Sometimes you want to eat what you're familiar with, and sometimes you need variety and you try new things. If you haven't tried Tandoori Nights in Roseville, please stop what you're doing and try this restaurant. It's more than delicious; it's a real treat. Tandoori Nights serves Pakistani and Indian cuisine, and if you've already tried these cuisines, you'll have your new favorite source for them.  For those who haven't tried them, please know you'll wish you had done so before now.  Read on to read why Tandoori Nights is magical.

Pakistani Food at Its Best

Tandoori Nights brings its diners the best of both Pakistani and Indian food. Pakistan is a relatively young country compared to many of its neighbors and therefore its food incorporates characteristics of the food from India, Afghanistan, and Iran. Because it's newer and combines attributes from others, Pakistani food is a blend of cooking techniques that create complex flavors. For example, the sweetness in some of the sauces comes from pomegranate seeds. Spices used to make the curry lean on lemon, coriander, and ginger. And while flatbread is not a Pakistani invention, Pakistani meals are regarded as the product of a bread culture, so in addition to scooping entrees with flatbread, there are other popular breads stuffed with meat and vegetable mixtures.

But it isn't just about the ingredients that makes Pakistani cooking amazing; there's the tandoor oven baking method. A tandoor is a clay oven large enough to hold a small fire created with wood charcoal.  While it's true that tandoor ovens can be used to bake breads, the way they make themselves a favorite is when used for cooking meats! The tandoor oven environment is extremely hot and controlled by modulating the amount of oxygen in the oven. When the meat is placed in this oven, it's grilled to perfection while maintaining the flavor of seasonings all the way through it.

Tandoori Nights has a fantastic selection of tandoori meats. There are chicken legs, which is one of the best ways to try tandoori baked food. They also have beef kebabs, lamb chops, and prawns. But it doesn't end there. You can also have filet of sole, which is marinated and baked in the tandoori oven.

Indian Food That Is Well Represented

While Pakistani food and Indian food share characteristics, overall, there are differences that stand out once you know the culture of the food. Indian cuisine has been influenced by over 5,000 years worth of history. Compared to Pakistani cuisine, the differences are in the amount of meat each uses and the spice palette used to prepare dishes. Indian food doesn't contain the same amount of meat that Pakistani food does. It tends to have more vegetables, legumes, fruits, grains, and dairy items. Because the cuisine concentrates on vegetables as opposed to meat, the variety of dishes is more diversified. In Indian cuisine, there's a large variety of lentil dishes as examples of how the lower amount of meat influences Indian cuisine.

Tandoori Nights does an amazing job at offering the variety one hopes to find when searching for Indian food.  From Pakora, which are mixed vegetable fritters, to Prawn Tikka Masala, which is jumbo prawns in a blend of ground spices unique to Indian cuisine, you taste the best of its kind when you eat at Tandoori Nights.

Settling the Mystery

For many people, trying the cuisine of a culture they're unfamiliar with means getting comfortable with what is being offered on a menu. To help you create some comfort around this delicious food, here's something to keep in mind. Pakistani and Indian food have some basic categories that, once understood, make ordering easy. Appetizers are usually fritters, which are called Pakoras, and they're just that, fritters.  They're often served with a sweet, chutney-like sauce on the side. They aren't very spicy or messy, so it's a safe bet you'll like them so long as you like fritters. There's always bread or chip to select that may go by the name of papadum, appala, or papari. They're a thin cracker-like food made from dough that's usually derived from black beans rice, chickpeas, or lentils. These make a perfect carrier for seasoned yogurt, which is a popular appetizer.

In addition to noting that tandoori is a style of baking referring to the oven and not a dish or food, you also know that masala is a combination of seasonings used. Saag is a leafy green vegetable and is often served with a soft cheese or lentils. Because lentils are so popular, anytime something has the word "dal" in it, it refers to lentils.  Please note that lentils are usually cooked with turmeric, so if that's a flavor you like, please proceed. If it isn't, you may want to avoid a dish highlighting dal.  The word “malai” means a creamy sauce. This is an extremely popular sauce in Indian cooking and mild. Tikka simply means “small chunks” so when seeing that word, look for other ingredients to define what will be in the dish. For example, you might see "chicken tikka masala," which you now know means small chunks of chicken done in a sauce created with a medley of seasonings.  But what about the most famous dish of all?  Curry.

Curry is a combination of seasonings ground together to make a paste, roux, or other reduction that becomes the base for the sauce, which then is used for a dish. The discussion of what curry is can go on for hours, so it's best to know that it is going to vary in flavor as there is a red, green, and yellow version and will also vary in heat, depending on what you choose. While a wide range of spices are used throughout the world to create curry, the typical ones are turmeric, cumin, coriander, ginger, and chilies. 

The great news is that Tandoori Nights does a perfect job of defining what each dish is once you know the basics, which you now do. Tandoori Nights is both a Pakistani and Indian food restaurant, so you have a large variety of bread to go with the many great curry dishes prepared here.  And don't forget dessert.  Your delicious culinary journey can end with either Kheer, a rice pudding, or Gulab Jamun, which are spicy pastry balls in a light sauce of rose water and cardamom.  Either of these two sweets will top off your meal perfectly so don't skip dessert.  

Roseville Self Storage

Whether you're finishing up your day moving or just wanting to try something different, eating a meal full of exciting flavors and textures is a treat. At Roseville Self Storage, we know how important it is to have these treats during tough times and fun times too. We take great pride in learning what you tell us is great about Roseville, and we enjoy passing this information on to our valued friends and customers. Please stop by and see us at Roseville Self Storage. Take a moment to tell us what you love about working and living in Roseville so we can continue to pass that information on to others. We're open and practicing social distancing, so please stop by and see us.

Tandoori Nights is located at 1420 East Roseville Parkway, Ste. 155
Roseville CA  95661
916-780-8200

Tandoor Nights is open:
Monday through Friday 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
https://tandoorinights.us/#about