| In one respect, the answer to the question raised by | | | | Lamb is a part of Greek and Italian cookery and that |
| the title is easy: that the dish has its origins in India. The | | | | of many other nations. These places have a long |
| actual answer is a little more involved, and interesting. | | | | history and many alliances and neighbouring cuisines to |
| India is an historic land, created from loads of unique | | | | draw upon but the difference between an Indian |
| cultures resulting from migration and invasion, followed | | | | Achari dish and a Greek lamb stew is exceptional. |
| by tribal merging. This is reflected in its cuisine. | | | | Maybe it is the coriander, but that appears in Greek |
| Everyone can identify something that is Indian about | | | | cooking too. Tomatoes are an daily component of |
| Indian food - the curry, the unique mix of a masala | | | | Greek dishes, too. Could it be the tasty spices which |
| (Hindi for spice), the colourful chicken and lamb dishes, | | | | make Indian dishes so different? Not really, because |
| but every effort to pin it down somehow slips into a | | | | the ancient Greeks moved around the world and |
| fog. | | | | brought back many ingredients from far afield. |
| Think about the lowly chutney. This mix of fruit and | | | | Whichever way you look at it Achari is exotic, vital and |
| spices could for certain have not come from | | | | pungent whereas Greek stew is delicious, but mild. |
| anywhere else but India. What other land would have | | | | Even the common doughnut is renowned as far apart |
| the inventiveness and courage to blend something | | | | as both China and America. Yet, Indian vada bears no |
| sweet - i.e. ripe fruit - and mix in a mixture of spices? | | | | resemblance to its counterparts in other countries. The |
| To select another illustration, chicken is a familiar | | | | oil-fried dough in America is a solely sweet, fat-filled |
| element of recipes from around the globe, but | | | | confection. In China, it is usually the savoury meal itself, |
| nowhere else but India invented that international | | | | dim sum. In India, it is a respected part of the street |
| favorite - tandoori chicken. | | | | vendor culture. |
| It isn't just the sizzling hot clay oven. It isn't simply the | | | | For all you can point to that singles out Indian cuisine - |
| brilliantly coloured results that make the dish as much a | | | | the vigorous spices, the eye-catching presentation, the |
| pleasure to the eye as to the tongue, it is the pleasing | | | | thin, hard bread - the answer to what makes Indian |
| mixture of spices and the unique method of | | | | food Indian will still remain a mystery. Given the country |
| preparation that contains them. | | | | in question, that seems wholly appropriate. |