In India, dishes that feature Szechwan – not Sichuan – and Manchurian sauce might suggest Chinese roots, but they tell a distinctly local story. Known as Chindian or Indian-Chinese cuisine, this culinary style emerged from Chinese migrant communities in Kolkata, where cooks adapted their recipes to local ingredients and tastes – think soy sauce and vinegar with generous helpings of chilli, ginger and garlic. The result was not simply a substitute for food from China but a culinary tradition in...