Got Ghee?

For the 29,991 households of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepalese, Sri Lankan and Myanmar descent living within 50 miles of 330 Connecticut Avenue in Norwalk, Patel Brothers just answered a prayer.

Many of them were regularly driving the 78.8 miles (one way, assuming departure from Norwalk) to Edison, New Jersey, to stock up on royal Basmati rice, Indian mangoes, spices, ghee (Indian clarified butter) and fresh vegetables native to their homelands.

They had found it the most accessible Patel Brothers supermarket until the Chicago-based company opened their 46th store in Norwalk this month.

Patel Brothers was founded by two brothers with Indian roots in 1973 to serve the ever-growing diaspora from the Indian subcontinent. It's a food emporium where you can buy fresh curry leaves and yellow turmeric roots.

Philip Thankachan had grown accustomed to the tri-state ride to Edison from his home in Milford because the $40 or so he spent in gas was more than made up for at the checkout counter.

"The food is fresh and it's cheap," he explained, as his three children aged seven and younger helped him fill a grocery cart with fresh and prepared provisions familiar to the southern Indian (Malayalam) native.

Many cannot be found except in Indian specialty shops.

One example, he said, was the tunbura, a spiny cucumber-shaped vegetable that has a very bitter taste.

Nevertheless, he serves a small portion lightly fried every day to his family because of its medicinal attributes: it is believed to guard against diabetic conditions.

Kavitha Berla of Stamford was also happy to be relieved of the weekly drive to Edison. She spoke as she was carefully selecting purple sweet potatoes she recognized as a native of Andhra Pradesh province in southern India.

"I serve all fresh vegetables for my child," she said, referring to Aryan, 6, who was allowed to select one frozen prepared meal of his choice as an exception to the rule.

Shopping at Patel Brothers helps provide a cultural context for Aryan, she said, acquainting him with ingredients for Indian dishes and enabling him to hear Indian languages and dialects.

"I speak Hindi, English and my local dialect, Telugu, which Aryan can understand but not speak," she said.

Cruising the aisles stocked high with nuts, beans, grains, rice, spices, sweets and condiments, one can overhear conversations in many of the 20 common Indian dialects.

Hardik Patel, a member of the large, founding Patel family who's working at the Norwalk store, learned the Gujarati dialect when he was growing up in the western India city of Ahmadabad.

But he found himself conversing in Hindi, one of the major Indian national languages, with Abdul Moazzam of Mombai, as they worked together stocking high shelves with 20-pound sacks of rice.

"It's a whole world here—you can create thousands of dishes," Moazzam said.

Indeed, Patel Brothers' inventory includes provisions from outside the subcontinent and around the world.

You can find Diamond brand walnuts alongside Asian brands, a bottled mango beverage from the United Arab Emirates, strawberries from Mexico, spices from Madagascar and spinach grown in California.

But for the most part, fresh produce is flown in daily from the Dominican Republic and Honduras, said Rakesh Patel, son of Patel Brothers co-founder Mafat.

"Our pricing is good and our produce is fresh," Patel said, explaining the success of the chain, which will soon open new branches in Virginia and Massachusetts. A store in Manchester, Connecticut, opened three yeras ago.

Their targeted customers of the Indian subcontinent generally eat a diet high in protein and carbohydrates from beans and legumes, with little  meat.

"Since we have many vegetarian customers, to avoid offending them, we do not carry any fresh meat, fish or poultry—only frozen," Patel said. "In most new stores we put that in a section on its own.  This way everyone is happy."

Organic selections, so far, are few and far between."We do carry organics, when available," Patel explained. "Recently we started an organic line of Indian food, but it was costing so much extra that when the economy tanked, we put that on hold, until the economy stabilizes."

But that  doesn't mean that Patel Brothers doesn't have a heart.

"We have a six-week season for Indian mangoes, the sweetest you can buy, and every year we lose money on them," he said. "But we keep it up for the nostalgia value. People are happy."   

Editor's note: For other recent articles on Indian food in or near Norwalk, see:

• "Photos: Explore the Food of India at Patel Brothers"
• "Vegetarian Indian Cuisine in Stamford: Navaratna Restaurant"