Pairing Whisky with Indian Food! Sounds most intriguing?

The first food pairing was palak patta chaat, crisp baby spinach with a mango dressing that was paired with a Black Dog Triple Gold Reserve & I understand it really well with the mango.

Prawn tokri and masala-coated tilapia (Courtesy)

Next we had two spicy fish dishes with a big chilli hit - prawn tokri and a masala-coated tilapia which was successfully partnered - to everyone’s surprise - with Johnnie Walker Blue Label. (Several thought it was a whisky aged in a Sauternes cask.) Dave said that blends were often easier to match with food because they were ‘inherently complex spirits’ whereas “single malts are all about the intensity of a single flavour.”

The main course, although plated individually, was much more what people would think of as a typical Indian meal: lamb rogan josh, chicken biryani, a dal, a spicy potato dish called aloo Katliyan, paratha and yoghurt. The lamb was possibly the hardest element to match but the other components all went well with another surprising choice of whisky: The Black Dog Triple Gold Reserve!

So maybe it’s India - and other Asian countries who don’t hesitate to put whisky on the table - who’ve got it right and not us? “In India they don't have our hang-ups about whisky and food not going together”. “We can learn something from the rest of the world.”