Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: Our flavour savers
Still reaching for generic sauces? Here’s a restock with condiments from Japan, Italy, France, and artisanal finds that taste of home
Do you like condiments? Of course you do. All Indians are condiment lovers. From pickles to freshly ground chutneys, no Indian meal is complete without condiments. This is in sharp contrast to say, China, where there will often be no condiments on restaurant tables.
So, what are your favourite condiments? These are mine; the ones you will find in my kitchen. I am excluding pickles from this list because otherwise there will be no room for anything else!
Ketchup. Possibly the world’s favourite condiment. I don’t actually use ketchup much, but it’s the kind of sauce that everyone should have in their kitchen cupboards. Heinz has always been my default option, but I am now more and more impressed by the Veeba and Cremica ketchups.
Mustard. Most foodies are mustard snobs. I am not. I can see the point of fancy Dijon mustard. But frankly, I am happier with yellow English mustard, which is not only cheaper, but also tickles your nose as an added extra. Left to myself though, I would use Bengali kasundi on everything. I order mine from the artisan- and farmer-friendly store Amar Khamar in Kolkata, and they deliver it by courier along with my regular supplies of rice.
Podi. I am not sure that I should be including podi in a list that excludes pickles and chutneys, but I am going ahead anyway, because these are different varieties of podi. They are made at home by a podi-obsessive engineer who adds almonds, lemongrass and God alone knows what else to his formulations to make creative variations. The brand is called Burman’s Gun Podi and, while the traditional variety goes well with idlis, the jazzier versions will liven up dishes across cuisines.
Chilli Crisp. The chilli crisp became a rage in this decade because it added texture to the tang of chilli oil. You can buy many perfectly acceptable commercial versions, but I like Chilli Billy by Noshi, part of Varun Tuli’s Yum Yum Foods empire, because it’s different from the commercial versions. And for a chilli onion crisp, I fall back on Pickle Shickle a family-run operation in my neighbourhood, whose every condiment I keep stocked in my kitchen.
Chilli Sauce. I did a long piece here after visiting the Thai town of Sriracha, and sang the praises of the original artisanal, local Thai chilli sauce, and said how much better it was than the American sauce that stole its name. That is still my view, but the artisanal sauce is not exported to India and the Thai Sriracha brands available here are not very good. The American Huy Fong Sriracha is better. Or just use the Veeba Bhut Jolokia sauce for a nice but intense burn.
Soy Sauce. There are literally thousands of soya sauces in the world, and nearly all of them are unavailable in India. So, for our purposes, we need to focus on the only four kinds that you can buy easily in our shops or on the net. The first is regular light soya sauce; try to buy a Chinese or Japanese brand. The second, which we rarely use, is dark soya, which is sweeter and thicker and used mainly for cooking. Try to buy a Chinese brand. The third is a differently flavoured soya sauce for sushi. If you order delivery sushi then it’s worth ordering a bottle of the Kikkoman version of this sauce on the net. It may even be better than the delivery sushi itself.For years Indians used a bogus dark soya made in Kolkata. The manufacturers are not allowed to call it soya any longer, but because Indians want a soya that looks black without tasting like dark soya, Kikkoman makes a black soya sauce for the Indian market. It tastes more like normal light soya. If you do use soya at home, always buy a relatively expensive bottle of light soya. It’s worth the extra cost.
Noma products. I am something of a junkie when it comes to Noma condiments. Many years ago, Rene Redzepi gave me a bottle of mushroom garum, which adds an umami mushroom flavour to food, and I have kept buying more and more since then. The products are artisanal and vegetarian, but still manage to create a deep flavour that often echoes the umaminess of fish sauces. My current favourites are the Staff Chilli Sauce, which is irresistible and Cep Oil (Italians call ceps ‘porcini’ ) made with real ceps, which is what educated people use when the duffers are dousing themselves in synthetic truffle oil. I buy the products at Noma, but they are easily available on the net.
Mayonnaise. The mayonnaise revolution passed my kitchen by, but it made fortunes for Cremica and Veeba. Veeba’s Viraj Bahl has now created so many mayo-based products (his father invented eggless mayo and launched the boom, so that’s only to be expected) that rare is the mayo-free sandwich in middle-class India. I keep Japanese Kewpie mayo (more egg yolks than normal mayo) in the fridge for sandos, and it is the secret ingredient (Ha! Not any longer!) in my wife’s potato salad. Kewpie is available at shops in India and on the net.
Fish Sauce. Most non-vegetarian societies worked out, long ago, that if you added a fermented fish sauce to food, the sauce would impart an umami depth to the dish without necessarily adding fishiness. The ancient Romans had garum; modern Italians have colatura. Most Western kitchens will use preserved anchovies or anchovy paste without telling you. (What did you think Worcester sauce contains?) And without fish sauce, there would be no Thai or Vietnamese cuisine. I keep tubes of anchovy paste at home for Western dishes and spend lots of time in Bangkok looking for unusual Thai fish sauces. My wife is not much of a fish eater, but loves Thai fish sauce so much that she will chop chillies into a small bowl of the sauce — the Thais call this nam pla prik — and eat a plate of white rice with only nam pla prik as seasoning.
Olive Oil. Let’s be honest. Olive oil can be a scam and a racket. If you are buying supermarket olive oil, then only buy extra-virgin and be aware that the label may contain lies: Italy appears to export twice as much olive oil as it produces! But a good olive oil can elevate a dish. It’s expensive and you have to look hard to find it. I use an Italian olive oil marketed in India by Sanjay Menon’s Sonarys wine company. Many top Tuscan wine estates also make olive oil, which is how Sanjay gets the bottles.
Parmigiano. Does cheese count as a condiment? It does in my house, when it is grated on top of a dish to elevate the flavour. There is always medium-quality Parmigiano in my fridge for that purpose. (Good quality aged Parmigiano can be expensive and should be enjoyed on its own.) There have been hassles about importing Parmigiano in India recently, so try Grana Padano, a cousin, which is an acceptable substitute.
