Both the tidiness of the setting and the quality of the service should be no surprise, despite the modesty of the setting and the disposability of the plastic cutlery and plastic foam plates, since Amma is the offspring of the nearby Aditi, one of the best Indian restaurants in the Washington area. Fans of Aditi, who look forward to ordering more vegetable curries to accompany the main courses of chicken and lamb, will not be surprised about just how good Amma's vegetarian specialties are. Diners who anticipate deprivation at the thought of a meal without at least seafood, if not fowl or meat, may need strong encouragement to risk a meal at Amma. If you think that man is satisfied by bulk alone, consider the billions of dollars that the American public spends annually for sweet, sour, salty, and spicy snack foods. Following the local tradition of Indian vegetarian restaurants, Amma portions its appetizers by twos, which makes them suitable for sharing.
Soups are all but nonexistent in vegetarian Indian cuisine.
When sambar is part of an appetizer's name, consider it a recommendation. Torn off and dipped in sambar, it is wonderful as either a shared appetizer or a surprisingly filling light meal. You'll get the chewy, wheaty bhajia as part of the house combination plate, or you can order it with the creamy vegetable curry. But for the best of the breads, look to the chana bathura, as puffy and football-shaped as the more familiar poori. It is accompanied by a bowl of chickpea curry so good that if God meant for there to be a vegetarian chili, he would have made it this chickpea curry.