Anatomy of Fusion

Wagyu beef Biryani with sweet potato, cashew, mint and jamsmine rice in filo cups and dressed with saffron rose water and served with pickled red onion and sundried tomato raita. (photo by Equalizer)

Fusion or Confusion? I guess it really depends on the composition of ingredients. Good food is like good music, every ingredient has a note that when put together can create a beautiful symphony of orchestrated flavors. Instead of hearing the note, we taste it. I can compare this dish with the musical composition of Nitin Sawhney's Prophesy. So what goes in this subliminal dish that I categorize as fusion? Lets take a look.

Wagyu Beef - Wagyu is a breed of cattle that produces prime grade beef that is usually marblized with fat, to give that juicy flavor.

Sweet Potato - The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a crop plant whose large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato.

Cashew - Sweet, buttery, kidney-shaped nuts that grow from the bottom of the tropical cashew apple. The shells are toxic and always removed before the nuts are marketed. They are sold blanched, plain or toasted and are eaten out of hand; a popular ingredient in many Chinese dishes. Originally spread from Brazil by the Portuguese, the cashew tree today can be found in all regions with a sufficiently warm and humid climate.

Mint - The true Mints are perennial herbs in the family Lamiaceae.The distinctive aromas of Peppermint and Spearmint are believed to improve concentration, relieve headaches, and reduce mental fatigue.Mint was well known and highly esteemed in the ancient world. We read in the Bible that Pharisees paid tithes of mint, anise, and cumin. In Greece, crushed mint leaves were used as perfume for the arms and to scent the bath.

Jasmine Rice - A fragrant long grain rice from Thailand that is distinctly aromatic, soft and sticky when cooked.

Filo - Filo dough is that wonderful tissue-paper thin pastry that is used in baklava and other fabulous dishes.

Saffron - The world’s most expensive spice, used to flavour and tint food, it is made of threads from the centre of the crocus flower.If you have ever wondered why this spice is so expensive (a kilo of the finest saffron costs nearly $6000), it is because each crocus has only three stigmas, each of which must be picked by hand and it takes over 500,000 stigmas to make a kilo of spice. Originally from Persia, it was introduced by the Arabs in Spain and the Persians in India.

Rose Water - a liquid flavored with the oil of rose petals. It is used to flavor desserts in Balkan, Indian and Middle Eastern cooking.

Sundried Tomato - Before modern canning methods were available, Italians dried tomatoes on their tile roofs for use in winter when fresh tomatoes were not an option. Nowadays, sun-dried tomatoes (pomodori secchi in Italian) are not as popular in Italy as they are in America, where they are mostly relegated to antipasto or as a flavor-booster for sauce. These dried concentrated vessels of flavor have enjoyed a popularity boost in the United States in the past couple of decades, initially as a gourmet item but fast becoming a favorite of home cooks.