“Indian food is a luxury on tour.” –Mahesh Bhupathi
At present, Indian foods do not only exist in India itself or its neighboring countries. The Indian Cuisine had become widespread and it can be found in almost any country. It had spread far and wide around the world influencing many dishes, creating a fusion of culture and flavor. But nothing beats the traditional flavor of Indian cuisines. Why so? What makes Indian cuisines different from others?
Researchers have shown that there is a scientific explanation as to why Indian cuisines are deliciously unique. Each recipe consists of at least seven ingredients of various flavors that explode in your mouth. The spices, in no question, add additional flavor and impact to the final product plus the traditional cooking technique matters too.
The interactive chart mad by Scientific Americans in 2013 will help you in determining which ingredients go well together. Western cooking creates an overlapping flavor similar Asian cooking that focuses more on harmonizing flavors. But with Indian dishes, it’s more creative going with ingredients that don’t overlap at all such as ingredients that have a totally different taste spectrum from one another.
What makes it work together? Apparently, each ingredient has its own flavor and the chemicals inside mix well together at the molecular level giving the dish a distinct taste. As it turns out, when two ingredients have overlapping flavor, you are less likely to find both in an Indian dish. Adding the spices on top of it all creates a whole new world of flavor that only exists in Indian cuisine.
So what makes Indian cuisine different from the rest? It all lies in the pairing of ingredients. They don’t just settle for what clicks well together, instead, it goes beyond the usual pairing logic. Hence the next time you get bored of the usual dishes try the traditional fusion of flavors of the Indian cuisine, try experimenting with ingredients. Who knows what dish you’ll invent?