hot bazar

with the girls out of town, bock and pb were over to shoot the shit. we decided to order from chinese mirch, an unassuming joint down some stairs at the corner of lex and 28th specializing in very spicy chinese-flavored indian food or indian-flavored chinese food, depending on your bias. we ordered chicken lollipops (divinely seasoned fried drumsticks), garlic chili noodles, fried okra, and corn and egg drop soup.

bock is one of those freaks of nature who loves spicy food. i don’t mean like, i mean love in a sick way. the spicier the food, the happier and more animated he gets. i know i did good when he lined up all the dipping sauces and nearly soiled himself mixing and matching everything together, and telling us repeatedly how tasty the food was and how much janine his wife would love it too. pb, who doesn’t like spicy food at all and was nursing his corn and egg drop soup, just stared and shook his head.

it’s hard to describe what the food tasted like. sure, it’s hot, but it’s a special kind of heat. unlike typical mexican or sichuan fares that kick your ass and obliterate all other sensations, taste included, usually with the first bite, chinese mirch offerings are much more subtle. so much so that even after several mouthfuls of the garlic chili noodle i still wondered if the chef had forgotten something.

the heat sneaks up on you; it tastes almost sweet before it grabs you by the throat and squeezes. but the spiciness doesn’t overwhelm all other flavors. instead, it primes and sharpens the senses; even subtle notes come across clearly.

so the best i can do is to grab a handful of songs that together, approximate the delicious blend of tear-inducing noodles, crispy okra, and moist curry and cumin-tinged chicken.

ravi shankar’s transcendent melody from “aparajito” (1957), satyajit ray’s second installment of the apu trilogy, serves as a classic and classy base. but a dash of shakti’s “bridge of sighs” (natural elements, cbs, 1977), featuring the fiery trio of zakir hussain on tabla, violinist l. shankar, and the ever dextrous john mclaughlin on guitar, hints at an unconventional approach. uk’s asian breakbeat underground represents and updates the flavor without compromising authenticity or intensity on ges-e & visionary underground’s “militant 24” (found on nitin sawhney’s fabric mixed cd).

if you chew on the paprika-dusted okra long enough, you’ll get a hint of southern flavors. but you wouldn’t confuse it with mama’s cooking, as the percussion reprise of des’ree’s “i ain’t movin’” (i ain’t movin’, 550 music, 1994) and the caliente “latin clay mix” of peven everett’s nu-soul gem “testin’ me” attest.

just to further highlight how unusual the flavor combinations were, i'm tossing in the smorgasbord sound of bollywood composer vijaya anand. every time i hear “ellellu preethi (love is everywhere)” from luaka bop’s 1992 asian classic i release, i get a jerky image of this guy running around trying to please everybody at the same time. the crazy thing is, he somehow pulls it off. i’m not saying everything he does is good or even interesting, but no doubt he’s got skills, and it’s easy to feel better about the music because he tries so hard.

i heard anand was born in madras to religious indian parents, devout catholics who insisted on calling their son jude matthew. it explains a lot.

Posted by cellpharmer at March 25, 2006 05:42 AM