Anglo-Indian Food

[Suvir Saran]

How so?

Simon you must know this first hand... Calcutta has the largest community of Anglo-Indians... and how beautiful they are as a people.. and I am told some of their foods are just as good.

Would you mind shedding some light on this matter?

[Jinmyo]

Heh. It's not Indian really, but I like mullagatawny soup a great deal. And kedgeree. Fusion food.  

[Simon Majumdar]

It is very far from fusion food.

Fusion food is ( and let's not get into a whole thread about fusion- hell we might attract Plotniki and then what chance would we stand ) the result of a three week trip by a backpacking sous who comes back with a tin of tamarind and thinks " I'll bung this on some prawns"

Anglo indian food is the result of the hundreds of years of occupation of the sub continent by thousands of brits.  It is a result of

a) Their desire to create the dishes they ate at home using local ingredients

b) The attempts by local cooks to do the same

c) The need to adapt to local circumstances eg The prevalence of malaria leading to the need to take plentiful amounts of Quinnine ( sp? ) which was most palatable in Indian Tonic Water leading to the creation of the Gin & Tonic.

d) Those who "came home" trying to recreate the dishes they had tried in India.

e) Mixed Marriages - of which there were thousands.  I can speak from a much later generational experience of this as I come from a mixed family where a very english upbringing was mixed with a very Indian table.  My mother could/can move from making the most welsh of cakes ( Piklets, for eg ) to the most authentic of Bengali dishes and I still think that fishsticks with Dhaal is the ultimate comfort food.

Anglo Indian cooking ( it is not a fully formed cuisine - if we refer to the Plotniki scale of culinary evolution ) is as relevant to the development of Indian food as that of the portugese in Goa or the Kerulan Christians.

And also, let's not forget that some of these dishes, if well made are excellent.  If you doubt this, I urge you to try the Mulligatawny Soup at Sweetings in the City of London or the Kedgeree which is part of the 10 deadly sins breakfast at Simpson's on The Strand

S

[Suvir Saran]

I understand and agree with most Simon says...

And actually, the Anglo Indians have continued to evolve and go back to their roots.  On both sides.  It certainly must have had its roots in fusion, but the cuisine and culture are now over a century old and so, the fusion aspect has been turned into a way of life.

In Calcutta where many such mixed families lived, one can sense  the formidable contribution of this coming together of cultures in the Bazaars and the Clubs.  Sandwiches served like they would be with tea in fine hotels in the west.  Chutneys prepared in the tradition of canning that came from the west, but the ingredients and recipes being as Indian as any other.  Barley sugar hard candy is made in Calcutta, and is better even than the candy I ate at Alain Ducasse in NYC.  The candy canes, the lolli pops and the caramel are a dying art today, but those few shops that sell them, are still making a better product than any I have ever seen since my last indulgence of that Calcutta candy.

Simon, what is Kedgeree?  I always think of it as a Khicharee that has been a part of Indian cooking for as long as Indian food may have lived.  It is Indian comfort food, eaten when you want your palate to get some rest from weeks of over indulgence.  How do you percieve this dish?  How is it really different from the many types of Khicharees that are made in Indian homes?

What is so special about the Mulligatawny at Sweetings?  What makes you endorse it?  Curious.

And you are on target when you say these dishes were not mere creations by chefs at the calling of an unknown muse, these were created for the yearning of royal folk that craved for the foods they had gotten used to in their indulgent lifestyle in India.  There was no other reason, to my understanding.  In fact, the children of these people also have similar stories to mine about Indian food and it being a cultural power as much as a culinary force.  These Brits that came to India, quickly understood and accepted the necessity of food being a medium of dialogue and amity in the Indian landscape.

[Simon Majumdar]

Suvir

Kedgeree is the British take on Kitcharee.

It is made with boiled rice, flaked smoked haddock, chopped boiled eggs, a little curry powder and lots of butter.  It is traditionally served as a breakfast dish ( as it has huge restorative powers after a night on the tiles ) and was very much part of an aristocrats start to the day.

I once went out with a lady of title and went "down to the country" to stay with them.  They were so upscale that I was called by her father's Gentleman's Gentleman to see if I would be sending my luggage in advance! As all I had was a duffel bag, I did not think this was necessary.

The food they served was very much Anglo Indian as the grandfather and patriach had served under Mountbatten ( which sounded quite painful to me ) and still lived on the food he had eaten there.  The cooks prepared cold cuts with wonderful chutneys, Mulligatawny soup and a butter chicken dish which was as memorable for its alarming red colour as its taste.  Breakfast was a major thing and included eggs, Kedgeree, Kippers, Devilled kidneys etc etc.  The Kedgeree was the perfect thing for recovering from when the Gentlemen had left the room to drink lots of port and talk about "Inja" ( say it out loud in a crusty english accent )

There is a great cookbook called "Cooking for the Sahib"  which I will try and dig out.

S

p.s the Sweetings soup is sufficiently spicy.  Many varieties are to allowing for a softies fear of heat

[Suvir Saran]

We get around I see... weekends with aristocrats... Charmed life.

I love Khicharee and it is made quite often in my kitchen.. and in our home, we eat it with great reverence for the restorative property, and many an Indian friend of mine rave about the Khicharee I make.. I make it with spices and vegetables and little ghee.

For some reason, Mulligatawny and I do not get along.  But then again, I have not tasted Sweetings version.  I am ready for it.

Tell us more about Anglo Indian food.

[Jinmyo]

Well put, Simon.

The kedgeree that I make also contains red lentils and copious amounts of parsley. And I've had it with cod cheek and tongue rather than haddock.

[Suvir Saran]

Jinmyo your version sounds very nice.... where did you learn this version?  

Have you lived in India at all?

[Jinmyo]

No, but I'm originally English. I've lived around Europe and Nigeria because my father was in the diplomatic service, the U.S., and now Canada.

The cod cheek and tongue version comes from Newfoundland. All of the other versions also had lentils and parsley.

I always remember kedgeree as pretty common in England. We'd often have it as breakfast.

[Suvir Saran]

Jinmyo,

Do you cook other Indian or Indian inspired dishes?

What are they?

[anil]

How so?

.....Calcutta has the largest community of Anglo-Indians... ..............

And pray how did you arrive at that conclusion ??

AngloIndians settled in towns were there were large canntonements or railway colonies. In WB, that would be

Kharagpur. In Mumbai OfCourse because it was Mumbai   In the North, Shimla and DehraDun.

[Jinmyo]

Well, about 20 years ago, I knew a Tamil Sufi named Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. He was tiny, very old, had a bald head, a white beard, and very much reminded me of a spider monkey. He was a great cook and taught me biryani, pakoras, that kind of thing.

Most of the curries I do now are more Southeast Asian, with a great deal of fresh herbs, fish sauce, and so on than anything that could really be considered Indian.

[Suvir Saran]

Anil, I remembered reading M J Akbars biography on Nehru.  In that he had mentioned it.  And I have a friend in NYC, she is anglo Indian.  She claims the same to be true.

[anil]

Anil, I remembered reading M J Akbars biography on Nehru.  In that he had mentioned it.  And I have a friend in NYC, she is anglo Indian.  She claims the same to be true.

I only vaguely remember meeting MJ when he started editing a weekly out of Kolkatta, and  

I was between here and here -- I'm gonna let this (Anglo Indian) go because my data

is >20 yrs old  :confused:

[Suvir Saran]

Anil,

I think it makes sense to believe  that there could be a greater density of Anglo INdians left over from the Raj time in Calcutta as the tea gardens around there in the neighboring states were not affected much by the transition.  And actually, many of the managers and owners had homes in Calcutta..

I will not debate the distribution of Anglo Indian across India.  My own maternal grandmother has French blood.  And she was from what is now Pakistan.