Gushtaba is a Kashmiri meat dish that has no business being labeled American cuisine. It is hand-pounded mutton, formed into golf-ball-sized meatballs, simmered in a yogurt-based gravy spiced with fennel and dried ginger. It is the climactic course of the wazwan — the Kashmiri ceremonial feast of thirty-six dishes — and is what you serve when you want to tell the guest that the meal is now over and you have honored them properly.
Surbhi Sahni runs TAGMO in the New York Seaport District — a mithai shop and catering space focused on Indian sweets and ceremonial food. She is one of the few American chefs who can actually execute gushtaba at the level a Kashmiri wedding would demand.
Bobby has a 3-9 record against Indian cuisine writ large. Add Kashmiri-specific dishes to that list and the record gets worse.