(^89)
TAMARIND CHUTNEY
ACTIVE 10 MIN; TOTAL 1 HR 10 MIN
MAKES ABOUT 1^2 / 3 CUPS
Soaking dried dates in boiling water soft-
ens them so they blend easily, lending
their signature caramel-like sweetness to
this tart chutney.
1 cup dried dates
11 / 2 cups boiling water
2 Tbsp. tamarind paste
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 / 2 tsp. Kashmiri chile powder (such as
Spicewalla)
1 / 4 tsp. ground cumin
Place dates in a small heatproof bowl;
cover with 1^1 / 2 cups boiling water. Let
stand at room temperature until dates are
softened, about 1 hour. Transfer softened
dates and soaking water to a blender; add
tamarind paste, lemon juice, salt, chile
powder, and cumin. Process until smooth,
about 35 seconds.
MAKE AHEAD Store chutney in an airtight
container in refrigerator up to 5 days.
Canola oil, for frying
11 / 2 cups chickpea flour (besan) (about
47 / 8 oz.), divided
1 / 2 cup (about 2^5 / 8 oz.) plus 2 Tbsp.
white rice flour, divided
2 Tbsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 /^2 tsp. ground turmeric
1 bunch lacinato kale, stemmed and
chopped (about 6 packed cups)
1 cup fresh corn kernels
1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 medium-size sweet onion, chopped
1 fresh serrano chile, unseeded,
thinly sliced
1 / 4 cup water
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Tamarind Chutney (recipe follows)
HERE IS FARM TO TABLE, and then there is Niven
Patel’s farm to table. The chef, who now owns two
restaurants and a pop-up in Miami, supplies them
all with fresh produce from his own farm, a two-
acre plot located 40 minutes south in Homestead,
Florida, dubbed “Rancho Patel.” From these two acres comes a steady
supply of fresh produce that most chefs could only dream about. It’s
not unusual for his team to harvest hundreds of pounds of perfect
cherry tomatoes, bushels of kale, and crates of eggplant from the farm.
Patel also grows heirloom lima beans, okra, and difficult-to-source
South Asian vegetables like giant leafy patra (colocasia leaves) and
crunchy tindora. The farm bounty is transformed into dishes like
crunchy chickpea flour–battered fritters he calls “backyard pakoras”
or cooked down and layered with rice to make a fragrant biryani at
both locations of his flagship restaurant, Ghee. Though he now has
staff, initially everything was harvested by Patel and his father-in-law.
Patel, who is Gujarati American,
decided to start the farm while he was
working as an executive chef. “One of
my cooks grabbed this perfect tomato,
took two slices off of it, and then threw
the other half in the trash,” he recalls.
“And I lost it.” It was clear to Patel that
his cooks didn’t understand or appreci-
ate what went into growing the produce
that they used. “So I told them, ‘You guys
are all going to come to my house, and
we’re going to start a farm.’”
Farming is central to all of Patel’s proj-
ects. While it’s not unusual for a chef to
be fanatical when it comes to sourcing ingredients, not many can
say that they not only own a farm but also keep another farm on
their payroll. To supply his restaurants with fresh green millet, Patel
purchases the entire millet crop from a farmer in Surat, India, the
city his family is from. Those grains show up at Ghee gently steamed,
tossed in an herbaceous green chutney, and topped with a dollop of
cooling yogurt and crunchy fried chickpea noodles. The millet pops
like caviar.
“Everything [on the menu at Ghee] is simple but flavorful,” says
Patel. “That’s what makes Indian food what it is, and that’s how Indian
food should be.” This is Patel’s entire ethos when it comes to Indian
food. He prefers to skip the trappings of a typical British Indian curry
house—you won’t find chicken jalfrezi or lamb bhuna on the menu—in
favor of unfussy homestyle cooking.
But don’t confuse simple for subdued. Patel’s approach means
dishes like bhel, a puffed rice snack, tossed with chutney and avo-
cado and crowned with pristine cubed
local tuna. Or perfectly crisp samosas
stuffed with lamb kheema and served
with a generous amount of mint-yogurt
chutney. Or bowls of Rancho Patel egg-
plant and potatoes simmered in a spiced
tomato gravy. It’s a cheffy riff on a staple
found in most Gujarati kitchens. His
menu will make many question why
they wasted so many meals ordering
chicken tikka masala—though unsur-
prisingly, Patel’s version, made with
tender thigh meat, is one of the best in
existence, if you insist on ordering it, too.
- Pour oil to a depth of 2 inches in a Dutch
oven; heat over medium-high to 325°F. - Meanwhile, whisk together 1 cup chick-
pea flour,^1 / 2 cup white rice flour, salt,
coriander, cumin, garam masala, ginger,
garlic powder, sugar, and turmeric in a
very large bowl. Add kale, corn, bell pep-
per, onion, and chile. Massage vegetable
mixture with dry mixture for 2 minutes
to release moisture from vegetables; let
stand 10 minutes. - Add^1 / 4 cup water and lemon juice to
kale mixture; massage just until vegetable
mixture clumps together. If needed,
add remaining^1 / 2 cup chickpea flour
and remaining 2 tablespoons white rice
flour, and massage until mixture clumps
to g e t h e r. - Preheat oven to 200°F. Working in
batches, spoon^1 / 4 cup kale mixture into
your palm, and flatten into a compact,
thin patty. After making 3 or 4 patties,
carefully slide them into hot oil, and fry,
turning occasionally, until browned and
crisp, about 4 minutes. (Maintain oil
temperature between 300°F to 310°F.)
Transfer fried pakoras to a wire rack set
inside a baking sheet to drain. Place pako-
ras in preheated oven to keep warm as
you fry remaining batches. Serve pakoras
with tamarind chutney.
WINE Robust, creamy Rh™ne-style white:
2018 Tablas Creek C™tes de Tablas Blanc
T
a farmer grows and harvests
a vegetable; a prep cook
processes it; a chef cooks it; a
server presents it. once eaten,
a busser clears it; a dish-
washer cleans up. i hope people
start to understand that one
bowl of food supports
many people.” —niven patelKALE-AND-CORN PAKORAS
TOTAL 50 MIN; SERVES 6A mix of chickpea and rice flours helps these
pakoras fry up light, lacy, and extra crunchy. Corn
and peppers join with kale to give these vegetarian
fritters extra heft.