Woodlands Pure Vegetarian South Indian Cuisine opened just over a year ago in a nondescript space in Lauderhill that turns out some of the best Indian food in South Florida.
You don't go for the décor or ambience. The focus here is on a trio of South Indian favorites: vada, doughnut puffs made from ground urad dal (a skinless, split black lentil); idli, spongy cakes made from steamed rice and ground lentils; and dosas, big, crisp, crepe-like scrolls made from a fermented batter of rice and lentil that's cooked on a huge griddle.
Golden and almost paper-thin, the dosas are stuffed with a mashed potato and onion mixture speckled with black mustard seeds and served with creamy coconut chutney and sambhar, a fairly hot, earthy lentil stew made with drumsticks, a type of bean pod with an asparagus flavor.
Prasad Naik, also known as Mike, is the owner and manager of Woodlands with partner Ragavendr (one name only). Both are from Kundapur, about 25 miles north of the temple town of Udipi in Karnataka State, an area that has spawned a genre of vegetarian restaurants -- independently owned but all named Woodlands -- that are popular throughout India and abroad.
Naik helped manage an uncle's Woodlands restaurant in Mumbai while studying accounting and opened one in Orlando several years ago. Many of his Indian customers came from South Florida, and they convinced him to bring the brand here.
Indians pack the place for the daily buffet lunch and throughout the day for the thali sets, served on round stainless-steel platters with a mound of rice in the center, surrounded by little metal bowls filled with cooling yogurt, hot lemon pickle, sambhar, rassam (a thin, hot-and-sour lentil broth), golden beet poriyal (a dry stir-fry), avial (mixed veggies in coconut milk), paneer makhani (fresh cheese cubes in a rich, smoky, buttery tomato sauce), dal (stewed yellow lentils), and a sweet -- perhaps boondi (chickpea flour droplets glazed in sugar) or gulab jamun (fried milk balls in saffron and rose-scented syrup).
The thali also comes with a big, puffy, fried balloon bread and crisp pappadam (lentil paste wafer). Other sets come with a choice of dosa (sourdough crepe) or uthappam (a rice- and lentil-batter pancake) with any number of toppings, sort of like an Indian pizza. Best is the one with coconut shreds; onion-hot chile and tomato-peas are also good.
House specialties include kancheepurum idli, a Madras-style version of the steamed cakes garnished with cashews, grated carrots and cilantro; Malabar adai, mixed lentil and vegetable pancakes; chole bhatura, puffed balloon bread with stewed chickpeas; and gobi Manchurian, a Chinese-Indian cauliflower dish. Florets are dusted in a cornstarch mixture, deep-fried and cooked in a bright red sauce made from ketchup, ginger-garlic paste and soy sauce with scallions.
Pongol avail is rice and lentils cooked together to make kichuri, served with mixed vegetable and coconut milk stew. You can also feast on flavored rices, from tart lemon rice to sweetish, nutty coconut rice. Wash it down with sweet or salty lassi (whirled yogurt) or falooda -- dessert in a glass, with ice cream, rose syrup, cornstarch noodles and gelatinous basil seeds. Pure bliss.
Place: Woodlands Pure Vegetarian South Indian Cuisine.
Address: 4816 N. University Dr., Lauderhill.
Contact: 954-749-3221.
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. daily (closed 3-5 p.m. weekdays).
Prices: Vada, dosa and idli $3.75-$7.25; uthappam pancakes $5.75-$6.75; thali platters $11.95-$14.95; flavored rices $5.25.
FYI: Catering available.
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