No matter which side of the gobi manchurian debate you took after Mapusa in Goa recently banned the dish, which features batter-fried cauliflower coated with a hot and sour sauce, you have to accept that Indo-Chinese cuisine has permeated the nation’s culinary profile as unobtrusively as its legendary flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG).
Using Indian vegetables and spices with Chinese sauces and thickening agents, Indo-Chinese fusion cuisine has its own local spin-offs like ‘Chinjabi’ and ‘idli manchurian’ that may make no sense to the purist, but are tasty all the same.
“Indo-Chinese food is versatile, as its very basis is born out of two different cuisines and the question of authenticity never arises. Chinese or Manchurian dishes vary from Delhi to the South and Kolkata to the West. The place or the vendor is free to experiment with their take on Indo-Chinese food as long as their diners finds a reason to come back to them,” says Chef Peter Tseng, culinary director of Pricol Gourmet, which runs restaurants across Chennai, Kochi, Pune, Delhi and Coimbatore under multiple brands including Soy Soi, Savya Rasa, Delish and Epicure – Bespoke Catering.
