Something has been missing from New York’s current Indian restaurant scene, but I wasn’t sure what it was until I ate the kaleji masala at Adda Indian Canteen in Long Island City, Queens.

Modernization is the theme unifying many of the Indian restaurants that have taken root around the city over the past few years. At the rarefied end of the spectrum, we have Indian Accent bringing the cuisine into line with the intricate techniques and plating that can land restaurants on the itineraries of list-clutching gastrotourists. At the populist end, we’ve seen Indian cooking gastro-pubbed by Babu Ji and other new places that try to make non-desis feel at home with house-party vibes, beer in a self-service fridge, and dishes like naan pizzas and samosa burgers.

New York hasn’t seen nearly as many recently opened restaurants devoted to the pure, original stuff that is getting modernized. The snacks pitched together in a blur by hawkers at folding tables and rolling carts by the side of the road; the gravy-soaked stews and sauceless dry curries patiently made from 25 or so vegetables and seasonings, all of them chopped, ground, fried and simmered at home by those keepers of the culinary flame known collectively as the aunties — we’ve seen interpretations of this food, squeezed from eyedroppers and prepared for their photo shoots with edible flowers. But new places cooking the genuine article have been scarce.

There is a problem of missing context here; twists on tradition don’t really resonate when tradition is hard to find in its untwisted form. And for anyone who truly loves Indian cooking, there is a more pressing problem of missing flavor. Five dots of tandoori-spice oil just won’t land on the taste buds with the impact of a full plate of charred and steaming tandoori chicken, no matter how evenly spaced those dots are.