| Beyond Beer and Riesling – A practical guide to pairing Wine with Indian food. | | | | By: Rinku Bhattacharya |  Page 1 of 3 next >> |
Wine is new and happening in India at the moment, but Indian food and Wines have individually been as old as civilization. Since wine has not been popular in the sub-continent until the past two decades there have been no established traditions regarding pairing Indian food and wine. Indian food is very complex, so it gets rather difficult to put the wine suggestions on an index-card; hence people have stayed away from evaluating the possibilities.
I start writing this with a lot of trepidation, a voice inside me keeps saying, “Don’t go there.” The reason being that it really is difficult to give blanket rules to such an extensive cuisine, but then I keep bumping into that proverbial Riesling and think we need to broaden the bottle. The Rieslings have been a popular staple for a lot of folks thinking of a good wine for Indian food, simply because they are light and still retain personality and the sweeter varieties do make a great match for some Indian food, but we should never limit the possibilities. Beer also has been a good alcoholic option largely because India has produced good beer for a very long time.
Everything related to Indian food has a lot of rules related to spices and how to combine them, so it is fair that we lay some ground rules about combining the wines that we drink with the food.
Some basic ground rules,
1. Think about the base –since Indian food has complex flavors, it is important to consider the main flavors spicing the dish and well as the body (fish, meat, etc).
2. Think about the base and body – Different combinations have slightly different results, i.e., fish in a tomato base is different from chicken in a tomato base.
3. Think about base, body and harmony – Combining the spices, the ingredients and the wine should be like a good marriage or relationship where each participant holds their own, add to the other but does not overpower, overshadow and overwhelm.
4. Think about visual harmony – We eat as much with our eyes and we do with our stomachs. Something that is beautiful to look at tastes better than if it was not aesthetic.
5. Keep it Simple: The food has a lot of complexity in terms of various flavors so we do not need the wine to do a lot of the work, clear, crisp softer flavors are good.
And finally as with any food and wine pairings.
6. Rules are made to be broken: Finally, my cardinal rule on anything, if you think it’s working then it does. Tastes and preferences always different so you are the ruler of your palate and should decide what really works for you. I discover new possibilities everyday.
Moving on to some more concrete suggestions, it is important to do a little categorization of Indian spice bases and what can compliment these bases. As a very board overview I like to think of classic whites and new world reds as good pairings with Indian food.
Indian foods can be broadly grouped into sauce based curries (Stews) and drier dishes.
Most often people think of the spice blend when thinking of curry, but actually, in the strictest sense of the term in Indian food verbiage the term curry is a well-spiced stew with a sauce it can be vegetarian or non-vegetarian.
The three common curry bases and some wine suggestions that are good pairings for these bases are as follows,
The Creamy curry: Names such as korma, tikka masala, moghlai, all classic American favorites fall into this category. The creaminess in the curry is usually from a base of cream or coconut milk. There are subtle taste differences between the two mediums the coconut milk add sweetness and is a little lighter in composition, while cream is smoother. The creamy curries are gentler with their use of spices. The gentleness is more reflective of the style and choice of spicing as opposed to the quantity and heat.
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