‘Indian sushi’ made with butter chicken, cottage cheese, lentils, biryani and more is trending. Are these fusion dishes ‘genius’ or an ‘insult’?
- As sushi surges in popularity in India, chefs’ Indian-influenced takes on it are being served across the country. Instagram videos of fusion versions go viral
- Pakora and masala sushi are just two of the reinventions. While some welcome such dishes, others think they are disrespectful to Japanese and Indian cuisine
When Indian Instagrammer Anushree Bhutada posted a video of dal chawal sushi – a dish she created combining the Indian staple of dal chawal (lentil rice) with a Japanese makizushi roll – on the social media platform in early July, little did she know that it would get over 1.4 million views.
In the video, she can be seen moulding sushi rice with a filling of vegetables, paneer (Indian cottage cheese) and spices before serving it on a bed of dal.
“I recreated the OG comfort food – dal and rice – and turned it into sushi! I know it’s not conventional, but I loved this little creative challenge for myself, and the cherry on top? Got mumma’s approval! Everything – sweetness, spice, and sourness – tasted really good, almost like a hug,” Bhutada wrote as the video’s caption.
Her experiment got lots of comments from viewers. While some thought the invention was an “insult” to Indian and Japanese food, others called it “exciting” and “genius”.
Such strong reactions can perhaps be attributed to the growing interest in the Japanese dish across India.
A recent survey by Indian online food delivery platform Swiggy revealed that sushi orders have increased by nearly 50 per cent across the country since January 2019, with demand growing even in smaller cities.
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Dishes like asparagus tempura sushi, crispy chicken sushi and prawn tempura sushi were among the most ordered dishes on the platform.
Chefs say that India’s interest in sushi has been influenced by the growing number of Japanese restaurants and sushi bars across the country.
“While a decade ago, only a handful of speciality restaurants – mostly located in five-star hotels – catered to a largely expat Japanese crowd, today stand-alone Japanese restaurants are increasingly common in megacities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and [Bangalore],” says Sandeep Kalra, the culinary director at Novotel and Pullman Hotels in New Delhi.
The chef says there are two types of sushi fan in India – the experimental ones after new flavours, and diners who prefer the traditional dishes.
At Honk, a pan-Asian fine-dining restaurant in the Pullman New Delhi Aerocity hotel, the sushi counter offers over a dozen types of sushi. The menu is constantly evolving to “keep things fresh and exciting”, Kalra says.
Sushi with an Indian touch is now being served across the country. Think spicy curry sushi, achari (spicy) paneer sushi, pakora (Indian fritters) sushi. Even iterations suitable for the vegetarian Jain community are available.
Elsewhere, the Indian twist normally comes by way of spicy mayonnaise or chaat masala replacing traditional condiments like wasabi and soy sauce.
Biryani sushi rolls even made an appearance on Masterchef India.
Sushi fans also recall how famous chefs like the late Tarla Dalal made items such as dhokla sushi, in which the rice is replaced with layers of dhokla – a steamed savoury sponge cake made with fermented lentil batter that is popular in the Indian state of Gujarat.
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Today, modern chefs are successfully experimenting with sushi cakes.
The Let’s Maki sushi chain’s sushi cakes are so popular that it expanded beyond Kolkata, where it was founded, and now has outlets in various Indian cities.
The chain’s repertoire includes tofu truffle oil sushi cake, which is popular among those looking for an unconventional birthday cake, according to a brand spokesperson.
Apart from the pursuit of something new, the paucity of authentic Japanese ingredients – like short grain sushi rice – in India is a factor driving Indian restaurants to make desi (localised) sushi, according to kitchen managers.
The Japanese ingredients aren’t readily available either because of import restrictions or because they cost too much.
Sushi is considered a trendy dish which diners feel gives them bragging rights on social media
But how much reinvention is too much? While some purists find riffing on a dish tantamount to disrespecting the original, other diners are more forgiving.
Ankur Gulati, executive chef at The Claridges hotel in New Delhi, says there’s no harm in reinventing dishes because “that’s how all great cuisines evolve”.
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Having travelled from the Middle East to India, it morphed into a chunkier version and was filled with peas, minced meat and even noodles.
Similar reinventions are present in Chinese food, the chef adds, with some dishes completely different to those from which they evolved.
“Indo-Chinese cuisine tastes nothing like authentic Chinese, but Indians love it when flavours are amplified with masalas and local ingredients,” Gulati says.
“Such is the popularity of desi Chinese dishes that it has even given rise to a new genre of cuisine called Chinjabi, a portmanteau of Indian Punjabi and Chinese, whose demand has gone through the roof across five-star hotels and street food joints.”
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Social media, and content creators like Bhutada, will continue to fuel demand for sushi in the future, according to chefs.
“Also, sushi is considered a trendy dish which diners feel gives them bragging rights on social media. They post about the ones they’ve savoured at fancy restaurants.”
Increasingly peripatetic lifestyles, revenge travel and a heightened cultural awareness are only adding to sushi’s popularity.
