Indo-Chinese Recipes82 authentic family recipes

Indo-Chinese cuisine is one of the great culinary mash-ups of the 20th century — born in Kolkata's Tangra district when Hakka Chinese immigrants started cooking with Indian aromatics for Bengali customers who wanted more chilli, more soy, and more onion than traditional Chinese cooking allowed. The result is a cuisine that exists nowhere else: chilli paneer, gobi manchurian, schezwan noodles, and the deeply Indian dish called Hakka noodles.

The flavour profile leans sharp and umami: dark soy, vinegar, chilli paste, garlic, ginger, spring onion, and a heavy hand with MSG (which we use sparingly but honestly — it's part of the cuisine's signature). The wok work is fast and high-heat, and most dishes use a corn-flour slurry to thicken the gravy in a way that no traditional Chinese cook would recognise.

Our Indo-Chinese recipes cover the restaurant classics (chilli chicken, manchurian gravy, sweet-corn soup, hakka chow mein) and the home-style versions that are quicker, lighter, and don't need a deep-fryer. Most include vegetarian and vegan adaptations — chilli paneer and chilli mushroom share the same masala.