Comparative analysis and contrasting perspectives

¶ … cuisines of the world are being fused together in many restaurants, sometimes obscuring the simplicity of country cooking. However, the purity of national and regional cuisines can be expressed through the core dishes of each region. For example, Asian food is incredibly diverse. Indian food is being fused with many other cuisines and so is Chinese food but both Indian and Chinese food retain an essential character that distinguishes them from each other and from other world-class cuisines. Indian food is usually creamy in texture. Vegetables are cooked for long periods of time and only on rare occasion are served crunchy or raw. On the other hand, Chinese food features crisp vegetables and only rarely pulverizes them to the extent that they are in Indian cuisine. Both Indian and Chinese cuisine use meats sparingly, and in fact both countries have a strong vegetarian component. However, Indian food remains one of the most vegetarian friendly cuisines of the world whereas it may be hard to be a pure vegetarian in a Chinese restaurant. Finally, both Indian and Chinese foods emphasize spices and sometimes hot chilies. Indian and Chinese food share a lot in common but their overall presentation, texture, ingredients, and flavors are vastly different.

One of the key differences between Indian and Chinese food is the ingredients used to prepare them. In Indian cuisine, ghee is one of the most common fats used to prepare food and dress already prepared foods. Clarified butter, ghee is not used in most Chinese cooking. Instead, Chinese cooking generally relies on peanut oil or on other vegetable oils. Some Indian chefs use vegetable oils in addition to ghee but ghee remains central to Indian cooking for texture and authentic flavor. However, both Chinese and Indian food use both sugar and salt as fundamental seasonings used to balance the flavors in each dish.

Another difference between Indian and Chinese food is spicing. Both rely on local spices and chilies to enhance the flavor of the cuisine. Regional differences determine which spices are used and in which dishes. However, the types of spices used in India and China are different even though the two countries are so close together. The main spices used in Indian food include cumin, coriander, mustard seed, curry leaf, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, and green chilies. Garlic, ginger, peppercorn, and onion are ubiquitous in both Chinese and Indian cuisines. In Chinese food, though, star anise is used whereas cumin and coriander are more rare. Chinese food tends to use fewer spices in each dish than Indian food, which usually demands a complex array of spices mixed together in what is called a masala.

Both Indian and Chinese food are served with steamed or prepared rice. Plain white rice is the most common, but the type of rice used differs. Indian rice is often dryer and longer-grained than Chinese rice, which tends to be more glutinous and shorter-grained. Basmati is a special Indian rice grown in the northern regions of the country. Chinese fried rice has no real counterpart in Indian cuisine except in the Muslim dish called biriyani. Regardless, rice is a central feature to both Indian and Chinese meals and the differences between them are relatively superficial.

Indian food offers a wider variety of breads than Chinese food does. Chinese breads are relatively limited and include some tortilla-like breads like those used in Cantonses dishes and also some fried breads too like the "doughnuts" that are dunked into the rice porridge called congee. Indian breads are more varied than Chinese ones in general and include some tortilla-like ones called chapati, oven-baked breads like naan, and also some pan-fried breads like paratha.

Indian food incorporates vegetables, especially in vegetarian Hindu cuisine. However, the range of vegetables are limited and most of them are well-cooked often until they are creamy. Broccoli is all but absent in Indian food whereas it is a relatively common green used in Chinese cooking. Both Chinese and Indian foods incorporate eggplant and leafy greens like spinach as well as carrots. Chinese food offers a wider range of vegetables and prepares them more delicately so that they retain their vivid color and crunch. In non-vegetarian Indian food as well as in Chinese food, meats are cut up in small or bite-sized pieces and integrated into a larger dish. While pork and beef are rare in India because of the sizable Muslim and Hindu populations there, those meats are quite common in China but are rarely served as steaks. Indian and Chinese cuisines both feature a wide range of textures within the same meal, with some wet saucy dishes and also some dryer dishes.