When there can be a ‘chatpata paneer pizza’, ‘chicken tikki burger’ and shawarma wrapped in a rumali roti, why cry hoarse when you see a ‘Chicken 65’ in a Chinese restaurant. Why is Chinese cuisine expected to be the lone custodian of authenticity? Like it or not, Indian Chinese is an integral part of every Indian’s eating out, dine-in and take away routine.
Nowhere in China would lung-fung soup taste the way it does here. And Chicken 65 isn’t really Chinese and the Schezuan noodles don’t really make your eyes and nose water when eaten in China (if there exists any such dish in China).
Most food consultants and food experts feel the origin of Indian Chinese as a cuisine saw its birth at Tangra in Kolkata. Its distinct variety of traditional Hakka Chinese cuisine adapted to Indian ingredients has spread to the rest of India, along with the recipes earlier unique to Tangra. “Tangra is now the most popular destination for those who seek Chinese food and the food in the restaurants there is known all over the country as ‘Hakka Style’ Chinese food,” says blogger Mohit Balachandran.
To aptly celebrate this much-loved cuisine, ITC Kakatiya is hosting an ‘Indian-Chinese’ food fest which proclaims ‘Indian tiger, meets the Chinese dragon.’ Also there is a ready acceptance that Chinese cuisine is tweaked at the coffee shop and diners know exactly what to expect. And they are lapping up the idea.
Different folks, different strokes or let’s make that ‘different folks, different tastes’. In all these years, Indian Chinese cuisine has managed to make a happy place in our palate. “Hakka noodles with ‘chilli chicken’, tops the list of my comfort food. Add a few raw slices of onion and pungent raw green chillies. A few drops of lemon juice here and there and it’s heaven on my plate. I picked up this combination from a roadside Chinese pushcart in Jubilee Hills,” says Vaishnavi P Ravi an entrepreneur.
Is that all there is to Indian Chinese? Definitely not. There is also the typically Indian ‘fried momo’ aka dimsum with a runny spicy paste of garlic and green chillies. “This fried factor makes it clearly Indian — crunchy outside and soft and steamy goodness of meat inside,” says restaurateur Mohit Mathur.
Chef Kamal who is spearheading the ‘Indian tiger meets Chinese dragon’ fest at ITC Kakatiya says, “It is an accepted cuisine in India. But when playing host to this kind of a cuisine it is important to make it clear about the Indian-Chinese take. Trouble comes knocking when any place that promises authentic Chinese uses a dried red chilli to garnish a portion of ‘Schezuan rice’. If there is any dish in Indian Chinese that is most preferred, it is the ‘chilli chicken’ and chicken in sweet and sour sauce. And the colour should have a tinge of red.”
Indian Chinese has to be a separate genre of cuisine, because the sauces and cooking with Chinese wines isn’t common thing here. “Kylie Kwomg, in her food shows, uses a lot of fish sauce, rice wine etc. But in Indian Chinese one doesn’t need to use them. The shredded chilli chicken or the crispy ‘lamb konjee’ is a very customised dish and I am pretty sure the Chinese have no idea what a ‘dragon chicken’ or ‘chicken lollpop’ means,” laughs chef Nitin Mathur, executive of Taj Krishna.
