New Delhi and Beijing may fight on matters of policy, but one link between the two countries flourishes. And that is of food. In India, the cuisine that has made the greatest impact is undoubtedly Chinese. So much so that our chefs are now looking at ways of introducing Chinese spices and sauces to Indian food.

 It all started with kebabs and chilli chicken. Chef Pradip Rozario, who runs K.K.’s Fusion in Calcutta, says he noticed that the two cuisines that people loved the most were tandoori or grilled food, and Chinese. “So I thought, why not put the two together,” he says.

So the chef has been turning tandoori jhinga into what he calls Beijing prawn kebabs. He marinates prawns with garlic, ginger, fresh red chillies, sugar, soy sauce, vegetable oil, sesame oil, lime juice and chopped coriander leaves. And he cooks them on a charcoal grill.

In some quarters, the fusion is already on the table. I have been noticing a dish called tandoori dim sums in restaurants. Chef Vaibhav Bhargava of Pan Asian, Sheraton New Delhi Hotel, has eaten dim sums filled with makhni (tomato-butter) gravy. Chef Anurudh Khanna of The Westin Pune Koregaon Park points out that in chicken tikka dim sums, tikkas are grilled and stuffed in dim sum shells, which are then smoked in a tandoor.

Chef Bhargava suggests an India-China raan — leg of lamb cooked with ginger, garlic, soya sauce, hoisin sauce and chilli sauce. Chef Rozario’s Peking leg of lamb, smoked in a clay oven, is essentially a raan that he marinates with soy sauce, honey, sunflower oil, sesame oil, chopped garlic and ginger, oyster sauce and plum sauce. He keeps this overnight and then cooks it whole in the tandoor.

For his Szechuan pepper flavoured chicken kebab, chef Rozario dices chicken marinated with vegetable oil, peanut butter, crushed Szechuan pepper, chopped celery, chilli sauce, salt, brown sugar and Chinese rice wine. He then cooks them in a non-stick frying pan or grills them in a tandoor.

“People like the taste — and the fact that it looks like a kebab, but tastes Chinese,” he says.

His burra  kebabs are spare ribs marinated with Chinese five spice powder, soy sauce, castor sugar, ground black pepper, groundnut oil, chopped coriander leaves and salt. He refrigerates the ribs overnight, and then cooks them in a clay oven.

A pinch of five-spice powder — which is as Chinese as panch phoron is Bengali — can give your tandoori or grilled dishes a nice Chinese touch. Chef Anurudh recommends five-spice powder for an India-China seekh kebab. To minced chicken, add five-spice powder, Szechuan pepper and lemon grass. Wrap around skewers and grill in a tandoor, he says.

Fish kebabs and grills marry the two disparate flavours well. Take chef Rozario’s sweet and sour bhetki, cooked in a tandoor. The fish is marinated for an hour in a mix of cider vinegar, brown sugar, shredded fresh red chillies, pineapple juice, almond paste, tomato sauce and seasonings. It is then grilled in a tandoor, and served with a opped pineapple salad.

“All these dishes can be served with apricot chutney, Szechuan sauce, garlic sauce or soy sauce and chilli vinegar,” he says. 

“Any tips for those who may want to try these dishes at home,” I ask him. “Go easy on the Szechuan pepper,” he replies.

In the near future, I see more such efforts combining methods and spices or sauces. Don’t be surprised if one of these days you are served chilli chicken cooked with green chillies and curry leaves, or sweet and sour pork with tamarind and jaggery. And why not? Let food diplomacy flourish, I say.

Photographs by: Subhendu Chaki;
Location Courtesy: K.K’s Fusion, Calcutta