Asia Kitchen's Curry Festival brings global summer curries to Kolkata

HOMELY ORIENTAL CURRIES have found an incredible resonance with the city’s palate. Not only do they let us move past sushi and har gow, but their well-assembled flavours make for easy, digestible summer entrées. Asia Kitchen by Mainland China in Acropolis Mall, which has long been our go-to diner for authentic South East Asian culinary finds, has come up with a fortnight-long Asian Curry Festival, which started on July 17. You can finally go beyond the Thai Red Curry to explore this continent’s multi-cultural takes of the good ol’ curry.

We dropped into Asia Kitchen on a weekday afternoon for some lunch and were greeted by an unmissable, spicy blend of aromas. The menu for the festival has been curated to feature protein-rich dishes, with a generous focus on tropical veggies and fruits. In peak harvest season especially, the working classes in countries like Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, make use of seasonal bounties to prepare their daily meals, and prioritise light, easily palatable cur ries with uncomplicated flavours. The menu for the festival features some scrumptious gravied preparations from countries like China, Burma, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia and has some choicest vegetarian and non- vegetarian specialities. We started off with some fantastic Thai Jungle Curry, which was served along with some Jasmine rice. It stands apart from most Thai delicacies as it does not make use of coconut milk. Our version of the jungle curry was made with some soft lotus stem, pea eggplants, bamboo shoots, and was made in a watered-down, auburn gravy.

The menu also features some other vegetarian claypot curries, like Japanese Golden Curry with Vegetables and Caramelised Tofu, the latter being a huge hit in the vegan eating circuit. We were eagerly waiting on the Chicken Katsu Curry, which was soon served to us with some green chilli gravy. The Katsu Curry is a rather amusing Japanese dish, which mainly consists of thin chicken fillets, breaded with flour, eggs and bread crumbs, and is a huge street food favourite around the world. Since the meat is of a fried variety, it made for a refreshing addition, alongside the gravied dishes. Our next pick was a Malaysian fish curry, which had a clean, modest taste, nothing too fancy. It was served with a plate of white rice, and you can opt for this number if you’re looking for something familiar, along the lines of a fish stew. The Lamb Shank Rendang Curry was a surprisingly summery curry, without the intense spices which usually accompanies the recipe. We also found some delicious chicken curry made with kaffir lime and a plate of scrumptious Prawn Penang Curry. Both these dishes are distinctly fragrant, but not too rich, and go exceptionally well with a serving of simple steamed rice. Our favourite pick from the menu would be the Roast Duck Curry, prepared with just the right assortment of herbal spices and served with a side of skinny pancakes. The trusted Asian curry can never really let you down, as it’s not too demanding on your taste buds, it has a breezy, but indulgent taste, and a consistent gravy.