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 Give us this day our daily sushi! - (09-11-2008)
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COVER FEATURE
India's kitchens are wafting an exciting mix of aromas
By Rekha Dixit
Let's make mutter macaroni sabzi today. It's great with piping hot rotis," says Minnie Raheja. "What's that?" I ask the Mumbai housewife. "It's hot and spicy, I guess it's a traditional Sindhi dish, everyone in our extended family prepares it all the time," she says off-handedly. I had thought that bhee (lotus stem) masala was the Sindhi staple, but I am corrected. "Hey, no one eats that stuff anymore. It's difficult to prepare, and no one has a palate for it anyway."
Times, they sure have changed. Strange aromas are wafting from city kitchens-there's a whiff of lemongrass in the teapot, a hint of allspice in the pulao. Home larders don't look too different from a Sainsbury's outlet in London, stocked as they are with oats and muesli, olives and tins of tuna, heat-and-serve packets of noodles, chicken tikka masala and shahi paneer.
At the greengrocer's, celery stalks share space with dhania patta (coriander), broccoli florets cosy up to cauliflowers, the once lonely salad patta (lettuce) now has an assortment of leafy heads like iceberg lettuce and Chinese cabbage for company. Kiwifruit has settled comfortably into the fruit vendor's cart, watching with amusement the threat that Shimla apples are facing from Chinese and Australian invaders.
While the boom in the eating out scene (a 200 per cent growth in restaurants in 2004) has been well chronicled, with every fad, from Thai to teppanyaki, hogging media space, the quiet kitchen coup went unnoticed. It's a change that came in so subtly that even the kitchen kings and queens didn't realise it. No one can remember the exact date they decided to rustle up a desi-fied pasta meal for dinner, or even when brown bread replaced the pallid white loaf at breakfast. "If you were to compare present-day urban kitchens with those of 10 to 15 years ago, you might not recognise them, the change has been so phenomenal," says food writer Rashmi Uday Singh. "There was a time when people brought home mustard or chives from a trip abroad; today even wasabi is available."
It's a trend that piggybacked on the liberalised economy at the turn of the millennium, when trade restrictions were lifted and agricultural produce and products from across the globe were allowed in. The revolution was spurred further by the evolution in the eating out trend. "People who had pasta or asparagus soup wanted to experiment with that at home, too," notes Karen Anand, food consultant and entrepreneur.
These homegrown experiments resulted in the Indianisation of many dishes. If 'macaroni peas curry' sounded weird, there is more: pasta cooked with a southern tadka of curry leaves, fenugreek and mustard seeds. It's not just foreign recipes that are given the desi twist, even a lot of what are known as vilayati vegetables are warmly embraced into our hot curries or smothered with masalas. Don't say you've not yet sampled zucchini ki sabzi or broccoli masala.
The availability of instant mixes only helped home kitchens attempt a lot of dishes they would otherwise eat out, the ready-made dosa batter being a case in point. Instant mixes, in fact, are the fastest moving items in the processed foods section, be they ready-to-smear pizza sauces or even the regular garlic-ginger paste and tamarind pulp. "I call these the jhanjhat (bothersome) areas," chuckles celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor. "People have less time to cook, and so they welcome these packaged innovations," he says.
If it's not easy-to-cook stuff, then, it's a takeaway. Says Anurag Sen, a marketing executive: "On any given week, my wife and I order in dinner at least on three nights." In the double-income-no-kids household, there's never time enough to rustle up a proper dinner after work. "There's this Bengali takeaway joint near our apartment-it's so reminiscent of the food mom cooked," says the Mumbai resident who is from Kolkata. "It's only when we entertain that we really cook; you can't serve guests takeaways," he says.
Those who insist their ghar ka khaana is still very traditional unknowingly prove just how insidious the invasion of their kitchens has been. "We are making corn sabzi so regularly, mushrooms are no longer considered exotic," Karen points out. South Indians are eating chapatis, while Punjabis can rustle up an instant breakfast of idlis now.
Health consciousness fuelled changes in eating habits further-deep-frying, for instance, is on its way out from most homes and ghee is not a cooking medium, more a final touch-up garnish. Minnie recounts how at a party, her three-year-old was drawn to pakodas-stuff he had never seen at home. "We used to have puris regularly for breakfast and tiffin as kids, but now, I only fry them for the kanya puja on Navratri," she says.
There's a paradox in the health food fad, though. Karen points out that while people are actively cutting down on the 'sinful' stuff at home, when they eat out, it's to the rich, buttery stuff that they head. "None of the health food restaurants do well," she observes. Adds Kapoor, "There's this joke that health food is more talked about than actually eaten."
Interestingly, though, while home kitchens are into experimentation and fusion, when it comes to eating out, people are getting very discerning. They've got over the confusion of fusion food that was the rage five years ago and are cultivating eclectic tastes. No more do Schezwan dosas hold sway over tastebuds, and gobi Manchurian is almost heathen. It's the 'real' stuff that's in hot demand.
"It's a generation that is well-read, well-travelled. It knows its Cajun from cajus and Creole from casseroles. It demands authenticity. You cannot fool today's diners with just about any mishmash," says Suhas Awchat, a Mumbai hotelier who runs three niche restaurants-Goa Portuguesa, which specialises in the Christian, Portuguese and Hindu cuisine of that tiny state; Diva Maharashtra, perhaps the first eatery that brings together all the flavours of Maharashtra under one roof; and Culture Curry, which specialises in southern dishes.
"When I started Goa Portuguesa 20 years ago, it was a concept much ahead of its time. Eating out choices then were restricted to the so-called Mughlai and Punjabi fare. The restaurant was a hit because it gave people original flavours," Awchat says. The other two eateries opened in the past few years, however, are only catering to a new demand.
Executive chef of the Leela, Thomas Laberer, is amazed by the evolution of the palate he's been witness to. "When I first visited the country, just seven years ago, a ketchup smothered Indo-Chinese was all that was available. Today, when diners say Asian, they are talking Japanese, Thai, and most interestingly, authentic Chinese." He adds that dining out is more than just food, it's an experience for which the upper middle-classes willingly shell out Rs 5,000 per head. "But for this, they demand the best." At 'upheel' Chinese restaurants, you aren't going to find your comforting gobi Manchurian or American chopsuey, but there's a variety like Beggar's Chicken, Peking duck and dimsums to sample from.
"There's definitely a food snobbery being cultivated," Karen believes. "People like to be regarded as gastronomes and gourmets. They'll eat sushi, they'll go for dimsums." There's also a lot more eclectic talk about food now, be it comparing Cantonese noodles with Burmese khaukswe or discussing food and drink pairings. Such intensive obsession with food was not too long ago regarded as one of the original Biblical sins-gluttony. Today, it makes you a foodie, a person who likes not just eating, but also thinking, discussing, reading and watching shows on food.
Sample this conversation at an office: "I went to Yokos for lunch today, we had fish and chips," says an employee. "Wow!" says her colleague. "Fish and chips here. The kind you get in London?" She replies: "Well, it was pomfret, not cod, you have to make that concession. But otherwise, most definitely in the London league." Travel, indeed, has left its stamp on the tastebuds.
"There's a new way in which we regard restaurants. It's a destination more than an eatery and, as such, is replacing other forms of entertainment. People would rather take their guests out to a snobbish restaurant instead of a movie or opera," says Rashmi. And to become these Page3 destinations, restaurants are evolving a lot more than their food. Olive in Mumbai, for instance, holds a souk on weeknights while neighbouring Out of the Blue has an art gallery and several activities like theme darts.
The metros have witnessed one fad after another on the cuisine scene-Thai, Greek, Mexican, Japanese and Mediterranean, for instance. Some came and went, some left behind a few dishes for posterity, others have become well entrenched on the regional foodscape. Italian cuisine is one such permanent fixture. It began with pizzas, graduated to pastas and now comprises a full buffet, ranging from risotto to tiramisu. "Italian is a surprising hit in the country," observes Karen. Adds Rashmi, "As surprising is the failure of any Mexican restaurant of quality to survive. Mexican ingredients are so identifiable with Indian food-tomatoes, corn." Another shocker has been the way Indians have taken to eating raw fish. Sushi rules supreme right now. "I could never have imagined that a people who are so conservative about their tastes would take to sushi," observes gastronome and restaurateur Prahlad Kakkar. "It says a lot about how we are getting out of our comfort zones, doesn't it?"
So what are the food trends in the coming seasons? "India, like the rest of the world, is definitely looking eastwards," says Rashmi. "The orient is in flavour. There's so much happening, with Vietnamese, Burmese, Mongolian, Korean and Japanese food coming to the fore." There's been a paradigm shift from French cuisine to the oriental bowl. On the Indian cuisine scene, tastebuds are tentatively exploring regional cuisines. Gone are the days when south Indian meant dosa-idli-vada. Today, it's Malabari, Konkani, Chettinad and Hyderabadi. Food festivals in top hotels regularly bring to the fore ethnic flavours. There are even fiestas showcasing food from the northeast, quite unheard of before.
Experimental cuisine will take firmer grip, especially in signature restaurants, Chef Thomas feels, adding that as a result, more chefs will become celebrities. "It's a global phenomenon, and India is on that track," he says. Indeed so. Hemant Oberoi, executive chef of the Taj Group, is just back from a culinary Olympics in Germany, where his team showcased foods like India-inspired tapas. Here's bon appétit to that!
Lobster years
In the 18th century, Maine lobster was commonly used as a farm fertiliser and in the 19th century it was called a poor man's food. Today you can expect to pay dearly for this rich man's delicacy.
Gold for potatoes
Potatoes were worth their weight in gold during the Alaskan Klondike gold rush from 1897 to 1898. They were so valued for their vitamin C content that miners traded gold for potatoes.
Natural sweetener
Jaggery, or gur as the coarse, dark sugar is known in India, contains mineral salts and is more wholesome than refined sugar. A pinch of it is often added to sambar, rasam and other gravy dishes to enhance the flavour.
Juice it down
Fish is often served with a slice of lemon in the belief that the fruit's juice would dissolve any bones accidentally swallowed.
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