Indian is not a burgeoning enterprise in Miami-Dade these days. Once-popular spots in Coral Gables and North Miami are gone, and South Beach, land of sushi, has not a single Indian restaurant. Is it that the food is too exotic, too unapproachable for some?

Indeed, out in the dining room, you might be thinking that Indian cuisine is among the world's most difficult to understand. What's in those little tin dishes? Chicken, lamb, shrimp or vegetarian, everything looks inscrutable, casseroles filled with centuries-old secrets too spicy to share.

Back in the kitchen, they know that's simply not true. It's all about the spices. If your kitchen is stocked with turmeric, ginger, paprika, cumin, mustard seed, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, tamarind, black pepper, mint, chili powder and a few others, you're halfway to Indian chefdom. The secret is in the mix.

One of the best remaining mix-masters in town is Vijay Manjrekar, on-site partner at Imlee, a tiny Indian spot in a Pinecrest strip mall. Like the best examples of this wonderful cuisine, his food is multidimensional, spicy and complex, with excellent variety. If you've not given Indian a chance recently, do so here.

As in most Indian restaurants, it is an easy matter to skip appetizers, which are almost uniformly fried, and not easily discernible from one another. An inexpensive way to verify this is the vegetable platter ($4.50), an assortment of breaded and fried vegetables (white potato slices, green pepper, onion rings), plus a samosa (a crisp lentil flour fritter stuffed with potatoes and peas, plus 10 spices) and a batatawada, similar to the samosa but softer and more cake-like.

An even cheaper starter (free) is papadam, lentil wafers brought at the outset. These come with three glorious chutneys: kachumber (like a salsa, with tomato and onion cilantro, hot sauce and ketchup); green chutney (a puree of cilantro, coconut, mint, fresh roasted cumin seeds, Indian green chiles or jalapeños and lime juice); Imlee chutney (brown) with imported tamarind paste (Imlee is Indian for tamarind) and dried dates with red chile and roasted cumin seeds. The wafers are crunchy and light, but even better, they're ready vehicles for those three sauces.

Most Indian restaurants offer a mean lentil soup ($4), and Imlee's is just that, with onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, cumin and coriander powder and fresh cilantro leaves. Plenty of flavor.

First order of business for your meal is to select your tandoori-oven bread, or naan. The Pudina naan ($3.45) caught our attention, as it's stuffed with fresh mint, and aggressively so. Great stuff, interesting foil for the spicy food. Imlee has 11 breads in all, including ones stuffed with chicken and lamb, plus a Trinidadian-style version with onion and raisins.

For a dousing of something cool with your entree, you should order a bowl of raita ($3.50), a homemade fresh yogurt combined with cucumber, tomato, chopped coriander, mint, salt and fresh cilantro. The mango chutney ($2.45) is OK but store bought, because they can't get the right mangoes here.

Enough foreplay. Entree menu is divided by category - rice dishes, lamb, chicken, meats, seafood, vegetarian. Shrimp Biryani ($18.95), a baked rice casserole, mixes fresh shrimp with Basmati rice, fresh cilantro, onion, green pepper, cashews and raisins. It's good but lacks the excitement of others we tried.

Baingan Bharta ($11.95) is a worthy vegetarian dish that's a good option to share as a starter. The eggplant is roasted in the tandoori oven, skinned and then chopped with onions, tomato and garlic, plus 10 or so spices, plus green chiles, and sauteed. Eggplant is a vegetable with depth but perhaps not much character; the spices take care of that.

Chicken palak ($14.95) is cooked with onion and green pepper and tomato, plenty of spices, and sauteed upon order with precooked and pureed spinach, plus a bit of heavy cream, more spices (heat to taste) and sauteed.

Lamb Vindaloo ($15.95) matches tender lamb with pieces of boiled potato, malt vinegar, tomato, tomato puree and the assortment of spices and herbs. It's hearty, and although you can specify the level of spicing with any dish, this one is best left pretty spicy.

Goa shrimp curry ($18.95) starts with chopped onions sauteed with oil, with the litany of spices, sauteed shrimps and tomatoes sauteed together in the oil-spice mix. A thick, savory sauce - coconut, heavy cream and almonds - is cooked gently to produce a delicate, textured dish.

We finished with three homemade desserts. Kulfi ($4.95) is ice cream, icy and refreshing, available flavored either with fresh coconut or almonds and pistachio.

Much more interesting was the South Indian specialty semiya payasam ($4.95). It's vermicelli, whisked with oil in the frying pan, then cooked gently in fresh whole milk, reduced and then flavored with sugar, chopped almonds and pistachios and powder made of fresh cardamom pods. Take that, rice pudding!