Tibetan Cuisine

I enjoyed a lovely meal last night at a simple place on Venice Blvd near Culver city. Tara's Himalayan Cuisine was one of the nicest places we have been to lately as it was quiet, the food was delicious and they didn't bother you after you paid the check to leave. In fact, we sat there for an hour and a half talking and enjoying our company.
The food was Northern Indian with many familiar dishes such as Pakoras, Curries, Masala, Raita and Nan bread. Very nicely flavored with just the right amount of spice and not overly sauced we enjoyed most everything we ordered.
We had an appetizer of cooked potatoes with cilantro, chilies, garlic and scallions (Aloo Achaar), Daal, Raita, Shrimp Curry, Saag Aloo and Chicken Sekawa. The chicken was moist and flavored with cilantro, ginger and spices. The shrimp was served in a curry tomato sauce and the Saag Aloo was a combination of cooked spiced cubed potatoes with pureed spinach that was very good. We had two orders of Garlic Naan that was crispy and lightly flavored with garlic and cilantro; perfect!
This was a place I would recommend for it's food, atmosphere ( calm and quiet; NOT trendy), prices ( very inexpensive) and Buddhist feel (very Zen, no one cares how long you sit)
That said I am now teaching Indian cooking as I have learned from master chef and cookbook author Julie Sahni so if you would like to try an Indian dish of your own here is a sample from my last class:

Southern Indian Garlic Braised Tomatoes
Serves 6

Ingredients
3 Tb. canola oil
1 tsp. black mustard seeds
8 large garlic cloves, sliced thinly
12 kari leaves, julienne
1 ½ tsp. curry powder*
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
6 large plum tomatoes, peeled, cut into wedges
3 small green chilies, seeded and julienne
½ tsp. salt
juice of ½ lime

Procedure
1. In a large skillet over high heat warm the oil. Add the seeds and cover the pan, when the seeds stop popping turn off the heat and uncover the pan. Add the garlic and kari leaves and cook until golden about 30 seconds.
2. 3. Stir in the curry powder, cumin and red pepper flakes. Add the tomato wedges and cook 3 minutes without stirring. Carefully mix the tomatoes and cook until very soft about 6 minutes. Add the chilies, salt and lime juice and cover until ready to serve.
3. Serve hot or cold and this can be pureed for a great sauce for chicken, fish or meat.

Curry Powder
1 ½ Tb. coriander seeds
1 tsp. peppercorns
½ tsp. mustard seeds
½ tsp. fenugreek seeds
½ tsp. cumin seeds
3 whole cloves
1 Tb. turmeric
½ Tb. cayenne

Grind the first 6 ingredients in a spice grinder until a fine powder. Stir in the last two.