Saba - Authentic Yemeni fare in Northern Virginia

Yoghurt salad

3900 Pickett Road, Fairfax, VA

I had the opportunity to visit several Middle Eastern restaurants in the DC metro region. A characteristic shared by each of these establishments was the blandness of the food. However, a recent visit to Saba, a Yemeni restaurant in Fairfax, made me think that I was too quick to condemn the region's cuisine.   

For appetizers, we ordered the shofout, a yoghurt salad with a spongy sour-dough bread on the bottom. It was cold and refreshing. However, the portion was such that a single order could conceivably serve as the sole side dish for a party of five or more. 

Chicken Mandi

Among the entrees, we tried their chicken mandi: chicken cooked in a tandoor and served on a bed of rice and lots of caramelized onions.  We also ordered the lamb haneeth, which featured slow cooked lamb served on a bed of rice. Both dishes were delicious, especially when complemented with the yoghurt from the shofout. If I had one criticism of the entrees, it would be the excessive amount of rice, both in absolute terms and relative to the amount of protein on the plate.

Ma'soob

Finally, we tried the Ma’soob, an item off the dessert menu made with rashoush, bananas, purified butter, honey, and topped with a sprinkling of nigella. Like the other dishes, the Ma'soob was not lacking in flavor and was served in quantities that could best be described as generous, though perhaps too much of a good thing for our party of two.

The decor struck me as authentic, a perception which was reinforced by the presence of many customers who appeared to be native to the region. 

Recommended, though only for large parties.

Depth over breadth

Bonchon chicken

Bonchon Chicken, Korean

7215 Columbia Pike Annandale, VA 22003

The draw of many restaurants is their focus on the execution of a single dish. For certain items with a sufficiently broad appeal, such a strategy can result in significant popularity even if the establishment itself is associated with a particular ethnic cuisine.  Two establishments which have successfully applied this depth over breadth strategy to chicken are Bonchon Chicken and El Pollo. 

Bonchon (translated to Hometown) is a Korean franchise around the U.S that serves made to order fried chicken wings and drumsticks with hot and/or soy garlic sauce. We visited locations in both Annandale and Fairfax. They both offered a delightful dining experience, though we preferred the Annandale's location due to the complementary coleslaw, which is a must if you order the chicken with the hot sauce.  On the other hand, the ambience was a little more refined in the Fairfax location, and the servers a little more attentive. The menu includes a few other traditional Korean appetizers and entrees, which helps if you or someone in your party is not in the mood for chicken. Of these, we tried their vegetable dumplings. They were not exceptional but certainly edible.

El Pollo Rico, Peruvian

932 N Kenmore St, Arlington, VA 22201

We have been customers of El Pollo (Translated to chicken) since we were students due to its location across the street from George Mason's Arlington campus. The sole entree is the charcoal broiled chicken, which is filling and flavorful, though not particularly spicy. The chicken comes in full, half and quarter sizes. The half chicken is priced at $8. Sides include french fries, coleslaw and sauces (a hot sauce and mayo-based sauce). Producing chickens on a mass scale, El Pollo's kitchen and dining space are most similar to what one would expect to find in a school cafeteria. If you cannot deal with this "ambience", a take-out option is available. Recommended due to its lack of pretension, low prices, and delicious food.

Shrimp Biryani

Biryani is a spicy Indian layered rice dish that is mostly cooked with vegetables, shrimp, chicken or goat. This recipe I am sharing is for a medium-spicy shrimp biryani. If you like it more spicy, you can add a few more chillies and/or garam masala. 

Ingredients 
2 cups of Basmati rice
1/2 pound large deveined wild caught shrimp
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 small green chillies
4 pods of garlic
1 inch of ginger
1 large onion
1 large tomato
1 teaspoon each chilli, turmeric, cumin, and coriander powder
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 large potato
2 bay leaves
2 star anise
3 stocks of coriander leaves
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt (Add more to suit your taste)

Step 1: Grind the green chillies, ginger and garlic into a paste. Marinate the shrimp in half of the paste and keep it aside.
Step 2: Boil the rice in 8 cups of water along with 2 bay leaves, and star anise. Drain the water once the rice is cooked.
Step 3: Cut the potato in wedges, add some salt and pepper and shallow-fry them until they turn golden brown.

Step 4: Boil three eggs. Cut them into halves and keep them aside.
Step 5: For the shrimp mixture, saute the remaining ginger garlic paste in olive oil. Add the diced onions and tomatoes and let it cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat.  Add the spices, salt, shrimp, finely chopped coriander leaves and the lime juice. Let it cook for about 15 minutes.

Step 6: Layer the rice, shrimp mixture and potato wedges on top of one another. Keep layering until you can add rice as the final layer. Garnish the top layer with the eggs, remaining potato wedges and coriander leaves.

Step 7: Let it heat on low heat for about 15 minutes.
Step 8: Serve hot. You could have it with yoghurt on the side.

Chicken Curry

Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
1/2 pound chicken                                                           2 tablespoons yoghurt
1 teaspoon turmeric powder                                            1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder                                         1 star anise
2 tablespoons curry powder (garam masala)                  4 small red potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil/ ghee                                           Salt to taste
2 tablespoons ginger garlic paste                                    2 stocks of coriander leaves
1/2 onion                                                                         1/4 cup lime

1/2 tomato                                                                      

1/2 cup milk    
 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour                                                                 

                                    

For the cashew nut powder
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 red chillies
2 pepper corns
2 cloves

4 cashew nuts

Step 1: Grind the cumin seeds, chillies, pepper corns, cloves, and cashew nuts into a fine powder. 

Step 2: If you would like to prepare your own chicken stock, boil the chicken skin in water for about 30 minutes.  

Step 3: Marinate the chicken with yoghurt, lime, chilli, turmeric, coriander, curry and the prepared cashew nut powders and leave it for about 2-3 hours (I left it for 5 hours). 

Step 4: Saute the star anise, onions, tomatoes and the ginger garlic paste in olive oil/ghee. 

Step 5: Add the chicken, stock, milk, and potatoes and let it cook for about an hour. 

Step 6: After letting it cook for an hour, if you would like to thicken the curry, add some flour to the mixture. Add salt to suit your taste. Garnish it with some chopped coriander leaves.

Step 7: Serve hot with chapati or roti. 

Note: Instead of chicken, you can prepare goat curry in a similar way except that you might need to cook goat for close to 3 hours on medium heat.