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"Vibrant Vegetables Star on Woodlands Menu"
by M.J. Pleasure

"In India, where religious beliefs dictate the diet of millions , vegetarian cooking, of necessity, has evolved into a cuisine of inspiring inventiveness.

That infinite variety is the hallmark of Woodlands, which opened last summer in Montgomery Village Plaza in Gaithersburg, joining similarly-owned restaurants in Langley Park in Fairfax.

Local color abounds. While stencils cover the tan walls. Native lamps cast their light and sitar music casts its spell. The service is pleasant and unobtrusive. To appreciate the scope and interplay of Indian seasonings, dine family-style, sharing several dishes. Or, try one of the lunch buffets, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays ($5.95) or weekends when the selection is even greater ($8.95).

Indian meals are not eaten in courses; all food is served at the same time. If you are lucky enough to have a native guide, well and good. If not, ask a server for help with the unfamiliar. You needn’t be a native to enjoy this food as the mix of diners at Woodlands demonstrates.

Here’s a composite of lunch buffet visits, both weekday and weekend. Have a couple of these and you will be able to order from the dinner menu like a pro.

Typically, there are several salads, at least one with chickpeas. Chat papdi is composed of crispy fried wafer with diced potatoes and colorful sugar-coated fennel seeds. Top it with yogurt and sweet-tart tamarind chutney from the array of condiments including bright red lemon pickle (salty-sour), green mint, coriander and jalapeno sauce (spicy), raita (soothing thinned yogurt) and grated coconut chutney. Papadums, addictive crispy wafers, are made from flour, lentil or potato. Potato papadums are like big wavy chips.

Sambar, a vegetable soup, holds a surprise – whole peppercorns, and rasam, a hot-sour soup, is consumed with fried lentil donuts called medhu vada. Uthappam, Indian pancakes studded with vegetables, taste better with coconut chutney.

Crispy spinach pakoras are finger food as are dhokla, tiny corn-bread squares. Known colloquially as ladyfingers in India, okra or bhindi find favor here stuffed.

Nuts and coconut add interest to a vegetable korma. Homemade cheese with peas is what muttar paneer is all about.

Porials are dry curries and Woodlands shows them to advantage in several versions, with diced potatoes, green beans or cabbage with yellow lentils.

Surveying the buffet, a server confides that these curries are mild. True, nothing is taste numbingly spicy, but some seasonings deliver an invigorating delayed punch.

Some foods are meant to be eaten together, like the side by side pongal and avail. Pongal is buttery rice an lentils cooked, the sign says, like khitchdi (literally “hodge podge” or porridge); avail carrots and other veggies."

Dining With Pleasure, The Gazette News February 19 2003