Jaya Sinha, the new owner of Ganges Indian Restaurant, formally opened the restaurant located on the corner of Princeton-Hightstown and Cranbury roads in West Windsor, on Thursday, February 14. “I have a passion for cooking and can cook almost all Indian and regional cuisines,” she says. ##M:[more]##
“Cooking is my passion,” says Sinha, a Plainsboro resident. “I see this as an art where I have limitless opportunity to play with colors, play with combination of spices and different fragrance, decoration and presentation of food.”
Sinha, who has a master’s degree in economics, came to the U.S. in 1995 and settled in Plainsboro in 1998. “I always wanted to open my own restaurant, but I purposely delayed my plan because I wanted to take care of my kids first and raise them with care, love, and full attention,” she says. Her son, Harsh, 17, is a junior at High School South, and her daughter, Harshita, 14, is a freshman at South.
“I found myself in a comfortable position to pursue my dreams and my husband always supported me in that,” she says. Her husband, an executive in the financial industry and a critique of her cooking, encouraged her to make her dream come true.
As a four year-old in India, Sinha was alway fascinated by cooking gadgets. She was inspired by people admiring her mother’s cooking during parties. At the same time, she became attracted to vegetable gardening. “Even today gardening is very important part of my life,” she says. “I love doing vegetable and flower gardening.”
Another passion of Sinha’s is to collect spices from all over the world. “I have spices from China, Jamaica, Thailand, and of course India,” she says “Spices are the essence of Indian cooking and exact ratios of spices and freshness is the key of good flavor of food.”
Sinha is fascinated with the use of science, math, chemistry, and economics in her cooking. “When we use two different colors to get a tint we use chemistry, when we measure ingredients we use math, and when we plan quality of food and balance with price we use economics,” she says. “When we decorate the food we have plan in mind as to how the food should look, and how to use different styles of art when we decorate our food in various ways to make it look more appetizing.”
“Indian cuisine offers incredible variety of food that is as rich and diverse as its people, culture, and history,” she says. “Each region has its unique style of cooking and has specialized ingredients.”
Ganges, specializing in Hyderabadi and southern Indian dishes for the past four years, now offers a wider range of dishes including kabobs, Kathi rolls, lamb chops, Laziz goat, Chicken Korma, Lamb Pasanda, Baghare Baingan (eggplant), Paneer Tikka Masala (cheese), Malai Chingri (shrimp), and Mughlai Biryani. Ganges also offers “mocktails,” traditional drinks without alcohol. The daily buffet lunch begins at 11:30 a.m., Tuesday to Sunday, with larger varieties and dosas on the weekends. A Hyderabadi buffet is presented on Thursday evenings.
Ganges Indian, 33 Princeton Hightstown Road, West Windsor, 7-0-750-1550, www.gangesonline.com. Upcoming events include Biryani and Kabab Night, featuring more than 10 varieties of each, on Friday, February 29; Karaoke Night, on Friday, March 14; and Holi Hungama, with Thandai, Holi colors, and a buffet lunch, on Sunday, March 23.
