There is no doubt that the traditional Chinese cuisine remains very popular among food buffs but, off late, chefs are trying to re-invent this cuisine with a hint of modernity. Deebashree Mohanty finds out what’s cooking
Gone are the days when you could only order chilli chicken and fried rice at a Chinese restaurant. Today’s menu includes choices under the Sichuan, Cantonese and also the Shandong specialities all the way from China. “The idea is to bring out all the different flavours of China through a festival that combines every aspect of Chinese cooking,” Ravitej Nath, executive chef of the Oberoi Hotels, tells you, adding that there is one such Chinese food promotion currently running at threesixtyone degrees, at their Gurgaon property. The festival is on till September 8.
Chef Nath says this unique festival is where Wokstars (featuring specialised chefs) from all over bring you authentic Chinese dishes that you may not have tried before.
Many purists at the Chinese Master Chefs Symposium, 2013, argued that Chinese food should not be tampered with, there were other chefs who feel that they were moving in the direction of modernising Chinese cuisine only to raise the level of taste and variety. In that sense, even chef Nath agrees that change with caution is most welcome.
“Classic dishes should not be meddled with at all but whenever there is a little way in which we can make Indians savour unknown flavours from China, we go all out. For instance, the authentic way of preparing the Peking Duck may not appeal to the Indian palette, so we tweak that a little,” he says.
Although the intricacies of Chinese cooking and the flavours used are known to many but it is through such promotions that hoteliers aim at giving their customers a holistic experience.
The aim is to get rid of a stereotype that Chinese food is only about Sichuan spices and Cantonese seafood. like India, the flavours and the methods of cooking changes as you go from one province of China to the other. Not many would know that in the Shandong cuisine, for example, the meats are not stir fried but stewed!
“Chef Tang from the Gurgaon branch is all set with his array of specialities under this area’s cuisine,” Nath tells you. So, the next time you have Chinese on your mind, don’t just stop at known varieties. “If you are a real Chinese fan, you should try having Sichuan, Cantonese and Shandong on separate days to get the feel of each of the varied flavours,” Tang insists.