THE DESI FUSION

Are you ready for the sparkling feast? This got me really excited and inquisitive about the conversation that was about to start with my friends and colleagues from Europe and US. “Biryani” and “Kebabs” were something they were familiar of. Did we hear biryani and bubbly? They said, bring it on. Pairing Indian food with champagne or sparkling wine is the new hot trend globally.

A vintage brut is adding fizz to are very dear “butter chicken” and “dahi kebabs”. Sweet champagnes are sweetening payasams and rabris. Sommeliers feel sparkling wine and Indian food pairing is one of the biggest food trends catching the craze. Champagne has a fresh and bubbly effect that regular wines and whiskeys do not have which is perfect to cut the greasiness of Indian dishes.

We can stop tagging “champagne” only as a celebratory drink and start raising a toast with Indian dishes. And if champagne sounds too expensive, an alternative option is to try out Proseccos or sparkling wines. The rules that go out with it is that the drink is not served too chilled and second, only sweet ones are served with desserts.

The ability of sparkling wines in enhancing the taste of certain dishes due to their own acidic nature is making them a preferred accompaniment. Indian restaurants in the US and Europe are serving a wide range of wine, called “Mirza Ghalib”, that’s prepared specially to be paired with Indian food. Developed by team of sommeliers, led by wine experts, the French range is available in white, red and a sparkling rose. The fruitiness or sweetness of each wine is moderated as per set of dishes and each wine comes with a pairing suggestion to the extent of stating which one is apt for “Bhajia” and “Samosa”.

So, next time when you are drooling over that “Kebab” platter, ask your sommelier to pair it with the sweet French sparkling to counter the tangy side chutneys that we Indian are famous for.