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This past Holi, we celebrated by playing colors at Pier 17. Tag us @tagmonyc when sharing the memories! All photography credits goes to Md Abdul (Mishel) Al Momen @mishel.green
Indian fruitcake is a traditional rum-soaked specialty that's part of Anglo-Indian cuisine—a convergence of colonial British and South Asian cuisines. Indian fruitcake (or plum cake as it's sometimes called) has been embraced by South Asians and unlike its Western predecessor, it’s eaten year-round.
This Pride month, there are so many ways to celebrate our LGBTQ+ community and for allies to show meaningful solidarity. We've put together a guide to our favorite pop-ups, organizations & local queer-owned businesses you can support all year long!
In honor of Valentine’s Day, we are collaborating with our friend chef Seema Pai on a prix fixe dinner featuring homestyle South Indian cuisine. Seema and chef Surbhi have curated an exciting menu with dishes rarely found on restaurant menus. This regional food (with its many sub-regions and culinary techniques) offers a taste and understanding of coastal cuisine from across India’s southern shores.
The perfect winter treat with bitter chocolate, bright citrus and sweet coconut. It’s Surbhi’s take on a classic Indian mithai, with a desi diasporic spin. There is no oven needed to make this mithai, but you’ll need khoya (solidified whole milk), which can be found at your local Indian grocery stores or can be made from scratch by cooking down ricotta cheese.
Kaju katli is a favorite sweet throughout India, one that chef Surbhi Sahni treasured as a child. For a dessert with such lavish ingredients, it's actually very simple to make and doesn’t require any special equipment or laborious techniques. Kaju katli is by default vegan and gluten-free, which makes it a sweet that many people can enjoy.
Dahi bhalla is a chaat (street food) popular in Delhi with versions all over South Asia. It’s creamy and filling with a kick of spice and a hint of crunch. This version is inspired by my aunt who used to make dahi bhalla for nearly every special occasion, and we couldn’t get enough of it. The fried lentil dumplings are soaked in a tangy yogurt sauce, brightened by two chutneys that perform a balancing act of sweet and savory.
Besan ladoo is an iconic Diwali mithai. It is first mithai recipe I perfected and has been my favorite since childhood. As a kid, my dad used to surprise me and my brother by bringing home a small box of besan ladoos from the local mithaiwala. Made with just five ingredients (chickpea flour, cane sugar, cardamom and gold dust), besan ladoos are naturally gluten-free and easy to make at home with minimal kitchen equipment.
The story of candy starts in South Asia where sugarcane originated. Sugarcane was first cultivated by the Indus Valley civilization (what is now India). When you think of candy, you might not immediately think of India, but modern candy making owes its craft to the innovative art of refining sugar that was invented 8,000 years ago on the Indian subcontinent.
Mithai, the Hindi word for sweets, represents a diverse array of confections, each with their own regional distinctions and culinary techniques that date back thousands of years. Mithai are distinctly South Asian but have evolved with the spice trade, colonization and global trade. Yet, many of our beloved South Asian sweets are still uncommon.
Rakhi (Raksha Bandhan) is a Hindu ceremony that celebrates the bond between siblings and chosen kin, with a lot of street food, mithai, and music. Rakhi is like an ancient take on the modern BFF bracelets from childhood.
The strength of mithai is in its versatility. Able to carry a world of flavors, colors, textures and aromas, these small Indian confections are the perfect vehicles for culinary experimentation. There are traditional tried and true flavors you can find in any South Asian sweets shop that promise nostalgia and reliable flavor profiles in every bite, from Mumbai to Kolkata, from Jackson Heights, Queens to at our own mithai shop in the Seaport District.
Download and share the memories! Tag us @tagmonyc and credit photographer Deb Fong @deb_fong_photography
Spring is in full bloom on the East Coast, just in time for Ramadan (called Ramzan in India), the holiest month of the year. For our Muslim family and friends, this is a season of fasting, prayer, service to others, and looking deep within. There’s so much more to this observance that goes beyond fasting. Food, mutual aid and observing the changing seasons are all intrinsic parts of this holiday.
While the world is a flurry of bouquets and brunches, this annual event can feel bittersweet for a lot of us. But while we’re up in our feelings, we can claim abundant joy and celebrate the unconventional ways that we have been and continue to be mothered.
Holi is most known for its color. We’re talking about bright bursts of gulal, colored powder in every shade of the rainbow. It is playfully thrown by the fistfuls by crowds who gather in the streets and city centers. The air is filled with explosive puffs of dust that blend with bucketfuls of water, showering dancing revelers (and unexpectant passersby) in a kaleidoscope of watercolors.
Niloufer Ichaporia King is a legendary Parsi cook, author and anthropologist, Her storytelling and recipe collection has introduced countless home cooks to Parsi cuisine. Her cookbook, My Bombay Kitchen helped preserve the culture of an ancient ethnic minority that migrated from Persia to parts of India and what is now Pakistan between the eighth and tenth centuries CE, bringing their unique Zoroastrian customs and foodways that date back 3,000 years.
Tawas are special pans typically made of cast iron or stainless steel that are used to cook Indian food (and other cuisines) in a specific way. One side is concave and is used much like a wok to cook vegetables and protein over a hot flame. The other side is flat, which is perfect for getting rotis and parathas fluffy yet crisp around the edges.
Bengal is a cuisine known for its minimalist spice blends and fresh coastal ingredients. Similar to Bihari food, Bengali dishes utilize mustard seeds, mustard oil and green chilies, which have a bright subtle heat—unlike the intensity of red chilies that are used widely across the rest of the country.
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We’ve partnered with award-winning Indian chef Surbhi Sahni and her women-owned restaurant Tagmo for a delicious Indian curry that’s perfect for celebrating the vibrant flavors of Asian Heritage Month. Thanks to Chef Sahni, you’ll learn to make this simple, satisfying South Asian dish right in your own kitchen—a fantastic vegan dinner idea for any night. Cashew and pea-studded basmati rice makes a fragrant bed for a tomato-y mushroom and potato coconut curry with as much (or as little) heat as you like.
Chef Surbhi Sahni runs Tagmo, a tony, Michelin-listed restaurant, and bar – which is also a mithai shop, at New York City’s historic Seaport District, which she opened in 2021. But Sahni, a food & beverages entrepreneur with two decades of professional culinary experience; who has been part of the teams at some of Manhattan's well-known upscale Indian restaurants including Amma,
Tagmo (which in Bhutanese means tigress, the symbol of female strength across South Asia) is both chef Surbhi Sahni’s labor of love and a commitment to employing women of color, with a menu, based on “regional homestyle food and specialty sweets from across India that tell our stories of migration, cultural exchange and self-determination in the diaspora.” It’s innovative, beautifully presented and has levels of spices that linger.
During the week of Diwali, the streets of New Delhi pulse with excitement. Rows of glowing lanterns swing playfully above people shopping at food stalls, where vendors stuff newspaper cones with crispy chaat and fry lacy swirls of batter with renewed zeal. After days of scrubbing and dusting, people open the doors of their homes for holiday parties, out-of-town guests and drop-in visits from neighbors bearing gifts.
When fall hits, South Asians worldwide start gearing up for Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights. The five-day festival is over 2,500 years old and is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists. This year Diwali will take place on October 24—the holiday generally falls between October and November, depending on the lunar calendar—and includes an abundance of food and sweets, dancing, and family gatherings to honor the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness.
An immigrant from India, Chef Surbhi Sahni recently turned her confection company into a New York restaurant celebrating her heritage and other women of color within the food world. Michelle Miller speaks to Sahni about her philosophy and kitchen skills.
Equity and Opportunity shines a spotlight on Tagmo, a South Asian eatery in NYC creating an inclusive and safe workplace while also collaborating with other small businesses focusing on social good.
TAGMO began with a literal dream that I had about a tigress, which is what the word tagmo means in Bhutanese. In South Asian culture, the tigress is this iconic symbol of feminine strength. She represents a type of power that protects rather than harms, and it’s that energy that guides my business. I want to collaborate, not compete. I want to uplift other queer people, South Asians, and anyone who has been marginalized.
When chef Surbhi Sahni, who opened Tagmo last fall, landed in NYC in the late ‘90s, she was startled to find herself heartbroken upon leaving her beloved India. “When you come here to start building a life, that’s when you realize that you took the support system you had for granted.” So Sahni set about creating that sense of community in her adopted home—through her food.
TAGMO In New York Is Unique For Its Tantalizing Indian Cuisine And Its Women Of Color Staff.
Tucked onto New York’s historic Front Street, just below the South Street Seaport, Tagmo seems perfectly situated, for it was here that the Clipper and Tall Ships of the 19th century, carrying spices from around the world, came to dock, and the menu at Tagmo is an explosion of such spices in every dish.
Kaju katli is a favorite sweet throughout India. It is also one of the most expensive mithai, a category of dense and chewy Indian confections, because it is made primarily with cashews. As a kid, I was always googly eyed at this sweet because it’s so decadent and I would only get a small piece.
In India, it is often sold in thin slices, so it’s gone in a few bites, but the flavor lingers. For a dessert with such lavish ingredients, it is actually very simple to make and doesn’t require any special equipment or laborious techniques.
Kaju katli is by default vegan and gluten-free, which makes it a sweet that many people can enjoy.
Indians may be known the world over for their vibrant and colorfully chaotic culture of celebration, but here’s the clincher: They do next to nothing without a glorious, dizzying array of feast-worthy food to tie it all together. And this is especially true for Diwali, the shimmering annual Hindu festival of lights which celebrates the triumph of good over evil, starting on November 4 this year.
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After running a successful online desserts shop, chef Surbhi Sahni is launching a permanent restaurant and retail store
ChefChef Surbhi Sahni emerges from Tagmo’s kitchen carrying a round yellow plate of jewel-toned mithai nestled in brown wrappers. The chewy, bite-sized confections sparkle in the light. “You must try these,” she says, proudly. The tiny Indian sweets were the genesis of Tagmo, which has developed from online sweets shop to mid-pandemic meal delivery service to its current form: A full-fledged restaurant opening in the Seaport District, at 226 Front Street, near Peck Slip, on September 17.
In the front of this new addition to the growing seaport district is an array of Indian sweets that the chef and owner, Surbhi Sahni, sold before adding savories to her online delivery company. At her new restaurant, she will feature homestyle, mostly vegetarian fare in a colorful setting.
Although new restaurants have been opening in New York City at an exhilarating rate all year long, fall is prime time for new eating and drinking destinations. Call it back-to-school syndrome, the pumpkin spice effect or simply a break from the sleepy summer heat, there’s something about autumn that lends itself to getting excited about dining out.
This fall, the 2021 restaurant forecast is particularly promising. In the weeks and months ahead, we’re looking at three new openings from one of NYC’s best restaurant groups, a long-awaited and highly-regarded British import, offshoots of sushi favorites, exciting cocktail programs, glamorous dining rooms and unending new chances to nab reservations before they run out.
Surbhi Sahni is a chef with over two decades of professional culinary experience. She served as the Creative Director behind the Michelin-starred New York restaurants Devi and Tulsi. Today, she continues to work her magic at Saar Bistro in Midtown, New York. Surbhi is also the founder of Tagmo Treats, a small-batch South Asian food company, through which she creates delectable mithai confections like burfi in chocolate, pistachio, and rose flavors. Through Tagmo, she aims to make Indian mithai a mainstream dessert in America.