Traditional Indian Meets Modern Flavors
South Asian foods expand with fusion options in Metro Detroit
FRIES TOSSED IN chaat spices and topped with diced red onion, tomato, scallion, green chili and fresh cheese. Chicken wings marinated in yogurt and Indian spices, fire-roasted in a clay oven. Pizza with grilled butter chicken, housemade tomato masala, paneer cheese blend and butter sauce. These might not be traditional Indian dishes, but they’re examples of how tradition meets modern to create creative and delicious food.
Alina Alam, the brand manager and a spokesperson for Paradise Street Eats & Biryani, says there was a need for space for immigrant kids to enjoy fusion foods like these.
“The fusion concept is blending American flavors in all cultures together. Because we still like our food,” she says, referring to South Asian foods.
She says there was also a need to have South Asian hangout spots in Dearborn, like Yemeni coffee houses, which have popped up all over the U.S. as places to bring people together.
“Once your food is represented, your culture is represented, you are represented,” she says.
While restaurants like Star of India, which opened in the early 1980s, is one of the area’s oldest family-style Indian restaurants in a hub of Indian restaurants offered in Farmington Hills, others like Paradise Street Eats and Biryani, Pink Garlic and more are rapidly growing across Metro Detroit, finding ways to expose the American palate to include more Indian options.
Nearly 12 million people in the U.S. identify as Asian Indian, making up about half of all Asian Americans in the nation. The community is the third largest population in the U.S., and also the fastest-growing in the South Asian diaspora.
Metro Detroit is home to a large population of South Asians, with people largely from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Many people from this subcontinent live in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties.
Kay Ahmed, the owner of the Indian family-style restaurant Charminar Biryani House in Troy, says although Americans are familiar with Indian food, he noticed that more people were ordering Indian food during the pandemic as people seemed to be interested in exploring other cuisines.
“I think Indian food is really growing on Michiganders,” he says.
Ahmed says Michigan is known for its Middle Eastern and Hispanic food choices. But Indian food is catching up. It’s influenced by Mongolian, Chinese and Persian foods along with the influence of religious food guidelines of world religions: Hinduism, India’s majority, embraces vegetarianism; Islam, which has meat influences other than pork; Buddhism; Sikhism and Jainism.
North Indian’s cuisine is known for rotis, parathas, curries and foods made with chickpeas and potatoes. Along with wheat products to make different types of flatbreads, garam masala spice and achars are featured. Proteins include meats such as chicken, goat, lamb and mutton. And curries are made with dairy or ground nuts. South Indian food is spicier and based on rice dishes, and rice-based foods like dosa and idli, and lentils and stews. Seafood, vegetables and coconut milk are also a part of the cuisine. Many restaurants serve North Indian foods.
Many savory Indian dishes use a variety of spices such as turmeric, chili powder, cumin, coriander, onions, garlic and ginger, along with tomatoes and potatoes. They also use seeds, and aromatics like cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaf. There are different stir-fried vegetarian dishes, stews and curries.
Ahmed says the shift was slow in coming to the U.S. compared to the United Kingdom’s enduring love for Indian dishes like chicken tikka masala.
His restaurant serves Indian food from North India such as curries and rotis, and Hyderabadi biryani from the south (also known as dum biryani), which is spicier than the other biryanis and made with marinated meat, basmati rice, saffron and other aromatic spices.
“When you come into our restaurant, you’re kind of getting the best of both worlds,” he says.
Ahmed says his restaurant also has a fan following for South Indian Chettinad chicken, a chicken curry flavored with mustard seeds and creamy coconut milk.
“We’ve got those loyal customers that just come for that one dish and order that dish every single time,” he says.
Ahmed says last year the business expanded to a fast-casual style restaurant called Charminar Biryani Express in Midtown and added another branch downtown this year, also called Charminar Biryani House.
The restaurant prides itself on authentic and traditional flavors, he says, for people looking for Indian food.
“The majority of feedback that we get from customers is, ‘We’re here for the authentic stuff. We want the real-deal Indian food,’” he says.
One example is their dum biryani cooking process, which entails marinating the meat for 24 hours, and then slow-cooking it for 45 minutes to 2 hours.
Ahmed says the spices are imported and ground in house, rather than taken from store-bought spice packets.
“There are specific timings or specific heat levels … even the way we turn the pots,” he says. “We need to follow this when we cook this dish because sometimes if one thing goes wrong, you can either burn it, or it won’t come out tasting the right way, or it will be a little undercooked.”
Ahmed says he has two main dedicated chefs: a chef from North India from Punjab for curries, made with meats, dairy or ground nuts, and a chef from Hyderabad for the biryanis, spicy meat biryanis made through marinating the meat and slow-cooking it. The main chef from Punjab has over 20 years of experience to make sure the food is authentic.
“The majority of feedback that we get from customers is, ‘We’re here for the authentic stuff. We want the real-deal Indian food.’”—KAY AHMED
Joining the newer fast-casual Indian restaurants, Pink Garlic in Oak Park began with a takeout-only model in Michigan. That’s unusual, considering most Indian restaurants offer family-friendly seating.
Pink Garlic owner Kamrul Rayman (Alfie) opened the first location of this style of restaurant in Oak Park in 2021. Their main customer base is American consumers.
Rayman says he helped run his family business for about 14 years in the United Kingdom before moving to Michigan in 2019, to live closer to the rest of his family, and opening shortly after that.
Pink Garlic serves food from different regions in India, with influences from Bangladesh. Rayman says his family has roots in both countries.
“Our menu is designed to include all the popular dishes from different regions of the Indian subcontinent … even including Indo-Asian,” he says.
Rayman opened another location in Allen Park in March, adding dine-in options. Another location is set to open in Shelby Township in May.
Rayman says they try to make many dishes from scratch, including grinding and roasting spices in house.
“Our main concept is to provide good-quality, fresh, homemade food on order rather than making pre-made food,” he says.
Rayman says popular dishes are butter chicken, chicken tikka wrap and cheese naan. He says their samosas also have a fan following. They are handmade and filled with potatoes, peas and carrots and aromatics.
Pink Garlic’s name was inspired by a suggestion from his grandmother. It’s an ode to garlic, an ingredient that figures prominently in many South Asian savory dishes.
Rayman shares Indian and Bangladeshi roots. His grandparents were born in India. The country was home to many Bengalis, who later became a part of East Pakistan in 1947, and then the country of Bangladesh in 1971.
That’s why Rayman says his food is influenced by Indo-fusion. He says the name is also easy to remember.
“If you provide good food, good service, we can do great things and we’re doing it. And we are more likely to be a part of the community,” Rayman says.
In Dearborn, another Indian fusion restaurant is fulfilling a niche market in a city where the dominant halal food market is Middle Eastern, especially Lebanese, food.
Lebanese American Ali Wazne opened Paradise Street Eats & Biryani, located in the Ford Wagner building in West Dearborn, in 2019 with his business partner Srinath “Ziggy” Kalmadi.
Wazne has locations in West Dearborn, a food truck in Greektown and a high tea space called Paradise Café in East Dearborn, formerly called The Trucks Park.
Alina Alam, the brand manager and a spokesperson for Paradise Street Eats & Biryani, also hosts a “Chai Time with Foodie Snapper” at the Paradise Café, an afternoon tea time featuring community voices, as a food blogger.
“Chai time brings people together. It’s a very big aspect of our culture,” she says.
Alam says the café’s decor is heavily influenced by Pakistani truck art and themes explored by Muslim and Middle Eastern art from the Spice Routes.
The café offers Delhi-style chaats, with some fusion options like chicken chaat, and the butter chicken pizza. There’s also Mumbai-style pav, dinner rolls, a popular street food in India.
Wazne says Paradise Café also offers rice bowls, with butter chicken, rice, gravy and layers of chutneys.
“Those are more like the fusion dishes that we created with the authentic flavor profiles of India … our version of club sandwiches and various appetizers,” says Wazne.
Wazne says his role is bringing different flavor profiles together.
“My job is kind of assembling how these different flavors [do] not overpower each other and create a good culinary experience,” he says. “Desi [South Asian] food is multi-layers of flavor; it’s never just one flavor profile in your mouth. You’re always getting an explosion of different flavors.”
Wazne says it’s important to get the flavors to balance out right and make the food more popular.
“Part of our angle with Indian fusion is to try to be more of the pioneers that introduce the inclusion concept, making Indian food more friendly to Western palates, making it more accessible but still having that authentic flavor profile,” Wazne says.
He says his three restaurants represent more than just a place to get Indian fusion food.
“It’s about familiarizing, educating, making a new food a little bit more fun, friendly, accessible, that kind of thing,” he says. “It’s just kind of like Dearborn fusion. So it’s representative of the Dearborn culture, the food scene.”
Bringing Indian food to people is a concept that Priti Kaur, owner of Tiffin Tonight in Ann Arbor, is also exploring. Arjun Singh, Kaur’s son, who does marketing for Tiffin Tonight, says his mother’s love for cooking began during her childhood. Her grandfather ran a catering business for the East Indian Railways from the 1930s to1980s, providing meals for passengers on the train with a tiffin, usually a three-tiered stainless steel lunchbox filled with a full-course meal.
“Everything was fresh and hot, and was fully assorted meals consisting of roti, rice, curry (vegetarian and/or non-vegetarian) and main items all together,” he says.
Now Kaur has created her own grab-and-go pre-made meals for people who want to explore vegetarian Indian cuisine, focusing on foods from the Punjab region in North India.
Singh says his mom’s food is for people in the greater Ann Arbor area to try Indian vegetarian food at a milder taste level. It’s also for people who want to pre-order weekly meals. They order the food, pick it up and refrigerate it for up to seven days, or freeze the food until they eat it.
The business took off in a year after launching in 2020. Singh says having a packaged meal helped her stay sustainable during the pandemic.
Before selling food at Ann Arbor farms and shops, Kaur owned the Kozy Heart child care center for 25 years and then retired. Food became her medium instead.
Singh says her food has a fan following.
“My mom’s food has also worked because of the support of local people,” he says.
Singh says she began serving her foods at farms like Argus Farm Stop, White Lotus and then later the University of Michigan Ann Arbor Cafés, which was looking for a supplier of Indian foods.
“This food has worked because it’s grassroots and people have chosen to support it,” he says.
My mom’s food has also worked because of the support of local people.”
—ARJUN SINGH
He says some customers pick up large batch orders. Kaur makes about 400 items weekly, consisting of meals, wraps and mango lassis serving about a dozen revolving cafés at the UM Ann Arbor, plus several local shops and specialty stores.
Singh says his mom grew up in Varanasi and Amritsar in North India. Her foods are based on a Punjabi food palate.
“It’s a very specific flavor. Chole bhatura, or chickpeas, and lassi, a mango yogurt drink, is very big,” he says.
Kaur sells a few signature meals: a yellow curry with mixed vegetables, a chole and saag paneer, and butter paneer, a best seller.
“And then we have these Indian burrito wraps, which are popular,” he says, including egg bhurji, an Indian egg scramble.
He says he hopes the business expands locally, keeping the business in and near Ann Arbor.
“This is like her truest self is in this craft,” Singh says.
Charminar Biryani House
111 W. Warren Ave., Detroit, and 1226 Griswold St, Detroit
charminarmi.com
Paradise Street Eats & Biryani
22001 Michigan Ave Suite 130, Dearborn, and 1200 Randolph St., Detroit
paradisestreeteats.com
Pink Garlic
26661 Coolidge Hwy, Oak Park
Tiffin Tonight
5443 Lohr Road, Ann Arbor
tiffintonight.com
Nargis Hakim Rahman is a Bangladeshi American Muslim journalist and writer. She is passionate about community journalism in the Greater Detroit area. She hopes to give American Muslims and minorities a voice in the press. Nargis’s favorite South Asian food is chicken 65 with garlic naan. Give it a try!
