Evolution of Sichuan to Schezwan.

All those who were even briefly in India are sure to be familiar with the famously tasty and infamously unhealthy schezwan noodles. As someone who has been here all my life, I am a fervent enthusiast of this dish, rather the whole Indo-Oriental (locally called Chinese) cuisine. This Indian street food is so drastically different from the actual Chinese, Japanese, or Korean cuisine, that probably the only common thing between them is the ingredient, rice. The reputation of the Indian palate holds true when it comes to this cuisine, i.e. we love spice and heat in our food. If not spice we at least enjoy a little burst of flavours. Especially when it comes to street food, we expect nothing less than fireworks in our mouths. That explains the amount of seasonings and sauces that go in such dishes.

 Out of all these "Chinese" dishes, the 'Schezwan' noodles or rice, is the universal favorite of all the street food lovers. This dish is fiery red in color and hot and sour to taste. The popular relish to add to it is the "schezwan sauce" or the "schezwan chutney" as we call it. This relish mostly contains red chili, oil, vinegar, and copious amounts of edible red color. The word 'schezwan' mostly depicts "spicy" in the local street food lingo.

When I earlier mentioned that I was a fervent enthusiast of this dish, that meant I could eat it every day and not get weary of it. The swift kick to the palate after each bite and the light sweetness of the onion, which adds a bit of crunch as well, is such a stimulating experience! Any kind of tasty (unhealthy) street food is rather stimulating.

Enough about the Indianised version of Oriental food, now, let's talk about the original Chinese food.

What we call 'Schezwan, is actually pronounced as 'Sichuan'. Sichuan is a province in China, which is famous for its pepper, the 'Sichuan Pepper'. It is located in the South-Western region of the country and is also the home to Giant Pandas. The Sichuan pepper, contradictory to its name, is not related to pepper or chili in any way, but it belongs to the citrus family! The shell of the fruit is used as a spice. More than giving off heat like the traditional chili pepper, this spice gives off a numbing tingly feeling to the palate along with the citrus aftertaste.

Variations in its species can be found in Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, and India as well. In India this spice is called as "Tirfal", it is mostly grown and used in Konkan, and other coastal parts of the country. I discovered about this spice when I was in Goa, a couple of years ago, but I was not sure if the Sichuan pepper and the 'Tirfal' are the same, or at least related to each other until I researched the subject for this blog. Pune (where I live), which is relatively close to the coastal areas, is not yet very familiar with 'Tirfal', therefore, I doubt, other regions which are farther from the coast are familiar with it or not. In Nepal, a spice similar to the Sichuan pepper, called 'Timur' is used in momos, thukpa et al.

In conclusion, we can say that the idea of Sichuan pepper (I say the idea of and not the actual pepper), after getting introduced to the Indian taste buds, evolved over the years into this ruby red, hot, tangy sauce, that is heavily laced with garlic and vinegar as our version of 'Chinese' food. Along with the color, taste, texture, etc., the name also evolved into 'schezwan'.

May the street food God/s be thanked for this evolution, otherwise it would have been difficult for all Indian street foodies to imagine the food scene without our beloved 'Schezwan sauce'!