In the UK, we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to worldly flavours. Our multicultural society is reflected perfectly in our nation's kitchens and restaurants, where we can find French, Italian, Chinese, Indian and Japanese dishes that are truly world-class. While Italy is where you'll find the very best Italian food and Thailand will have unsurpassable Thai cuisine, it’s much harder to find restaurants serving quality non-native dishes in those countries like you can in Britain.
Perhaps that’s why chefs feel they have the freedom to experiment with and push the boundaries of specific cuisines here. As well as opening restaurants which tick the authenticity boxes, many are now cherry-picking the ingredients and flavours they love and combining them without worrying whether they’re traditionally paired together or not. This is having a trickle-down effect in the home, too, with cooks starting to look beyond the rigid rules of traditional cuisine and experimenting with worldly combinations instead. While we’ve never been too concerned with true authenticity (just look at dishes like spaghetti Bolognese, chicken balti and crispy duck pancakes; three things which are all but unheard of in Italy, India and China), we’re now combining flavours of the Middle East with European cooking methods or using Indian spices in traditional British dishes.
Of course, sometimes these experiments with fusion cooking simply don’t work. Specific cuisines often have strong, bold, unmistakable flavours that can easily clash with one another, and it takes plenty of culinary experience to be able to balance them in a dish. That’s why it helps to have a base ingredient that can absorb and take on flavours rather than fight with them – and rice is the perfect candidate.
Subtle yet aromatic and well-suited to taking on the flavours of spices, herbs, sauces and dressings, rice is a fantastic starting point for any fusion food dish. It allows us to get creative in the kitchen, acting as a base for all manner of ingredients from all over the world. There are all sorts of varieties to choose from each with their own characteristics, and there are even blends that combine them with other nutritious, flavourful ingredients such as quinoa or sunflower seeds – adding yet another point of fusion-led difference to your cooking. Being a staple in many Asian and Middle Eastern countries means rice is particularly well-suited to marrying cuisines from across those nations, too, where some of the most flavourful, colourful and exciting cooking can be found. To see what we mean, take a look at the two incredible recipes below – which feature top-quality basmati rice combined with wild rice and smoked quinoa – to see why.