Josh and I usually order Indian food from Baluchi’s but we’re always on the lookout for other good delivery places. One night we decided to try out the delivery from Aaheli, an Indian restaurant that we’ve walked past many times and always seems to have a lot of patrons, which is usually a good sign. We started out with some vegetable samosas filled with potatoes and peas in flaky crust.
Vegetable samosas
The samosas were fried well so that the crust was crispy and not too greasy, but we found the filling to be a tad bland. Usually there’s a distinct flavor of curry powder and other spices but this version was rather plain. Fortunately they brought us an assortment of sauces to dip the samosas in, including a coriander sauce, a tamarind sauce, and some mango chutney, which helped boost up the flavor a bit.
Samosa innards and accompanying sauces
For our main courses, we got an order of spinach keema mutton and chicken korma. Keema mutton is a dish made with ground lamb mixed with peas and various spices. Aaheli’s version had good flavor and lots of fresh ginger running through out that gave it a nice fresh touch, but I found the dish to be too oily overall. There was a significant amount of oil that had pooled at the top, which was a bit unappetizing. Too bad, because it was otherwise a pretty tasty version. The spinach was a nice addition that set it apart from the usual keemas that we get from other restaurants.
Spinach keema mutton
The chicken korma fared better, with tender pieces of chicken in a rich almond and cashew curry sauce. This version wasn’t overly creamy or too sweet, with an intriguing mix of spices, and it was one of the better versions that I’ve had. There were thin slivers of almonds mixed throughout, which added a nice crunch.
Chicken korma
Both of our curry dishes came with rice that was scented with spices, and we also added an order of naan for each of us. The naan was thick and fluffy, with a flaky exterior – perfect for dipping into the curry sauces.
Curry on rice with a piece of fluffy naan
Overall we thought the food at Aaheli was pretty good. The flavors seemed fresher and they added some ingredients to some of our favorite dishes that gave them interesting twists, such as the fresh ginger and spinach to the keema. While I did think some of the dishes were a bit greasier than usual, they were still really tasty. Price-wise, the delivery was more expensive than Baluchi’s, but mostly because Baluchi’s offers that great prix fixe deal that includes an appetizer, entree, rice, and bread for only about $15. Curries from Aaheli are about $10 for chicken and $12 for lamb, appetizers range from $4-$6, and breads are $2-$3 each. That’s cheaper than most other Indian restaurants in the neighborhood though, so I think it’s still a good value. It looks like Aaheli does offer a lunch buffet on weekdays that costs $9.95, and a weekend prix fixe deal that looks to be a very reasonable $10.95. Hopefully we’ll check those out one of these days and see if the food is even better when it’s eaten fresh at the restaurant.
Aaheli
826 9th Ave. between 54th and 55th St.
New York, NY
Tags: Delivery, Indian, Midtown West
I like Baluchis too. I get the prix fixe, plus an extra order of channa masala, and I am stuck eating indian for 3-4 nights! Yum!