A young chef in Franklin is currying flavor

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It seems just as likely as finding a vegemite sandwich in Aroostook County.

But flavorful dishes from India can be found in Hancock County. You just have to know where to look.

First, follow the tourists chugging down Route 1A to Ellsworth. Then bear left onto Route 1 toward the less-traveled part of the Down East coast.

Follow Route 1 for 5 miles, then turn left onto Route 182, toward Franklin. After another five miles, turn left onto the Eastbrook Road, or Route 200. About one mile up on the right will be a sign for The Tandoor Downeast.

Gunjan Gilbert is the chef behind the Franklin to-go business. The 27-year-old has always loved to cook, and wanted to start her own business, so bringing the tastes of her native Mumbai (formerly Bombay), a region in western India, to Down East Maine seemed a natural idea.

“We’re trying to fulfill an unmet need,” said her husband, Christian, 32, who serves as his wife’s assistant in the kitchen.

Gunjan is continuing the old Indian tradition of tiffin, putting up ready-to-eat food in containers for people (which sounds remarkably like the Western custom of takeout).

The Tandoor Downeast is a part-time business, as the Gilberts both work weekdays at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, he in marketing and she in scientific services analyzing DNA.

So their food service is open 5:30-8:30 each night. They make prearranged deliveries in Bar Harbor daily. Also, they take part in the Ellsworth farmers market from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturdays.

What’s on the menu? For appetizers, there are samosas (fried dough triangles filled with spicy potato filling), kachoris (fried snacks filled with a spicy lentil mixture), pakoras (vegetable fritters) and aaloo pattis (pan-fried potato patties with seasoned vegetables).

For carbohydrates, there’s rice – long-grain, basmati, fried and matar pualo, rice mixed with green peas and spices. Breads, baked naan and rotis and pan-fried partahas are produced, too.

And, of course, there’s that staple of Indian food, curry. Gunjan makes nine types of curry, each with different combinations of vegetables and spices. Among the side dishes are raita (a blend of yogurt and cucumber) and chutney. For desserts, diners can choose from gajar halwa, which contains grated carrots, nuts and cream, and kheer, rice boiled in sweetened milk and served cold.

While Gunjan has a daily lunch special ready to go, her cuisine generally can’t be considered fast food. Customers place their orders ahead, sometimes picking it up in a couple of hours, sometimes the next day.

“We prepare it as the orders come in,” Gunjan said. “We try to keep it as fresh as we can.”

As much as possible, Gunjan uses ingredients she can find locally, and most of her dishes have potato in them. “I wanted to bring part of Maine into them,” she said.

Still, two or three times a year, the Gilberts end up making supply runs to Asian markets in cities such as Boston.

Many of The Tandoor Downeast’s customers are tourists, some staying in camps in the area. As such, it’s largely a seasonal business, even though it stays open year-round.

The Gilberts have had to do quite a bit of educating about Indian food, starting with the fact that she’s from India, and isn’t an American Indian. “One man at my dentist office asked what tribe I was from,” she recalled.

She has had to address quite a few myths about Indian food.

“One is that spicy doesn’t need to mean burning hot,” she said. “We let them know we are flexible in how it’s prepared, from very mild to very hot. Spicy means flavorful, not always hot.”

“Also,” she added, “they think Indian food is very fatty. But my cooking is balanced. Some breads are fried, while others are roasted.”

The Gilberts, who share their small house with two dogs and a cat, first met in the Jackson Lab parking lot four years ago, when both signed up for a company-sponsored hiking group. They have been married for two years.

Still, it took Christian some time to embrace Indian food.

“It took awhile to get used to her cooking, but I was impressed with it,” he said. “Now I’m eating healthier. I eat a lot of good vegetables, and I’ve cut down on my meat intake.”

Indian is but one type of cuisine, which Gunjan prepares.

“I’m constantly trying to cook different kinds of food,” she said.

The Tandoor Downeast is slowly growing, thanks to word of mouth.

“We’re going in the right direction,” Gunjan said. “We’re getting more signs out there and getting people talking about it.”

For questions or orders, call 565-3598 or e-mail Gunjanj2002@yahoo.com, or visit www.tandoordowneast.com. Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.