Celebrities recount how vegetables that were once considered exotic to the Indian palate, are now an important part of Indian cooking

Fusion food

Celebrities recount how vegetables that were once considered exotic to the Indian palate, are now an important part of Indian cooking

For those who grew up during the George Bush years, broccoli jokes about the American President abounded in the international press but mystified most Indians who couldn't understand what the taste of broccoli was like. And while many Indians in their home country substituted capsicum for bell peppers in exotic recipes, they also wondered what the real McCoy was like. Around this time, the economic liberalisation changed all that and today urban Indians have access to produce from the world's markets in a culinary sense as well. Says food savant and author Rashmi Uday Singh, "It was several different factors coming together that have lead to the rise of foodie-ism in this country. The coming of the Internet, mobile phones, the rise of working women as a whole and a resultant disposable income in the family resulted in more global exposure. As a result, different kinds of cuisines made inroads in our routine eating." Vegetables that were once considered a part of foreign cooking — such as broccoli, baby corn, exotic mushrooms, bell peppers, Chinese cabbage and snow peas — are not only readily available in the market but are being incorporated in the contemporary housewife's culinary vocabulary. Says Zeba Kohli, businesswoman, "I make Paneer Broccoli for my children with some onions and tomatoes thrown in. They also love my version of Tandoori Broccoli or the Murg Musallam that I make with that vegetable. As for bell peppers, I use them in all my tandoori dishes." She adds that while she has mushrooms for Kheema, she is yet to try out Chinese cabbage for Indian recipes. Rashmi Uday Singh on the other hand votes for snow peas which she stir fries with a little ajwain. "They're tender and they're flat and are meant to be eaten whole — with the pod that encases them as well." She points out that the exotic Chinese shitaki mushrooms and Japanese enoki variety which were once difficult to come by in this country are now available as well. "While button mushrooms have been very much a part of the Indian culinary landscape it's super to find these new options opening up a whole range of food possibilities." Chef Hemant Oberoi, head chef of a chain of luxury hotels in the country, says, "If vegetables that were once considered exotic are available in the market today, it's primarily because there's a demand for them." He points out that most of these vegetables are now in many cases grown indigenously, unlike a few decades back when they were mostly imported. Hemant, for the last several years, has been using ethnic Indian vegetables in foreign cuisines.