Chinese Food Items That Only Indians Might Have Heard Of

India and China are neighboring nations with a rich history and many instances of interaction. So it’s no surprise that these countries might have influenced each other’s food as well. It’s not hard to find an Indian takeout restaurant in Franklin Park with Indo-Chinese dishes.

Indian-Chinese cuisine is comparatively recent, dating just one or two centuries back when a small community from the Hakka region migrated to Kolkata in search of better prospects. It’s known by several names including Indian Chinese, Desi Chinese and Sino-Indian cuisine.

The food they prepared has evolved a lot since then and has gained popularity among Indian communities. Many of these dishes are completely different from what’s served in traditional Chinese restaurants or completely unheard of. So don’t be surprised if you get confused looks when asking for one of these dishes at a traditional Chinese restaurant.

Chili Chicken

The soya sauce marinade is probably the most Chinese element in chili chicken. The rest of it carries many elements from Indian cuisine. Chili chicken consists of boneless chicken chunks coated with a paste made from hot chili, garlic, ginger and other spices. It’s usually sauteed with onions and green chilies and can be served dry or with gravy.

Vegetarian variants of the Sino-Indian food include chili paneer (Indian cottage cheese), chili gobi (cauliflower) and chili potato.

Manchow Soup

The name immediately makes you think of Manchuria but the soup has nothing to do with the region. Its true origins come from Meghalaya, a Northeastern state of India. The dark brown soup is prepared using various veggies, scallions and chicken. It’s thickened with broth and cornflour. Soy sauce, salt, garlic, chili pepper and garlic are added into the mix.

You can usually find the veg version of the soup as well. It may be garnished with chopped spring onions and is usually served with crispy fried noodles.

Chicken Manchurian

This is a more recent invention even by the standards of Desi Chinese food. Nelson Wang of China Garden came up with the dish while experimenting with quintessential Indian ingredients (garlic, chili and ginger) and soy sauce. 

It has become a popular dish that must be tried at least once. Like chicken, there are many variants of Manchurian including mutton, fish, paneer and gobi.

Schezwan Sauce

It’s easy to link the Szechuan sauce with Szechuan cuisine. But The sauce was actually first prepared in Kolkata, India. This flavorful and super spicy red sauce is prepared by blending Szechuan pepper with garlic, ginger and red chili. It can be added to a wide variety of dishes including rice, noodles and soup.

Chicken Lollipop

Chicken lollipops are popular starters that aren’t as Chinese as many believe them to be. As the name suggests, they are chicken pieces shaped like lollipops. They consist of frenched chicken winglets, with the meat cut from the bone end and pushed down. The winglets are coated in a red spicy batter made using red chili powder and turmeric.

The chicken is deep-fried or baked while the exposed bone portion is usually covered with aluminum foil.

Darsaan

Darsaan seems to be synonymous with Chinese dessert in many Sino-Indian restaurants. It consists of flat egg noodles, cut into smaller strips and deep-fried. It’s coated with a generous amount of honey and sesame seeds before being served with ice cream.

Chowmein

The Indian version of chowmein is different from what’s served in China. In China, chow mein or chow mein is boiled and topped with greens, soya sauce and scrambled eggs. In India, chowmein is pan-fried with a spicy sauce mixed in.

Spring Roll

In China, particularly the Cantonese region, spring rolls are dumplings prepared to welcome the season of spring. In India, they are deep-fried until they turn golden and served as party snacks.

These are just some of the most well-known dishes that many consider Chinese but are actually Indian in origin or highly Indianized from the original Chinese version. Many of them continue to see many variations as chefs continue to try new recipes.