Rasraj - Artesia

While I make a bit of ethnic food, I didn't really eat a lot of Indian food and although I've been living in the LA region for 25 years, it's only recently that I started exploring Little India. The area known as “Little India” consists of Asian Indian companies and restaurants along the Pioneer Boulevard in Artesia and attracts customers from the large population of expatriates from the Indian subcontinent living over Greater Los Angeles. My first visit happened. I had lunch with friends in a Filipino restaurant and one of my friends mentioned Indian ice cream for dessert on the street in Little India. I'm always for a new culinary adventure so off we went for some of the best ice cream I've ever experienced and I experienced that at Saffron Spot. I finally arrived. Since then, I have eaten meals in three different restaurants, the last being my favorite and going under the name of Rasraj. What is interesting about Rasraj is that they also have a small section in their menu of Desi Chinese articles. The word “Desi” refers almost all Indians, be it person, place or thing; so is Desi Chinese is Chinese cooking cooked Indian style. In principle, traditional Chinese dishes are prepared with Indian flavors and spices. For my visit there I just stayed with her Indian dishes, but next time will be another story. The thing about eating in Rasraj, it is better to have either some kind of working knowledge about Indian cuisine or bring someone familiar with him. Either that or you just have to be really adventurous. When you enter, the walls are with pictures of the different dishes they offer. Behind the counter you will see the menu items on a board and there is also a take-out menu that you can also see. The problem is that in all three cases there are no descriptions or listing of ingredients next to food. It's like the order blind. Fortunately, I brought a friend with me who is randomly Indian, and what she had I done was point on the pictures on the wall and she would describe the court for me. Based on their descriptions, we chose three articles. From there we placed our order on the counter, received a number and waited for our number to be called. While we wait in the line to order, we also have deep-fried chili peppers that did not seem hot at the first bite, but wow, a few bites later, my mouth was on fire. Thank you so much that the food we ordered arrived quite quickly because it was the yogurt from two of the items that helped to cool the fire. As for our orders, the first thing I tried was the Danipuri. The Danipuri are small round bread bowls called puri filled with yoghurt, potato, chili powder and tamarind and green Chutneys with coriander leaves. To eat it, you give it all in your mouth. I really enjoyed the light crunch of the bowl as well as how the cooling and refreshment of the remaining ingredients were to my palate, especially after eating these deep-fried chilli earlier. For more of a kick, the tandoori wrap we have offered this and more. The tandoori packaging was naan bread with mixed vegetables, spicy tomato sauce, cilantro and garnished with pomegranate and Cilantro Chutney. Yum! Yum! Yum! I don't even think I have words to describe all the delicious flavors of what seemed more like an Indian pizza than a pack. You get a nice heat hit by the sauce, while the fresh Cilantro leaves and Cilantro Chutney adds a beautiful little papriity. I also liked that the Veggies had a nice crunch to them. No tenderness. The last dish was Papdi Chat, which was a mixture of yogurt, boiled potatoes, Garbanzo beans and garnished with tamarinds and Zilantro-Chutneys. Just like the panuri, this yogurt-based food was cooling down on the palate, but the tamarind and Cilantro also added a beautiful hit of acidic and puffy aromas as well. Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Rasraj and try some things I have never experienced and I look forward to a return visit.