Chicken Tikka Masala Naan Toastie

(Gerry Furth-Sides) Cafe Spice introduces NAAN TOASTIES in three filling flavors: Chicken Tikka, Cauli Tikka and Chicken Chutney, filling sandwiches in conveniently packaged half moon versions. They are available online and in select supermarkets. And the story is that Naan Toasties also represent the most recent shift in American dining, from post-restaurant to home and on-the-go-eating with packaged meals and snacks. We wrote about Cafe Spice’s new packaged meals last winter (//localfoodeater.com/cafe-spice-delivers-authentic-ethnic-meals-at-home/

Cafe Spice Culinary Director, Chef Hari Nayak developed the “Toasties” inspired by one of his favorite Indian street food dishes in Mumbai, the popular “Mumbai Toasties”. The idea was to stuff Indian flavors in fresh cauliflower or chicken or chutney, bright spices and gooey melted cheese, all snugly tucked into a sort of quilted Naan bread pocket. This is in sync with authentic Indian flavors being vital throughout India’s culinary history.

Second generation food industry pioneer, Sameer Malhotra, Cafe Spice CEO and Co-founder, neatly packaged the Spice Naan toasties so that they are all ready to be popped into the oven or toaster oven for minutes. And each can be split in half and rebagged in the ingenious packaging with a gummed label. For details and ordering, please see //www. cafespice.com

Chef’s mission was to infuse not only the fun and convenience of one of the most popular Indian street food dishes, but the energy of the fast-paced culture of Indian street food with fresh Cafe Spice ingredients. I get the idea: I sometimes drink my morning espresso standing up next to counter in front of the Lavazza machine maker and dream I am in bustling Milan.

The story behind this dish is that even as a boy, Chef Hari loved being in the center of Mumbai, hopping from food cart to food cart. He’d happily stand in long lines just to experience the new dishes at the most, while taking in his surroundings of bright colors and the buzzing energy of the city.

Classic Chicken Tikka Masala is a natural choice for the Naan Toasties. The dish has become the most popular dish in Indian restaurants across the world and regularly turns up in the top five, if not the top most favorite dish in England. It holds first place in the category of Anglo-Indian food, developed during the Indian Raj when the British officers and bureaucrats developed a passion for Indian cuisine, blending some of their own less pungent flavors into it.

The Cafe Spice toasties honors the recipe with fresh ingredients and spices. In the original version, the chicken is marinated in yogurt, then roasted and combined with a tomato sauce, prepared with a hint of cream and aromatic spices. We would recommend that a rough shred, moist chicken filling in the Cafe Spice version to better serve the sandwich instead of the small, hard pieces of chicken.

A Tikka is also the natural choice for the sandwiches, highlighting pieces of meat or vegetables. Its origins go back back to the Mughal dynasty. It is made by marinating chicken or veggie pieces in spices and yoghurt and then cooking them in a tandoor. This dish is classically paired with a serving of Basmati saffron rice, which is grown in the Himalayan foothills, prepared with real saffron threads and cooked with whole cardamom pods and bay leaves.

Naan, an ancient Indian staple is perfect for a folded over quesadilla-like sandwich.  It’s a soft dough cooked at extremely high temperatures in a metal or clay cylindrical oven. Yogourt is added to the dough to soften it, and ghee to give it a gloss before the chef gently slaps it onto the side of the oven. Naans are slightly puffy with a crackling thin, crisp crust spotted with bits of smoky char that breaks open to reveal airy, stretchy, slightly chewy bread underneath. The Cafe Spice partially baked version uses a toaster oven just for reheating.

The Malhotra family behind Cafe Spice has kept up with it all. They saw the shift from formal restaurants to the more casual cafe, when they opened the casual Cafe Spice in New York. They met stay-at-home home dining with full meal in a box products. And recently they added to the latest trend of “street food” products to eat at home or away.

Sameer Malhotra’s father, Sushil Malhotra, always seemed to have “his finger on the pulse of the food industry since he was first in business. He originally supplied South Asian spices and chutneys to New York’s curry houses. He then went on to run a fine Indian restaurant—ranked for fifteen years as the #1 rated Indian restaurant on Zagat.  And when a new “culture” of casual dining emerged in the 90s, the family launched Cafe Spice in New York City, with a focus on fun and experimentation, rather than the more typically confining, formal Indian restaurants at the time. Sums up Sameer, “My father brought the essence of Indian flavors to America, and I want to continue bringing the richness of International cooking to your home. “

Enlisting Culinary Director, Chef Hari Nayak to create and grow the Cafe Spice product line was key to the Malhotra’s. His extensive travel and culinary background allows them to include more fusion and flavors, as well as a broader range of authentic Asian cuisine. The chef works with a team of chefs who are always tasting and creating new recipes. One of the most sought after chefs in North America, Chef Nayak a new, modern outlook to Global cuisine without abandoning the authentic flavors, wonderful aromas, or rich culinary history. Cafe Spice sources only the highest-quality whole ingredients, something that the family has been doing for two generations even before their started their own restaurants and product lines.

The chicken meals are certified by Global Animal Partnership (Step 2) and appear on the ASPCA’s list of certified farm products; they are  Antibiotic Free, Humanely Raised Chicken; Gluten Free; rBST-Free Milk with a Spice Level of Medium.