The spice route has always been a shaping force in India. Art, music, religion, language – in some way or another, the spices that have drawn international trade to Indian shores for centuries have influenced them all. And nothing, of course, more than food. There are few other cultures in the world that make such creative and liberal use of spice – coriander and cumin, cinnamon and anise, two types of cardamom, curry and bay leaves, countless chillies and peppers and salts, and an array of mixed masalas that add a whole new register of gustatory complexity to India’s food story.
This has made India’s many diverse cuisines among the most prized and admired anywhere in the world. This has its disadvantages too as to many Indian palates, foods from most any place else – and especially from Europe and the Mediterranean – seems bland. Rather than using masalas of practically infinite depth and complexity, where a dizzying list of flavours combine into a seamless sum total of taste, many of these cuisines prefer to highlight just a few individual flavours, and usually without much in the way of spice.
Italian dishes
A classic Italian dish like caprese salad, for instance, uses just four or five ingredients depending on the preparation: sweet, acidic tomatoes; creamy buffalo mozzarella; herbal, aromatic italian basil; earthy, fruity olive oil; crisp balsamic vinegar. There are no chillies and no spices. The dish hangs together based solely on the quality of the individual ingredients. If one falls short, the entire dish fails.
Another Italian dish, risotto, is by all outward appearances far more complex, similar in texture to an Indian specialty like khichdi. But this creamy rice dish is also a product of just a few ingredients. Short grain rice (most famously arborio) releases starch when mixed gradually with warm stock and wine. Other ingredients – usually vegetables, mushrooms, meats, herbs – are added at various stages in the cooking process, and the dish is finished off with a load of parmesan cheese and a slab of butter. In the end, though, it is the quality of these ingredients that shines, each an essential individual player.
Spanish surprises
Even paella, Spain’s celebrated rice dish, is a study in the power of individual ingredients – rice, shellfish, saffron, olive oil – combined, but not subsumed one in another. Indian cooking does not quite work this way for the most part. Our iconic dishes tend to blend flavours into a variety of distinctive combinations. It is not an easy task, for instance, to pick out all the individual flavours in your auntie’s personal recipe for garam masala – especially once it has been sprinkled on a serving of her homemade baingan bharta. Our palates are famous for needing a little pampering – a dash of masala here, some extra red chilli pepper there – often at the expense of authenticity. But all that is changing. As we spend more and more time abroad, we are bringing back taste for a range of other cuisines, and the clean, simple flavours of the Mediterranean seem to be the plato del día.
Look at Mumbai, where at least three Spanish restaurants have opened within the last six months or so. More importantly, look at the food they serve. Vinoteca, a popular tapas bar in Worli, serves a fine rendition of Spain’s beloved patatas bravas, a mainstay on any traditional tapas menu. Where just a few years ago this dish of fried potatoes topped in a spiced mayonnaise might well have been sprinkled with a homey dash of chaat masala, the bravas at Vinoteca are pure Spain.
At the JW Marriott in Juhu, Spanish restaurant Arola brings to the city modern interpretations of northern Spanish cuisine to an Indian audience, and does so without compromise. It is an exciting time to be eating and cooking in India.
Experimentation
At Silver Spoon Gourmet, we are having a great time experimenting within the new framework of flavours, techniques and styles that Indian consumers now want. Our menus combine a variety of styles from different parts of Europe, relying on the classic cuisines of France, Spain and Italy, as well as many of the contemporary techniques that have helped revolutionise the way people around the world think about flavours and textures.
Our rosemary seared lamb with potatoes gratin and lamb jus is classic France, for instance, a rustic preparation that emphasises the rich, savoury flavours of the meat with the earthy autumnal flavours of potato, rosemary and cheese as classic accompaniments. It’s a hearty dish that could directly from a simple peasant table, perfect on a cool evening. Our lobster bisque with cilantro foam, meanwhile, draws on two of the most iconic flavours of summer, one prepared in one of its traditional forms (lobster transformed into a rich, creamy soup), and the other using one of the most popular techniques of the modern kitchen.
With its two bright, forward flavours presented in distinctive, perhaps even unfamiliar, textures, this is the sort of dish that people may not have fully accepted until just a few years ago. The most exciting part for us, though, is the democratisation of those tastes. It used to be that only the wealthiest Indians had access to the subtler flavours and groundbreaking techniques that have defined continental cuisines.
New audiences
Today, the popularity of shows like Masterchef – shows that focus heavily on the how-to of different cuisines – are introducing these flavours and techniques to a whole new audience. Everyone in India would not have a chance to visit Italy, but that does not mean the exquisite and subtle flavours of Italian cuisine have to remain foreign to them. At Silver Spoon Gourmet, we are extremely optimistic about the future and diversity of fine dining in India.
The scene has already changed dramatically, with fine restaurants bringing exciting renditions of global cuisines to our cities. It may begin with Spanish, French and Italian food, but who’s to say what next? How about Danish or Austrian food? And, after that, perhaps, Peruvian or Ethiopian. The expansion of the Indian palate will then, of course, bring us to the most exciting possibility of all: a cuisine that is open to outside influence. There’s now a whole young generation of Indians growing up exposed to a type of creative, no-holds-barred cooking previously unavailable except to a very select few.
As the Indian palate expands, so will our food. The excitement of today’s culinary world is generated by the appearance of cuisines from the outside. Tomorrow, it will be the creation of new cuisines from within. The only thing more exciting than cooking in India now, will be cooking in India in the future.
