Hakka: Everything about this Chinese cuisine we all love  

A plate of piping hot Hakka noodles is an obvious choice when you are ordering from a Chinese restaurant, isn’t it? The mouth-watering dish of noodles comes with vegetables, or eggs, or meat, along with some oil and tons of spices.  is what the Indian version of Hakka noodles comprises. But do you know that Hakka noodle is just one dish in the cuisine named Hakka? Yes, you read that right. Hakka is a cuisine altogether.   

Hakka cuisine at a glance 
It is legacy of the Hakka people, an ancient Chinese community called Han. They moved from northern and central China to south-eastern and southern China. Hakka cuisine originated during the Song dynasty (960 to 1279 AD). Known for the unique taste and aroma of its meat-centric dishes, Hakka cuisine mostly consists of rice, pork, tofu, and preserved vegetables. Rice wine, soya sauce, ginger, garlic, and salt and fragrant herb are used for preservation and flavouring. Typically, this cuisine focusses on the texture of its components, whatever the cooking method be: Roasting, stewing, brewing, etc.   

Cooking techniques 
Hakka cuisine is characterised by mountain-based delicacies and meat. There is very little seafood in their recipes, thanks to the fact that this Chinese community has mostly lived in the mountains. Here are some cooking techniques that they follow. 

Niang: This is the process of stuffing. Stuffed chicken, tofu and bitter gourd are some of the typical Hakka dishes.  

Ban: This method involves mixing with rice. The Hakka cuisine consists of over 200 kinds of ban food. 

Dry: The Han people expose their meats and vegetables to sunlight to prevent them from rotting. So, there are many dry foods in the Hakka cuisine. Some examples are dry bean curd, dry carrot, dry sweet potato, dry vegetables, dry meat and dry bamboo shoots. 

Hakka cuisine comes to India 
Over the course of centuries, the Han community also settled in many parts of Asia, such as Thailand, Indonesia, India and Singapore. Post World War I, they migrated from China and to the ports in Calcutta and Madras and settled in in Tangra, a colony in Kolkata. They called this new home Chinatown. The Indian version of the Chinese Hakka cuisine had its inception here. The original Chinatown created by the community is still a celebrated region for Indo-Chinese cuisine in Kolkata. The first Chinese restaurant called Eau Chew opened in India 85 years ago. All those lip-smacking dishes with spicy flavours were probably born here. 

Hakka with a twist 
The Hakka immigrants brought their flavours with them. Not to our surprise, Indians also showed an interest in their food as it was heavily seasoned. The Chinese residing in India added red and green chillies to the authentic Hakka cuisine. They also made hot and fiery sauces using garlic and oil. Then, they added some mustard sauce, ginger, and coriander too. They ended up inventing a whole new cuisine mixing all Chinese and local Bengali ingredients! Indians accepted this cuisine wholeheartedly, to say the least.