Chinese Invasion

In last few posts I have been writing about the changes that took place in food culture from 1950’s to 1970’s. In the next decade there was wave for Chinese food. Today we see a Chinese Gadi and a chinky eyed Nepali cook at every corner even in small towns of India, but in 1980’s Chinese food was a novelty. I used to travel about 230 kms from Kolhapur to Pune to enjoy Chines food at Chung Fa on the East Street. If I was in Mumbai (it was Bombay that time), I would not miss a chance to visit Flora in Worli to enjoy Chinese delicacies. As days progressed even small restaurants started adding Chinese dishes in their menu and each one had their own way to prepare the Chinese food. I was in a five start hotel in Patna in mid eighty’s and was tempted to order Chinese dishes those were on their menu. When the food was served I was wondering is it Chinese or some regional Bihari cuisine with dash of vinegar and soya sauce. Anyway the Chinese cuisine finally flowed down the streets and by end of that decade everyone was serving Chinese food. In early 80’s it was kind of a prestige to order Chinese food, may be to show that one is different. Unfortunately other cousins of Chinese cuisine like Thai or Indonesian did not have that acceptance in the Indian market. 

Stir Fry Vegetables - Nutritious and Delicious

The most acceptable non-Indian cuisine in India is certainly Chinese cuisine. This is the one that’s not only available at every nook and corner but some of us like to try out in our kitchen. Chinese food has sneaked in our kitchen like suspicious quality Chinese goods. I have two stories about Chinese foods that I read many years back. In one folk tale, a son was asked by his mother, who for some strange reasons was in the hell, to get her some food. She was not happy with the food that was available in the hell (Chinese hell?). Quite understandable! The poor chap used to cook delicacies for her and carry it to hell for her. The guards on duty would stop the son on pretext of checking the food (security was important even in the hell). The tasty food then would be consumed by the guards (they are same even today) and the poor mother would still go hungry. The son thought of an idea and cooked something that looked repulsive but was great in taste. And that is what we have today. Chinese food tastes good but it’s not attractive to look at. Second story that I read was how and why humans started cooking the food. Long long ago there was a fire in a jungle in China. Trees were burnt and animals got roasted. After the fire was doused some persons went around seeing the damage. Someone saw a roasted pig and pocked his finger in the pig. Superficially the roasted pig was not hot but within it was. As the pocked finger (bad habit) felt the heat, the person withdrew his finger and to cool it down put it in his mouth. He was surprised at the taste of roasted pig. It is said, that was the turning point and human beings started cooking the food. 

There is no better example than the Indian version of Chinese food to understand how food gets regionalized. Chinese Bhel in India is the pinnacle. I can’t think of any country in the world that is so imaginative like India to bend a cuisine as Indians have done it to Chinese. Even in USA there are eateries that specialize in Indian Chinese cuisine and are doing a great business. The Chinese food that I had in China on couple of occasions was so different than the one that I have in India or elsewhere in the Indian subcontinent. McD, KFC, Pizza Hut and many others may have gone for product adaptation in India but Indians have done product standardization for Indian Chinese cuisine. 

Prominent styles of Chinese cuisines outside China are Singaporean, Indonesian and Malaysian. However all these are generic Chinese for a common man. Only connoisseurs can differentiate. For others it’s all Chinese. It similar to what North Indians call a south Indian. For most North Indians anyone from South is Madrasi. They can’t differentiate between Tamilian, Andhraite, Kannadigas and Keralites. All these are Madrasis. Cuisine from almost all countries have their own influence on Chinese cuisine, be it Peruvian Chinese cuisine (known as Chifa) or Pakistani Chinese cuisine. By end of the day what appeals to the pallet is important and that brings me back to my point. Cook anything, in any style as long as it satisfies you, it’s great. Which cuisine you have followed does not really matter. What you cook is your speciality and that matters. 

Chinese cooking is faster. It is generally on a high flame. The trick is how you chop the vegetables or chicken or meat. Normally food is cut diagonally. This offers a larger surface area to the heat and also absorbs more of spices. More time is spent on cutting vegetables than the time spent on cooking. For busy individuals who like Chinese cuisine and want try out cooking at home, the best part is availability of cut vegetables in the market for Chinese preparations. Today almost every super market offers a pack of assorted cut vegetables for Chinese cuisine. You don’t have to buy different vegetables in small quantities or even one each of coloured capsicums, just buy a pack of cut vegetables; you will get the mix of green, yellow and red capsicum along with French beans, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spring onions etc. The best part is you get separate cut vegetable packs for fried rice or for curries or soups. All cut to size in a shape that is needed. So it becomes an extremely smart way to cook Chinese meals. You just have buy few bottles of sauces and these generally have long shelf life and remain good. So on way back from work buy a pack of cut vegetables for stir fry vegetables and buy a bottle each of All in One sauce, dark soya sauce and white vinegar. You are ready to cook delicious Stir Fry Vegetable, your style. Here is the simple recipe but little tricky. The crispiness is important in stir fry vegetable and that depends upon freshness of vegetables, available surface area and moisture contents of vegetable. Some gut feeling and trial & error is needed, but the final product is really good. 

Cut vegetables. Red, yellow, orange, green capsicum, purple cabbage etc,

The recipe is simple and fast. Stir fry is to be done on high flame. Most important aspect of this preparation is the sequence in which you fry the vegetables and the frying time for each one of these vegetables. Place a nonstick yoke or a casserole or a skillet on high flame. Add one tablespoon refined oil for every two hundred grams of vegetables. First one to jump in the frying pan will be French beans (wish my boss was French beans). Let them have their privacy for a minute. Keep stirring. Now carrots will join them for a minute, don’t stop stirring. This is followed by cauliflower and broccoli. Stirring continues. Let another minute pass by. Now it’s the turn of Cabbage, green and/or purple. Stir for half a minute and add all varieties of capsicum that you have. If you have just green, that is also okay. Fry for a minute. Now add one tablespoon each of soya sauce, All in One sauce and half tablespoon of white vinegar. Sprinkle salt as per your taste. Stir again. Add half teaspoon of sugar and mix well. Stir for a minute along and finally add spring onion. Stir for few seconds and you are done. Shift the fried stuff to a bowl else it will get over cooked. If it remains little raw then also it is fine because except French beans all other vegetables can be consumed raw or undercooked. So don’t worry and in any case French beans are well done in the process. You are done. If you want to enjoy this with some gravy then you have work for another five minutes or just a minute if you do multitasking. 

Simple - sequence and time for high flame frying

For sauce you will need half cup of water, one tablespoon of corn flour, one table spoon of sugar, one tablespoon white vinegar, salt to taste and half cup of orange juice. If you are in multitasking mode then while you are frying carrots, place a small pot that can boil about a cup of water on another burner. Add about half a cup of water, bring it to boil. In between be smart enough to mix a tablespoon of corn flour (corn starch) in two tablespoons (or more if needed) water. Keep it aside. Once the water in the pot boils add half a cup of pulpy orange juice (without pulp will also do), let boil. Now add sugar, vinegar and salt. Stir well and add the corn flour paste, stir well again and remove from the flame. Pour this sauce on stir fried vegetables that you have kept in a bowl. Your stir fry vegetable in tangy orange sauce is ready. The quantity of sugar, vinegar and salt will depend on your taste and the sourness of the orange juice that you have. You may have to do some trial and error, but trust me this dish tastes wonderful. 

PS. Those who don’t like oranges can try pineapple juice. Adjust sourness as desired with vinegar. I like this too.

Simplest Salad

Food is an integral part of life, not only for human beings but for all the living beings in the universe. Food is an undisputed component of culture. And like culture it also has subsections. As an Indian one has a uniform food culture that includes food made from rice, wheat and pulses. Similar to cultures it further gets divided into regional food, like from north Indian or south Indian cuisine. Then comes the further subdivision into state wise food like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Andhra, Bengal and so on. And then there is further division as per the regions. As in Maharashtra there is Varhadi (that’s from Vidarbha), Khandeshi, Kolhapuri, Malavani cuisine and on. One major factor in cuisine is what the region grows abundantly is found in the recipes of that region. South Indians predominantly are rice eater, Bangalis are fond of fish, North Indian prefer more of wheat and milk products just to mention a few. The cuisines are essentially regional. This is seen across the world. What we call continental food includes French, Italian, Spanish and many other cuisines from Europe. The South East Asian cuisine will include recipes from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia whereas Eastern delicacies will figure Japanese, Chinese, Korean food preparations. Chinese has subdivisions like Mandarin, Sichuan, Cantonese, Hong Kong style etc. Russians have different food as the region is covered under snow for almost nine to ten months in a year and they prefer cold cuts while Ethiopians who perennially fight drought settle for raw minced beef, kheema (खीमा) with Injera (similar to Dosa) but made from Teff, which is similar to Nachani (नाचणी in Marathi) or Ragi (रागी in Hindi). Both these grains are millet  Teff is Ethiopian millet while Nachani or Ragi is African finger millet. The natural resources are responsible for type of food one consumes. With globalization this is undergoing a change. Mexican mangos are available in USA and Kiwi fruit is available in India. Eventually American cuisine will include Mango and Indian cuisine will have Kiwi fruit.  Many a times there is overlap or influence of one regional cuisine over the other. Goan food is an example where one finds Portuguese domination over the local cuisine. Indian Chinese is another excellent example how the Chinese cuisine underwent changes to suit Indian palette. And commercially how McD or Dominos adapt to offer products that will satisfy the local customers. So by end of the day the food consumption also changes and that is natural.

Over a period of time the way food is cooked has also undergone tremendous change. I would like to include in this right from the preparation to serving of the food, something that is similar to modern day supply chain management (SCM). I have seen the days of earthen  stove, (Chula चूल्हा in  Hindi), have experienced the pain due to smoke while igniting the Chula with firewood or charcoal. The ever dangerous kerosene stove was the next option. Then came the luxury of LPG sometime in late sixties. That was the period when pressure cookers made entry in Indian market and in my home. Cooking was more comfortable now, I miss few things like roasting brinjals (eggplant) over charcoal or cooking over low fire in earthenware. In early nineties I brought a microwave oven from Dubai, incidentally it’s still in a good shape almost after a quarter of century. I have had my food being served in a 15” diameter thick silver plate  (thali थाली ) and I also enjoyed meals in disposable leaf  plates (pattal पत्तल or Patravli पत्रावळी in Marathi) or on banana leafs. Today one may use Flora Danica, a dinner plate that can cost well over US $ 1500 or even eat in a 'use n throw plate. Does the food change it flavor and taste because of these? Depends, how one looks at it. Superficially there may not be any differences, but there is a difference. Unfortunately the strong spices that are used in cooking mask these differences, but these do exist. These are superficial differences. The deeper differences are manifested in resultant satisfaction. And that’s the frame of mind. If one has egoistic dark background frame then Flora Danica is the option but if one has clear transparent down to earth frame then even food in a pattal will give satisfaction. At times a Vadapav supplied with a roasted Mirchi in a dirty newspaper is tastier that the one that comes hygienically packed in disposable containers. Any way let’s not get into that, but I share this in times to come.

As a child I would hate mathematics, the same way as some of my friends hate cooking. Cursing mathematics, I grew up. I lost nothing by not being good in Maths. Could have I gained something being good in Maths? I don’t know. Well others would have said I am good in Maths. But that was not what I really cared about. But somewhere deep in my heart I got a feeling that I am loser. When others could do well in Maths, then why should I not? One day I questioned myself, what was that that which made me hate the Maths? And then I realized that I had no interest in that subject and that was the precise reason I neglected Maths and convinced myself I cannot do well in this subject and started hating Maths. Life went on, but one day that feeling of being a loser surfaced and I decided to take up the challenge to learn Maths and beyond the age of sixty I learnt the basics, I practiced and mastered the subject. This was not for others but for my inner satisfaction. This happens very often. Someone may not like Physics, another one Philosophy and yet someone else not likes cooking. That is perfectly normal. The crux is interest. If interested then one can go miles but if not then few steps are also impossible.

Many times in the evening I like to munch. There is a huge choice of junk that is available, but then I decide to do something of my own, for myself, selfish – may be. I take one carrot, one cucumber, I don’t like radish so I don’t take it but it’s an additional option, wash the stuff. I might have got it from Wegman’s or Hypercity or even from dirty footpath of Byculla, it’s always a good idea to wash the stuff. I wipe these dry and place them on a chopping board, chop it the way I desire, many a times in an unconventional way. Put this chopped stuff in a large bowl, sprinkle some salt, some crushed black pepper and squeeze little lemon. Toss it for a while and my evening low cal high fiber snack is ready. At times I go Desi, black pepper is replaced by chat masala. Sometimes it’s just salt, red chili powder and a dash of hing, that reminds me of the Kakdi that I used to buy in late sixties for my lunch in Kanpur. Try this out sometime. Till the time the pizza that you ordered for your dinner arrives try out my simple recipe. The potato chips you bought on way home will last longer if you choose my snack. Remember it’s unconventional chopping, and while you chop just think of that stupid comment that you idiot boss passed early in the day. Homemakers can think of workforce that is perennially absent without any notice. That will make your chopping faster and easier. There are no measures or proportions. Add salt, pepper, chili and whatever you like in the quantities that you admire. Go ahead and try it. This is my first lesson in non-gas cooking for anytime healthy bite. And I call this as  CCR,  Carrot, Cucumber, Raddish. I have further subdivision as CCR - A, CCR - I and CCR - D. In CCR - A,  I go Angrezi and it's with freshly crushed black pepper and salt. CCR - I is typically Indian with Chat Masala, and CCR - D is my all time favourite with Desi taste of Hing and Lal Mirch powder. 

So what are you waiting for? Take your copping board, take the stuff out of the fridge, think of your boss and get going. Enjoy your evening. Eat healthy, stay healthy