Kruti Patel
M11039
Let’s have a bit of fun- it starts with this innate desire to mix and match everything to come up with something fancy. That I believe is the origin of fusion food in India and all over the world. Further as ‘Globalisation’ proliferated, people travelled from China to America, France to India, Germany to Australia etc. and with them travelled their native flavours and grandmother recipes. Chefs and cooks all over the world borrowed these flavours and assimilated ideas from diverse nationalities, but in the process still maintained their unique flavour. This gave rise to the birth of FUSION.
Fusion Cuisine generally is the amalgamation of an assortment of elements from different regions along with their cuisines. This became exceedingly popular in the 90’s. Fusion also includes presenting authentic dishes with a few different ingredients to ‘add a little spice’ in a repetitive dish.
Indo-Chinese is among the most prominent fusions in India today. A classic example of this fusion which we find gracing the menus of many restaurants is the “Chinese Bhel. It is a creation of huge Chinese community residing in India. The conventional puffed rice is replaced by crunchy fried noodles to adapt to the Chinese palate. However one can agree that most “Chinese” food in India, may that be Chicken Manchurian or Fried Rice, all are cases of Fusion.
Nowadays Indo-Mughlai cuisine is one of the most widespread highly proclaimed fusion food in India. It speaks for recipes right from the time of Babur which crossed countless borders and reached the heart of India- Delhi. ‘Khoresh Fesenjan’ is a legendary example of Indo-Mughlai fusion. This time-honoured Persian dish is basically glazed duck cooked with pomegranate juice. Sometimes for the purpose of fusion, the duck is replaced by chicken and served on saffron flavoured basmati rice, a typical Hyderabadi way to cook rice.
A very famous trend followed by India cooks is adding an Indian tadka to the traditional Italian and French cusine. Spaghetti and penne are cooked with garam masala and cumin seeds. Further the Cardamom crème Brulee is a classic example of Indo French fusion that has gained popularity in recent times.
The most sort after and consumed fusion falls in the category of Pizzas. It ranges from blending flavours from different regions of India, be it the infamous Punjabi Chicken Tandoori or the Awadh inspired Achari paneer pizzas to name a few.
Chocolate Samosa and Chocolate Paan have become favourite confections for many Indians. However the most amusing fusion can be seen these days near Oshiwara where panipuri are filled with neat vodka shots.
These days intermingling of different traditional cuisines have gained immense importance for chefs in India. They require vast amount of knowledge on various cuisines to come up with entirely different dishes which are however similar to the original recipes. They are required to bypass several defined rules of cooking and also need to keep their hands in every pot.
“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” But in today’s fusion culture, Rudyard Kipling’s analogy has been totally altered.
The Squibbler 