Anglo-Indian cuisine, India’s ‘original fusion cuisine’ is a fascinating one that’s spiced with centuries of history and culture.
By Raul Dias
As one of India’s most underrepresented cuisines, Anglo-Indian food and its wonderful cache of fusion dishes is all but a lost legacy. Once the mainstay of colonial-style gentlemen’s clubs and railway canteens overseen by khansamas, Anglo-Indian cuisine is slowing inching out of the woodwork. All this, thanks to efforts of people like Bridget White Kumar—author of several cookbooks on this unique cuisine who are seeking a revival of dishes that hold within them centuries of history and culture. The latest boost comes in the form of the recent opening of India’s first true-blue Anglo-Indian cuisine restaurant, Anglow in New Delhi’s Khan Market.
We look at some classic Anglo-Indian dishes that have stood the test of time here in India…
Jalfrezi and Pepper Water
This two-part Anglo-Indian dish is a strange one given its geographical antecedents. The former part of the dish was born in erstwhile Calcutta when it served as the capital of India right up to 1772. Derived from the Bengali word jhal parhezi which means “hot dish”, the vegetable stew—that’s tempered with mustard oil—is always served with a thin broth-like side dish called pepper water. The latter itself came from another British strong-hold of the then Madras Presidency, where the tamarind pulp-based dish is more-commonly known as rasam or saaru.
Chicken Country Captain
This three-way fusion dish is an amalgamation of the Italian chicken stew of cacciatore, a British roast chicken and an Indian korma. Named after the captains of the ‘country ships’ owned by the British East India Company, in whose galleys this dish took shape, the red-hued preparation is a sweet-n-spicy chicken gravy best mopped up with slices of crusty bread.
Ball Curry and Yellow Rice
Taking the very British dish of meatball stew and giving it an Indian flip, this quintessential Anglo-Indian classic sees the introduction of thick coconut milk added to the stew that’s further spiced width cumin and coriander powder. This Anglo Sunday lunch staple is always served with an accompanying duo of sides that take the form of a sunshine yellow turmeric rice and a devil’s chutney made from Kashmiri chillies, tomatoes, sugar and vinegar.
Spiced Allahabad Fruit Cake
This dense, rich confection—that is part of the edible legacy left behind by the once strong Anglo-Indian community of Allahabad—best defines this fusion cuisine. While desi ghee stands in for the regular fruit cake shortening of butter, giving the cake a slight savoury edge, local Indian spices like nutmeg, saunf (fennel powder) and sonth (dried ginger powder) make it typically Anglo-Indian. Further augmenting this mélange is the use of petha (candy pumpkin) that replaces the once hard-to-procure candied fruit peel that had to be imported in from good ol’ Blighty. Today, Allahabad’s famous bakery Bushy’s on Kanpur Road is one of the few places where one can still get a slice of this unique cake.
(An edited version of this article first appeared in the March 2020 issue of Travel 360, the in-flight magazine of Air Asia India)
By Raul Dias
As one of India’s most underrepresented cuisines, Anglo-Indian food and its wonderful cache of fusion dishes is all but a lost legacy. Once the mainstay of colonial-style gentlemen’s clubs and railway canteens overseen by khansamas, Anglo-Indian cuisine is slowing inching out of the woodwork. All this, thanks to efforts of people like Bridget White Kumar—author of several cookbooks on this unique cuisine who are seeking a revival of dishes that hold within them centuries of history and culture. The latest boost comes in the form of the recent opening of India’s first true-blue Anglo-Indian cuisine restaurant, Anglow in New Delhi’s Khan Market.
We look at some classic Anglo-Indian dishes that have stood the test of time here in India…
Jalfrezi and Pepper Water
This two-part Anglo-Indian dish is a strange one given its geographical antecedents. The former part of the dish was born in erstwhile Calcutta when it served as the capital of India right up to 1772. Derived from the Bengali word jhal parhezi which means “hot dish”, the vegetable stew—that’s tempered with mustard oil—is always served with a thin broth-like side dish called pepper water. The latter itself came from another British strong-hold of the then Madras Presidency, where the tamarind pulp-based dish is more-commonly known as rasam or saaru.
Chicken Country Captain
This three-way fusion dish is an amalgamation of the Italian chicken stew of cacciatore, a British roast chicken and an Indian korma. Named after the captains of the ‘country ships’ owned by the British East India Company, in whose galleys this dish took shape, the red-hued preparation is a sweet-n-spicy chicken gravy best mopped up with slices of crusty bread.
Ball Curry and Yellow Rice
Taking the very British dish of meatball stew and giving it an Indian flip, this quintessential Anglo-Indian classic sees the introduction of thick coconut milk added to the stew that’s further spiced width cumin and coriander powder. This Anglo Sunday lunch staple is always served with an accompanying duo of sides that take the form of a sunshine yellow turmeric rice and a devil’s chutney made from Kashmiri chillies, tomatoes, sugar and vinegar.
Spiced Allahabad Fruit Cake
This dense, rich confection—that is part of the edible legacy left behind by the once strong Anglo-Indian community of Allahabad—best defines this fusion cuisine. While desi ghee stands in for the regular fruit cake shortening of butter, giving the cake a slight savoury edge, local Indian spices like nutmeg, saunf (fennel powder) and sonth (dried ginger powder) make it typically Anglo-Indian. Further augmenting this mélange is the use of petha (candy pumpkin) that replaces the once hard-to-procure candied fruit peel that had to be imported in from good ol’ Blighty. Today, Allahabad’s famous bakery Bushy’s on Kanpur Road is one of the few places where one can still get a slice of this unique cake.
(An edited version of this article first appeared in the March 2020 issue of Travel 360, the in-flight magazine of Air Asia India)
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