if I don't like what I order.  Of course that was all part of the experience of trying new things!  I was blown away with how tasty their food was! For lunch it is a buffet style and all the food is hand made! It was delicious.   The food was presented in beautiful dishes that had very creative designs and stones.  This was not your typical silver plate buffet. As we made our way up towards the food, there were signs above each of the dishes that gave a description of what exactly is was so you would not be afraid to taste anything.

One of the main dishes that I found to be very interesting, and tasty, was a salad mixed with fruits and vegetables with dressing that had a hint of vinegar.  One of my other favorite dishes that I tried was the chicken curry.  It was delicious and had a sweet and spicy taste to it! 

We had the pleasure to sit and talk with an employee with the name of Abhinav or Abhi for short.  He told us about the history of Saffrons, where they get their food, and a little bit about the Indian culture.  Abhi told us that they get some of their food from Gordon Food Services (GFS), Northern Michigan, the rice is from India and their meet that has been through a particular slaughterhouse.  Their chicken and meet is sent through a slaughterhouse that slits the throat of the animal to let the blood drain out.  They view this as more humane and respectable towards the animal.  Interestingly enough, this also helps prevent from diseases to occur, like they do in most slaughter houses. 






 

The owner of the restaurant is not only just the owner, he is also the chef, and is very involved with his restaurant.  If he is sick or is not able to go to work that day, Saffrons shuts down.  They do this because he is only one in the restaurant that cooks the food to a particular taste.  Most Indian dishes contain 30 or more seasonings!  I can only recall using about 4-5 in any of my recipes at home!  The base gravy for dishes takes about three days to make and prepare.  Abhi explained to us that in the American culture, we typically use the same spices but in the Indian culture, they vary spices depending on the dish so each dish tastes different.  In his opinion, deep down, all American food tastes the same.  Indian food contains lots of beans and grains.  During a typical Indian family dinner, lentils is always served and apart of the meal.  There are approximately 8 or 9 different kinds of lentils.       

 (Below is an example of what was placed next to each dish)