eating indian cuisines pt 2
after first ranting about 'aint no such thing as "indian" cuisine', i've started ranting about why you should think of indian cusines as composed not of individual dishes, but dishes to mix n' match and create different tastes within a meal.
the ft this weekend has an interview with jeannie cho lee, the first asian master of wine, who discusses how pairing wines with asian cuisines becomes difficult for precisely this reason. she's very eloquent:
"But the biggest challenge in pairing wine with Asian cuisine, she says, is the fact that Asians share their food, rather than ordering one dish at a time. “We are very communal and we like to dig in. We like to have different texture, bite and flavour combination with each mouthful. You dabble in and out of different flavours.”
its an interesting article, well worth checking out.
By howler
on Mar 6, 2010 05:22 AM
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I know Moti Mahal is one of your favourite places and I'm impressed to see its current menu makes no distinction between starters and main courses. I'm looking forward to eating there but, for an Anglo like myself unskilled in the style, it may make ordering a bit "hit and miss" :-0
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The link is leading me to a page with no article...but my Rs. 2:
What to drink with Indian food? What is traditionally taken? As a cuisine evolves, what changes are there? If one were to be a purist, one might not take any beverage at all with an Indian meal. According to ayurvedic principles, one is supposed to drink after the meal. It is also a Muslim tradition to drink after the meal (it is a Sunnah). In both cases it is considered to be healthier and better for digestion. So you have two major communities who have traditional beliefs that cause many people to not drink with meals. Not everyone follows this, of course. But in my experience a lot of people still do, if just out of habit. So perhaps that is the "authentic" way to take the food. What to do, try to enjoy a cuisine in the original way to be 'authentic'? I, for one must have water with a meal. 'Cold drinks' or water aside, you have the lassi. The idea of drinking a giant lassi, sweet, salty, or fruit flavored with a meal is also novel. Lassis are so heavy and some people have them for breakfast or in between meals, having them with a heavy meal should be considered to be overkill. Yet they are there on menus and people order them. Then there is the alcohol drinking culture and the issue of wine pairings. That is out of my boundaries of knowledge and experience. But if people can drink wine with fine foods in Western cuisines, it must be possible to integrate into Eastern cuisines. I think besides Japanese food, which is set up as 'expensive,' in the West a lot of Asian places are set up as 'cheap eats' (unliscenced/serve no alcohol) unless they are special fusion restos. Or there are some restos which follow the drinking culture of the respective country (like Koreans, no wine, but generally heavy drinking while dining out). There has been a movement for fine dining in Indian cuisine restos and also more upscale restos of other Asian cuisines are blooming. So the wine pairing culture will have to evolve with that, I suppose.
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