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Indian Chinese cuisine,Indo-Chinese cuisine,Chinese Indian cuisine,Sino-Indian cuisine,Chindian cuisine,Hakka Indian[1] orDesi-Chinese cuisineis a distinct style of Chinese cuisine adapted to Indian tastes and spices. Though Asian cuisines have been mixed throughout history all over Asia, the most popular origin story of the fusion food resides with Chinese immigrants toKolkata, the then capital ofBritish-ruled India.[2] Opening restaurant businesses in the area, these early Chinese food sellers adapted their culinary styles to suit Indian tastes.[2]
Chinese Indian food is differentiated from traditional Indian cuisines by its distinct blend of Chinese and Indian influences: Indian vegetables andspices are used, along with much Chinese sauces, thickening agents, and oil.[3]Stir-fried in a wok, Sino-Indian food adds Indian sensibilities regarding spices and tastes when adapting Chinese culinary styles to the Indian palate.[3] The cuisine has become integral to the mainstream culinary scenes of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, and its diffusion to nations like the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and theCaribbean such as Jamaica andMartinique, have shaped and altered the global view of Chinese, Indian, and Asian cuisines like in most Southeast Asian countries of Indonesia and Thailand.[4]
The most popular theory for the origins of Chinese Indian food was during theBritish Rule of India. Kolkata was the capital ofBritish-ruled India when it was governed by theEast India Trading Company (from 1757 to 1858).[5] The city's relation to the British crown made it a great place for material prospects and opportunity, which drew businessmen and immigrant workers from surrounding areas.[3] The city was the most accessible metropolitan area of the country by land from China; thus, it became home to the very first Chinese settler, a southern Chinese man named Tong Atchew (also referred to as Yang Dazhao or Yang Tai Chow).[3] In 1778, Atchew settled 20 miles southwest of Kolkata, founding asugar mill along with five dozen or so Chinese immigrants.[2] Following Atchew's footsteps, waves of Cantonese immigrants fromGuangdong province of China fled to India due to civil war, famine, poverty, and conflict, searching for safety and prosperity.[2]Hakka Chinese found their niche ascobblers andtanners, while theCantonese settled mostly ascarpenters and theHubei people as dentists. However, an occupation popular among all groups, especially of wives supporting their husbands' work, was arestaurateur.[2]
From these first early settlers, communities of Chinese influence sprung up throughout the area, neighbourhoods of immigrants cooking and eating foods from their homeland. TheseCanton cuisines, known in China to be light and fresh in flavour, began to adapt and evolve into the new area. One reason is due to the availability of ingredients and spices being different from those in Guangdong, therefore forcing the flavour to naturally Indianize; additionally, Chinese businesses began to cater their foods to the tastes of their Indian patrons to increase sales, utilizing more spices and heavier douses of sauce and oil than theirtraditional techniques required.[6] Recognized as one of the first Indo-Chinese restaurants in the country, the still-standing corner eatery of Eau Chew gained its popularity by using the fashionable pull of exotic Chinese foods combined with non-threatening familiar flavours of chili,curry, and corn starch, to attract and keep-on customers.[3][6] Kolkata today boasts the onlyChinatown in the country, a neighbourhood known as theTiretti Bazaar.[2] This being said, nearly every city in India has these adapted "Chinese" foods, whether found in restaurants or hawked byroadside vendors, as the greasy, spicy, stir-fried food that has become wildly popular throughout the country.[6] It is also important to note those Chinese returning from India to their homelands in China's south, for they often brought their new culinary practices and flavours with them, working to Indianize the taste of Cantonese-style foods in southern coastal cities such asHong Kong.[6]
As Indian historianPushpesh Pant once noted, Indian Chinese food is "the result of several isolated encounters."[6] These encounters, in addition to the Kolkata story, include influences of theSilk Road, historical ties, and geography. Each of these aspects has worked in some way to tie the culinary practices and flavours of the two countries together, marking other possible origin points for the Indian Chinese culinary tradition.
TheSilk Road (or Silk Routes) was a network oftrading posts and pathways on land and sea utilized from 130 BCE to 1453 CE spanning from China and theIndonesian islands through India and theMiddle East, all the way tonortheastern Africa and Italy.[8] The significance of this route to ancient history is undeniable, the exchange of goods,diseases, and ideas from the East to West and vice versa has had a lasting impact upon the human story. Chinese and Indianmerchants would carry their goods across the borders separating the two neighbouring countries:silks,rice, andcrockery coming from China, with a plethora of influential spices sprouting from India.[8] Another exchange between China and India was religion, withBuddhism coming to China from India via the Silk Road as well. Moreover, as aspects of Indian culture, practices, and beliefs melded with Chinese traditions, theMahayana Buddhist religion was formed.[9] Just as the Chinese adapted Buddhist practices to their own beliefs, the two cultures adopted certain aspects of the other throughout their historical interactions and exchanges. Rice dishes cooked inIndianized Chinese woks can be found in thenation's south, and there are spices ofginger,cinnamon, andblack pepper present in various Chinese culinary styles. In this way, it can be seen how the Silk Road was vital in bringing characteristics of the two cultures together.[10] Indian and Chinese food aspects collided hundreds of years ago to form culinary traditions now inextricable with these nations. In this way, the Indo-Chinese fusion cuisine could be said to have appeared long before the first Chinese settlers in Kolkata.
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Geographically, India and China are neighbours; historically, the two nations areancient empires. Two of themost populous countries in the world today, both India and China boast lengthy histories. Since the second century CE,Hindu rulers presided overSoutheast Asian countries and Chinese regimes ruled the more eastern regions, such asVietnam.[11][12] Similarly, Asia's southeast was historically populated by immigrants from both China and India, namely theHan andTamil ethnic groups who joined scattered aboriginal societies.[10] The influences of China and India can be detected in thecuisines of Southeast Asia, where the two culinary practices have been combined, adapted, and developed by generations of people. For example, the Chinese practice ofrice cultivation was introduced to the regions of Southeast Asia and Nepal in the thirtieth century BC, where it has existed as an irreplaceable and undeniable staple ever since.[13] Furthermore, now completely embedded within Southeast Asian culinary practices, Chinese cooking andeating implements such as spoons, chopsticks, andwoks were other products which were introduced to the region.[14] Evidence of Indian influence, in addition toreligious philosophies andancient architecture, can be found in the spices and flavours of Southeast Asian cooking.[11]Curries—meat, fish, or vegetables cooked in a spiced sauce accompanied by rice or bread—originated on the Indian subcontinent, but have since diffused throughout Asia.[15] Spices such asturmeric,coriander,pepper,brown mustard, and ginger are present in curries throughout Southeast Asia, though each country has adapted the practice to utilize their own regional ingredients as well. Most notably,Indonesian,Malaysian,Thai,Filipino, andCambodian cuisines all have strong ties to Indian-style curry flavours.[15] These aspects of both Chinese and Indian culinary practices and traditions have combined to create the origins of what is now a rich and diverse culinary scene making up Asia's southeastern region. Thus, with the joined influence of the two cultures, Southeast Asian cuisine itself is another example of Indian Chinese food origins.
In addition to Southeast Asia, China has been influenced by Indian spices as well, especially in the autonomous region ofTibet, withNepal also possessing culinary practices hailing from both its Chinese and Indian neighbours.[10] Therefore, another origin point of Indian Chinese food can be traced to the cultures ofNepalese andTibetan peoples, whose lands are mostly encompassed by the two nations (India and China). Although not aligned with the greasy and pungent flavors of the culinary traditions which evolved inKolkata, the simplefoods of Nepal are often accompanied by rice, and consist of curries or spiced vegetables stir-fried or boiled in an Indian-style wok called akarahi.[16]Tibetan food, in addition tohigh altitude and harsh climates, is geographically influenced by the flavours of the countries surrounding it: notably Nepal, India, and China. Tibet is a nation heavily influenced byIndian Buddhist values (first brought in the fifth century AD), and with beliefs and ideas, travels culture and food as well.[11]Noodles andteas from China (vital in making thetsampa eaten with every meal),brown mustard from India, and even a "momo" dumpling dish shared with Nepal are all significant constituents to dishes of Tibetan cuisine.[17] With the diffusion of ingredients, culinary styles, and flavours acrossborders, the regions of Nepal and Tibet (as well asBhutan) which touch both India and China inadvertently developed cuisines mixing both Chinese and Indian styles and tastes, creating yet another Indo-Chinese food origin.
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Foods tend to be flavoured withspices such ascumin,coriander seeds, andturmeric, which with a few regional exceptions, such asXinjiang, are traditionally not associated with much ofChinese cuisine. Hotchilli,ginger,garlic, sesame seeds, dry red chillis, black pepper corns andyoghurt are also frequently used in dishes.[18] This makes Indian Chinese food similar in taste to many ethnic dishes inSoutheast Asian countries such asSingapore andMalaysia, which have strong Chinese andIndian cultural influences.[15][14]
Non-staple dishes are by default served with generous helpings ofgravy, although they can also be ordered "dry" or "without gravy". Culinary styles often seen in Indian Chinese fare include "Chilli" (implyingbatter-fried items cooked with pieces ofchilli pepper), "Manchurian" (implying asweet andsaltybrown sauce), and "Schezwan" (sic - see below) (implying aspicyred sauce).
The main ingredient in all these dishes can often be substituted with other meats, vegetables orpaneer. Usually thenomenclature is such that the main ingredient is mentioned first, followed by the entree style, for example "Chicken Chilli". Many are available in both "dry" or "gravy" versions, varying the amount of sauce served in the dish.
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Staple base options for an Indian Chinese meal include chicken,shrimp or vegetable variants of "Hakka" or "Schezwan"noodles popularly referred to aschow mein; and regular or "Schezwan"fried rice.Americanchop suey andsweet and sour dishes can be found at many restaurants. SomeSouth Indianrestaurants have also come up withspring rolls and "Schezwan"dosas.
Indian Chinesedessert options includeice cream onhoney-fried noodles ordatepancakes.
In Southeast Asia, particularlyMalaysia andSingapore, many popular dishes carry influence from both Indian and Chinese cuisine due to cultural syncretism.Malaysian andSingaporean Chinese cuisine is primarily based onFujian,Cantonese,Teochew, andHakka cuisines, while their Indian cuisine is primarily based onSouth Indian cuisine, especially fromTamil,Telugu, andMalayali cuisine. Chinese and Indian cultures have also fused in Singapore and Malaysia, with Chinese and Indian relationships being the most common intercultural relationships in both countries.[citation needed] Singaporean and Malaysian dishes that carry influence from both Indian and Chinese cuisines includefish head curry andmee goreng, and popular Indian Chinese dishes such as Manchurian and chili chicken are also popular in Singapore and Malaysia.
Indian or Kolkata-style Chinese food is readily available in major metropolitan areas of India. It is also available in a number of towns and atdhabas adjacent to highways. Many restaurants have a Chinese section in their menus, and some are even dedicated to serving Indian Chinese food. It can also be found in mobile kitchen carts, prepared inwoks over a portable gas burner. Manchurian sauce,Schezwan sauce, soy sauce fresh and dry Hakka noodles[23] are available in many stores in cities across the country.
In 2007, Chinese cuisine ranked as India's favourite cuisine after local food, growing at 9% annually. It is the most favoured option when young people go out to eat and the second favourite (aftersouth Indian cuisine) when families dine out.[24]
Many Indian restaurants in the West and the Middle East also cater to the overseas Indians' nostalgic taste for Indian Chinese food.[25] The cuisine is also branching out into the mainstream in major cities of North America. Chinese food in Nairobi, Kenya, also tends to be of this style. It is also available in Australia, especially in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. In many of these places, the restaurants are labelled as Hakka Chinese, when in fact the cuisine itself has very little resemblance to authenticHakka cuisine. The "Hakka" label in these restaurants are usually referring to the owner's origins, and many Chinese restaurant owners in India were of Hakka origin.[citation needed]
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