印式中餐在印度这么流行？他们把印式中餐带到国外了

这片文章是一位印度人写的对印式中餐的看法。虽然看文章描述挺没食欲，但看到文章最后，作者写道印度华人现在已经把印式中餐带到全球各地，国外党要吃到正宗中餐恐怕更难了（笑哭）

How Indian Chinese Food Became India's Favorite Cuisine印式中餐是怎么成为印度最受欢迎菜式的？

Three months ago, I moved back to my hometown, Kolkata, looking forward to spending time with my grandma and practicing my Bangla. But mostly, I was excited for the food. I had been craving gobi manchurian (spicy and tangy fried cauliflower) and hot and sour soup, two of my favorite dishes.

三个月前，为了多陪陪祖母、并练习孟加拉语，我搬回了故乡加尔各答。但其实我更多是为了食物而激动，我迫不及待想吃到“满洲戈壁菜”（咸辣口味的炒西蓝花）和酸辣汤这两道我最爱的菜了。

Kolkata is the birthplace of Indian Chinese food, which traces back to Hakka Chinese traders who settled in the city in the late 1700s, when it was the capital of the British empire in India. At that time, Chinese immigrants were largely silk traders, dentists, carpenters, and leather tannery owners, and started cooking their food using local ingredients. After selling street food, they opened Indian Chinese restaurants in Tiretta Bazaar and Tangra, the two Chinatowns in Kolkata.

加尔各答是印式中餐的起源地，最早可以追溯到18世纪晚期来这里定居的中国客家贸易商。当时加尔各答是英属印度的首都，来这里的中国移民主要从事丝绸贸易、牙医、木工和制皮等生意，并开始利用印度当地原材料烹制他们的食物。他们先从街边小摊做起，之后在迪雷塔集市和坦格拉这两处加尔各答市内的唐人街里开起了印式中餐馆。

The cuisine is an Indian interpretation of Chinese food, which combines the deep-fried, spicy flavors Indians love with a Chinese twist, through ingredients like soy sauce and vinegar. Indian Chinese food has its own distinct flavors like Schezwan sauce (the Indian spelling of Sichuan), which uses dry red chiles (spelled "chillies" in India) as a substitute for Sichuan peppercorns. There's also Manchurian-style cooking, where meat and vegetables are battered and fried in a spicy soy-based sauce with classic Indian ingredients like garlic, ginger, and green chiles.

印式中餐是用印度方式解读中国食物，将印度人喜爱的煎炒烹饪方式和辣味结合起来，并通过酱油、醋等材料增加了一丝中国风味。印式中餐有其独特的口味，例如印式“四川酱”就用了干红椒代替四川花椒。此外，还有满族风格的烹饪方式，例如将肉类和蔬菜裹上面糊后加上以辣椒和酱油翻炒，并加入印度常用的姜、蒜和青椒调味。

Indian Chinese food has become popular all over India, especially in Mumbai, but its roots have always been in Kolkata. It’s a huge part of the culture here, so much so that many Indians believe that the food is authentically Chinese. “I get confused about which ingredients are Chinese versus Indian,” admits Freddy Liao, who runs the restaurant Golden Joy in Tangra with his family.

印式中餐在整个印度，尤其是孟买，都非常流行，但它的根永远在加尔各答。印式中餐已经成为加尔各答本地文化的重要部分，甚至很多印度人都认为这里的中餐就是正宗中餐了。在坦格拉唐人街和家人一起开了一家名为“金欢喜”餐馆的廖先生就说：“我现在已经分不清楚哪些食材是中国的，哪些是印度的了。”

Although there are restaurants which serve traditional Chinese dishes, they’re not common. “We have a mixture of Indian Chinese and we have authentic Chinese too, like steamed fish and roast duck,” says Liao. “A lot of people who have visited China understand what the food is like, and sometimes come to Golden Joy to look for authentic food.” But most visitors are caught off guard when they taste traditional Chinese food for the first time. My grandma loves to tell the story of how we went to Beijing and she was shocked to taste the chicken and noodles, after being used to their spicier versions in Kolkata.

虽然也有一些餐馆提供传统中国菜肴，但并不常见。廖先生说：“我们餐馆既提供印式中餐，也供应蒸鱼、烤鸭等正宗中餐。很多去过中国的印度人知道真正的中餐是什么样的，所以有时候会来金欢喜品尝正宗中餐。”不过大部分游客第一次品尝正宗中餐是还是有点措不及防的。我的祖母就很喜欢讲我们去北京第一次吃到当地的鸡肉和面条时被震惊到的故事，因为她已经习惯了加尔各答印式中餐更辣的口味了。

It’s fascinating to see the subtle ways in which Indian Chinese food has become a part of local culture. Chinese noodles are generally referred to as chow here, because of the popularity of chow mein, and many cafés have at least four cuisines on their menu (usually Chinese, Indian, Italian, and Thai). At the supermarket, there are Manchow soup packets and hakka noodle spice mixes beside the saunf and saffron.

印式中餐逐渐渗入、并成为了当地文化的一部分，这看起来还挺奇妙的。因为炒面太流行了，当地人直接把中式面条简称为“炒”。很多咖啡馆的菜单上有最少四种菜式（通常是中餐、印餐、意餐和泰餐），而在超市里，你可以看到藏红花旁边摆着的是“满洲汤”和“客家辣面条”。

四川炒虾仁在印式中餐里很受欢迎

Whenever I visit Kolkata, I’m always delighted to see how the food keeps evolving. “Every year, chefs keep coming up with creative new items, like golden fried prawns,” says Liao. “Sometimes, Chinese chefs create them, but it’s also Indian chefs.” Although the cuisine came from the Chinese community, Indians also own many of the fusion restaurants, leading to popular menu items like Schezwan dosa. Some of the newest inventions include honey-coated wontons, which taste like darsaan (deep-fried Indian Chinese honey noodles) and are filled with chicken. There’s also Bombay chili chicken from Golden Joy, which is full of masala. Green chile, garlic, garam masala, ginger, and soy sauce remain the baselines for the distinctive yet familiar flavors.

每次我回到加尔各答时，都能开心地看到这里的食物还在不断变化。廖先生说：“厨师们每年都会想到新的菜式，例如黄金炸虾。这些新菜式有时候是中国厨师发明的，有时候是印度厨师发明的。”虽然印式中餐是由源自当地华人群体，但也有很多印度人开了融合菜式的餐馆，并发明了诸如“四川多萨饼”（译者注：多萨饼是印度面食）等菜品。最新发明的菜品还包括裹着蜂蜜的云吞，口感吃起来就像印式甜味中华炒面里裹着鸡肉馅儿。金欢喜餐馆还提供“孟买辣鸡”，使用了大量的马萨拉酱、青椒、大蒜、辣咖喱，最后加酱油给这道菜带来了一丝别样又熟悉的风味。

Despite the popularity of Indian Chinese food and the Chinese community's roots in India, there is still prejudice, including politicians who have suggested boycotting Chinese food in the country. “We have four generations over here,” says Liao. “We are Indian. I don’t even hold a Chinese passport. I hold an Indian passport.”

虽然当地华人群体已经扎根于印度、并且印式中餐也风靡全国，但他们还是会面临其实，其中就包括一些政客呼吁抵制中国食物。廖先生说：“我们在这里已经生活了四代了，我们是印度人。我持有的不是中国护照，而是印度护照。”

Over the years, as members of Kolkata’s Chinese community have moved abroad, they’ve taken the traditions of Indian Chinese food with them. Inchin’s Bamboo Garden has become the largest chain in the U.S., with 25 locations from Atlanta to Seattle. You can also find lots of restaurants in the Northeast—New Jersey is home to a large concentration of Indian Chinese restaurants in Edison and Iselin, and New York City has Spice Symphony and Tangra Masala. The cuisine has also spread to Singapore and the U.K, with well-known restaurants like Hakkaland.

在过去数年来，一些加尔各答的华人群体逐渐移居国外，也将印式中餐带了出去。例如美国的大型连锁印式中餐馆“竹园”就在亚特兰大和西雅图等25个城市开店。在美国东北地区还能找到很多类似的餐馆，例如在新泽西的艾迪森和伊瑟林去就有很多印式中餐馆，纽约也有“辣味交响曲”和“坦格拉马萨拉”等餐馆。甚至在新加坡和英国都有“客家”等知名印式中餐馆。

As the cuisine has moved around the world, it’s reinvented itself in every location. At Spice N Ice restaurant in England, a dish named Hakka Chong Yee combines Bengali sea fish with the Cantonese flavors of ginger, wine, chile garlic, and black bean sauce. The flavors may differ around the world, but wherever you eat them, they still taste familiar—and always transport me right back to India.

随着这种菜式走向世界，它也不断在各地进行创新。例如英国的“辣又冰”餐馆出品的“客家蒸鱼”就把孟加拉海域和广东口味的姜、料酒、蒜和豉汁结合。虽然味道在各地有所不同，但每次吃到的时候都觉得熟悉，仿佛总能立刻把我带回印度。