THE RISE OF INDIAN JAPANESE FOOD

Left: The chef Hussain Shahzad’s thayir sadam (curd rice) with shiso tempura at Papa’s in Mumbai, (.Courtesy of Papa’s).
Right: The chef Adwait Anantwar’s Japanese bhel and lobster rasam chawanmushi at Inja in New Delhi.(Ananth Kumar)

In the 19th century, Indian curry powder arrived in Japan via colonial British traders, eventually giving rise to kare raisu (“curry rice”), now a Japanese staple.

These days, that exchange of ingredients is heading in the opposite direction, as chefs across India adopt miso, ponzu and dashi.

The trend can be traced to 2023, when the chef Adwait Anantwar, now 36, opened Inja in New Delhi, billing it as the “world’s first Indian Japanese” restaurant and serving fusion dishes like chawanmushi (steamed Japanese egg custard) with spicy rasam masala lobster and bhel (an Indian street snack made from puffed rice) with wakame, shiso and ginger.

This past winter saw the opening of Yokocho in Kolkata, where Auroni Mookerjee’s menu includes grilled fish with Japanese shio pan (salt bread) and dashi beurre blanc, alongside miso soup with Bengali pickles.

“Noodles, soy sauce and umami flavors” aren’t totally foreign to his city, says Mookerjee, 38, pointing to the popularity of Indian Chinese cuisine, which has evolved across India since Chinese immigrants began arriving in Kolkata in the 18th century.

Farther south in Bengaluru, the chef Kavan Kuttappa, 39, focuses on ramen at Naru Noodle Bar and serves udon at Bar Doubble, as well as dishes like chicken wings stuffed with fried rice and coated in tempura batter.

“Japanese ingredients are so flexible they can be applied to any cuisine,” he says. Japanese touches are also appearing at places known for global cuisine, like the shiso tempura that accompanies the curd rice (a staple dish of rice and yogurt) at Papa’s, a popular 12-seat chef’s counter in Mumbai.

The crisp leaves “recreate the texture of a papadum in a delicate way,” says the restaurant’s chef, Hussain Shahzad, 39, “while adding a fresh, herbaceous lift to the richness of the curd.”

— Author: Aatish Nath, The New York Times