Being an Indian myself, I cannot stress more on how intoxicating and intriguing the Indian cuisine is. Indian food is known around the world for its mesmerizing aromas and a basket full of ingredients. For the people who try it for the first time often relate it to all the spice stories they have heard of the Indian land. The huge amount of spices like cardamom, tamarind and a wide arena of flavours build the foundation of the Indian cuisine.
Even though every Indian I know has a soft corner for sweets be it jamuns, rasmalais and what not, Indian food is healthy and is usually packed with vegetables. There are even vegan options available such as dal and samosas. Cheese and yogurt also make an important section of the ingredients used from curries to breads. Along with the main dishes, Indian food is packed with a series of side dishes in every household. Papad, raita, chutneys and achaar with thousands of options to choose enhance the main cuisine.
What makes Indian food so unique? Why does it hit your palate different each time you have it? As discussed in a previous article on Food Pairings, most food pairs share a similar flavour. They are made from ingredients that have overlapping flavours. A food ingredient is a rich bundle of flavours containing on an average 50 flavours in it. Most food pairs around the world can be rooted to common/overlapping flavours such as strawberries and chocolates. However, this is not the case for Indian foods.
A group of researchers from Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur worked on a number of popular Indian recipes given on Tarladalal.com and broke it down to its ingredient level. They studied the level of flavour sharing in each recipes. The researchers used Venn Diagrams and statistical tools for comparing the flavour profiles. What they concluded was that Indian recipes usually had ingredients with no flavours overlapping with other ingredients of the dish. Some of such abundantly used ingredients in the Indian cuisine are coriander, Garam Masala, bell pepper. These were ingredients that had unique flavours which set the Indian cuisine apart from all others.
Indianization of cuisine is a phrase spreading rapidly around the world. One such instance is the Kellogg’s Upma. A MNC that has revolutionized the breakfast lifestyle around the world, has now introduced the Upma to its wide array of breakfast options. Same goes with pizzerias in the country, Chinese restaurants and others in the country. Indians are fond of their taste buds accustomed to the Indian cuisine and brands are realizing their potential in shaping the market if they could imbibe the Indian flavours in their products.
However, people are travelling more, and are more open to new dishes and their enticing flavours. With globalization comes a huge door full of opportunities.
Let me know if you would prefer to come home to dal chawal (any Indian cuisine you relate to) or would go out for a pizza/burger? I would be in for both, of course.
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