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Frozen Indian-Chinese food, at a Patel Brothers near you!
By Jennifer 8. Lee | October 3, 2007
I went shopping at Patel Brothers in Jackson Heights with my friend Roopa the other day, and saw these frozen Indian-Chinese dishes to go! (sorry for the poor photo quality, I took it with my Treo and the lighting in the freezers was bad).
Hakka noodles is to Indian-Chinese food what lo mein is to American-Chinese food.
Veg Manchurian is like their version of “General Tso.” I actually met the chef, Nelson Wang, who created the Manchurian dishes in Mumbai!
This is Paneer Chili (spicy cheesetofu). Note the Chinese man with the fu man chu mustache and the peasant farm hat.
So of the cultures that absolutely adore Chinese food, the Indians (along with the Koreans and Peruvians) are near the top of the list. Indian-Chinese food is more spicy. And it has more of a Hakka (“Guest people”) influence as the majority of the Chinese that went over to India were Hakka.
Chinese food is such a big deal in India that it’s risen to be part of their national food dichotomy: Northern vs. Southern, Veg vs. Non-Veg (why they say “non-veg” instad of “meat” is a mystery to me), and Indian vs. Chinese. Chinese food is so popular that top Indian restaurants will have like two pages of their menu devoted to Chinese food.
If you want to try Indian Chinese food in New York City, you can try Chinese Mirch at East 28th and Lexington. In the Chicago area, I recommend Hot Wok Village.
One of the most popular Indian-Chinese dishes? American chop suey.
Topics: Chinese Food, Chop Suey | No Comments »
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