Cooking Mexican in India

And other notes on Fusion

by Ricky Toledano

My Mexican khichdi – the Indian super comfort food with a tomato twist 

“Can you make those Mexican catnis for us, Ricky?”

“Which ones are you talking about? ¿Salsa? Mexican salsas?”

After so many years of eating with Indians, I learned that they ate quite similarly to Mexicans in the way they accompanied most foods with hot and sour vegetable or fruit pickles or simply biting into raw chilis, the way some Mexicans prefer chile mordido. Then of course there were all the spicy condiments, catnis, pronounced chutneys, which were nothing like the spiced mango jam found in jars from supermarket around the world – except India.

“Where ever did you try Mexican salsa?” I asked in curiosity, because his request was placed as if he had tried them. I had already noticed that the globalization of food as…