Italian-Indian Fusion Spaghetti

By
Karam Bharij
– March 28, 2010Posted in: Columns & Recipes

Contributed by Karam Bharij

Prawns cooking in sauce I was a reluctant migrant to Italian cuisine. My first encounter with Spaghetti Bolognese was disappointing and frustrating.  Wrapping spaghetti around the fork was time consuming and I like to shovel food with a fork and knife or a spoon. I had no time for pastas too.

So I stayed away from Italian cuisine.

A few years ago, I wrote to a friend of mine who works in Italy and asked him to find me cheap local accommodation. He replied, “I am going to the States for five weeks – You can have my house on the condition you water my garden and look after my dog.”. He lived in a village called, Arricia about an hours train ride from Rome and his house was in a small alley with lots of Italian neighbours. He had left the house keys with one of his neighbours whose 12 year old son spoke English and became my interpreter.

Ed: Global migratory trends must be really skewed these days if Karam has to mention that a friend in Italy had Italian neighbours!

My friend’s garden had big vegetable plots with large, funny shaped, Mediterranean tomatoes, melons, aubergines and three fig trees. To my horror, I soon learnt Italy has shortage of water in the summer. I had to therefore wake up at four in the morning to water the garden and fill jerry cans later. By 9am all the taps were dry!

Dog sitting was not a problem as my friend’s Doberman, was unbelievably docile. I renamed him Ferocious as I could not pronounce his Italian name. Ferocious was a great companion and knew all the villagers especially the farmers who made wine, which became evident when I would take an empty five litre plastic bottle for them to fill up. Purchase was a lengthy business as it involved sitting with the farmer and drinking copious amounts of wine after which I would stagger back to my house with Ferocious who was the worse for wear – he loved wine!

The neighbours invited me over for my first evening meal and thereafter there was always an invitation outstanding. They made Porchetta the traditional boneless, roasted pig made from a centuries old recipe. The villagers made their own red/white wines and Chianti was cheap. During my five weeks stay, I tried all types of Italian dishes including desserts, home made biscuits and cakes.

Italians, I realised place great emphasis on a clean table cloth and laying the table is quite a ritual. They all knew about India, after all an Italian daughter was married to Indian prime minister. As was to be expected, I soon faced enquiries about Indian food. Using my essential travel accessory, an Indian round, tin spice box I cooked Indian food for the villagers. This was also my first attempt at bastardising Italian food with Indian ingredients. Hence accidentally, my experiments resulted in spawning Italian fusion cuisine in my household.

I am going to share my Italian fusion dishes. My intention was to make Prawn Bolognese with Spaghetti. However, I had boiled too much spaghetti and therefore had to make two extra dishes.

Prawn Bolognese with Spaghetti

Ingredients:

  • Wholemeal spaghetti
  • 4 Large ripe tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp sun dried tomato puree
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 2 tbsp of grated ginger
  • ½ tsp Marjoram
  • ½ tsp oregano
  • ½ tsp fresh basil puréed
  • ¼ tsp Thyme
  • 2   tbsp of extra virgin Olive
  • I kilo prawns shelled, de-veined and washed
  • Indian Spices
    • 1 tsp Turmeric
    • ½ tsp red chillies
    • 1 tsp coriander powder
    • 1 tsp cumin powder
    • ½ tsp Garam Massala
    • Coriander leaves to garnish.

Method:

  1. Put spaghetti on the boil – flick one strand on the wall – if it sticks – its ready!
  2. Lightly shallow fry prawns ensuring these are not over cooked and remove from pan.
  3. Liquidise all ingredient together
  4. Add two tablespoons of olive oil to the pan to heat
  5. Add liquidised sauce and cook
  6. Add cooked prawns and simmer.
  7. Garnish with coriander
  8. Serve on bed of Spaghetti.

Using left over Spaghetti
Singapore fried noodles style Spaghetti Prawn Bolognese
Method:

  1. Heat one table spoon of olive oil in pan
  2. Add spaghetti and stir fry until crispy
  3. Add cooked prawn Bolognese and stir fry

Singapore fried noodles style Tandoori chicken with Bolognese sauce

  1. Heat one table spoon of olive oil in pan
  2. Add spaghetti and stir fry until crispy
  3. Add shredded Tandoori chicken pieces
  4. Add Bolognese sauce and stir fry.

- Karam

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Be Sociable, Share!
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    About Karam Bharij

    a lecturer, freelance photo-journalist afflicted with the travel bug, sampler of fine wines and an avid cook of Kenyan, Indian, Chinese, Greek and French cuisines particularly fusion recipes. He has travelled extensively in Tunisia, the Far East, Europe, Turkey and the Greek Islands in the Aegean and Iona sea. All his travels are off the tourist beats to savour different cultures and foods. He's even crossed the desert with a Bedouin caravan a few years ago living on a rustic diet of Harrissa (ground red chillies with garlic), tomatoes and flat breads.