Indian restaurant Clay Oven opens in Selden
Malrani chicken, with coconut milk and cashews, is among the main dishes at Clay Oven in Selden. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
Smithtown, Hauppauge, Port Jefferson Station, Selden — Lubna Habibi has graced large swaths of central Suffolk with her homey Indian-accented restaurants. Last week she returned to Selden — where she ran Saffron and Time Out to Eat in the early 2000s — to open Clay Oven.
The first Clay Oven opened in Smithtown in 2014. It closed during the pandemic but is survived by its younger sibling, which opened in Hauppauge in 2017 and is a Newsday Top 100 restaurant.
The Selden and Hauppauge menus are almost identical: a blend of classic South Asian dishes with a bit of Middle Eastern, Hakka (Indian-style Chinese) and even tacos thrown in for good measure.
“Clay oven” refers to the distinctive cylindrical tandoor oven from which issue a wealth of breads — naan, paratha, chapati and roti. Habibi’s naan comes stuffed, traditionally, with onion, cheese or coconut and dried fruit (Kashmiri naan). It might also be stuffed with Nutella or coated with everything spice.
The tandoor produces succulent chicken, lamb chops as well as seekh kebabs, made with ground chicken, onions, coriander and green chilies. Among chicken curries you’ll find some less familiar dishes such as malrani chicken (marinated in yogurt and coconut milk and topped with cashews) and tawa keema (ground chicken seared on a flat grill) along with vindaloo and tikka masala. Vegetarians have their choice of almost 20 entrees.
For quick meals or snacks, there are kati rolls (paratha bread rolled up with a variety of fillings), samosas (fried turnovers), pakoras (fritters) and other street foods. In deference to the local Afghan population (and because Selden’s much-loved Choopan Grill recently closed), Habibi also offers a few Afghan dishes including eggplant stew, koobideh (skewered ground beef or lamb) and jujeh kebab (grilled Cornish hen).
Clay Oven is halal and almost nothing on the menu is more than $16.
Clay Oven is at 1245 Middle Country Rd., Selden, 631-320-0386 and at 601 Veterans Memorial Hwy., Hauppauge, 631-724-1600.
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