From the Nawab's Kitchen

Arindam Sarkar

Nawab Wajed Ali Shah was an epitome of Awadhi culture and cuisine that he flagged with much pride till he breathed his last. He left behind for Kolkata the aristocratic tahzeeb and shayari for posterity and over the years, the tongue-smacking Awadhi royal cuisine has become a culinary craze in the city.

“Apart from his family and nobles, hundreds of bawarchis accompanied Nawab Wajed Ali Shah when he was deported from Awadh by the British and exiled to Garden Reach,” said Mirza Nissar Hussain, the caretaker of Shahi Masjid where the nawab did his namaaz, at Metiabruj.

Wajed Ali Shah’s 14 buildings – including his palaces – and many imambaras and masjids have all vanished from the face of Metiabruj. A passerby could easily miss the Shahi Imambara, which houses his innocuous-looking grave, on the busy Metiabruj street and the Shahi Masjid is now lost in the web of buildings and lanes.

The small Awadh with a zoo that Nawab Wajed Ali Shah built during his stay in Kolkata from 1856 – on a paltry pension of Rs 1 lakh from the British – is now a fable and the sepia pictures are the only evidence that give a glimpse of the nawab’s lifestyle.

The loss of Awadh and the melancholy of the exiled nawab, however, did not rob the royal kitchens of its magnificence. At Metiabruz, opulence of Dastarkhwan (the ceremonial dining spread) dipped, but not the taste or the variety of delicacies that were prepared by the royal chefs. Experimentation with food continued and though the ingredients remained the same, spices reduced.

According to Nawab Asif Ali Mirza, the great, grandson of Nawab Wajed Ali Shah, his grandfather changed the traditional biryani into a pulao by introducing potatos into them. “The original biryani comprised rice and meat blended with spices. But on the advice of his chefs, the nawab added potato to make the biryani healthy and tasty,” said Asif Ali Mirza.

Wajed Ali Shah also introduced Anar Pulao (made of crushed pomegranates), Malai Kofta, Bharva Kofta, Kashmiri dishes (Rogan Josh and Tabakhmaaz) and desserts like Safeida, Zarda and Muzafar in Kolkata. The scrumptious Awadhi kebabs, such as Tunde and Galauti, retained their original recipes and cooking style here.

“The cost of ingredients and spices, quality of chefs and the changing cooking style has brought in a variation to the Awadhi dishes of Wajed Ali Shah. But there is no doubt that Awadhi food culture has influenced the city gastronomy,” claimed Asif Ali Mirza.

Like his predecessors who ruled Lucknow, Wajed Ali Shah was a connoisseur of food. During Awadh’s heydays, six kitchens prepared delicious food for the nawab and his begums. Apart from the salaries of the noble in-charge, cooks, chefs and helpers, an additional sum of Rs 60,000 were spent every month for the upkeep of the royal kitchen that cooked for the nawab. Food after being prepared were brought out on an elaborately, decorated trays from the kitchen and Dastarkhwan was ready.

According to Abdul Halim Sharar, in his book Lucknow – The Last Phase of an Oriental Culture, “The collective name for foods selected for feasts at home or sent out was tora. It is said pulau, muzafar (rice dish with saffron), mutanjan  (meat, sugar and rice with spices), shir mal and safaida (a sweet, rice dish), shir bhanj (a sweet, rice dish boiled in milk), qaurma (fried vegetables with meat), shami kebab (croquettes of meat and lentil) along with murabba, achar, pickles and chutney comprised a tora.

The same fare continued when Wajed Ali Shah was exiled in Metiabruj. The much-liked Awadhi biryani – meat and rice are cooked separately then layered and baked in wood fire to prepare this pukki biryani – became an instant hit.

Awadhi cuisine is incomplete without kebabs. Tunde, Galauti, Boti, Sheekh, Shami, etc., are some popular kebabs that were cooked by mixing minced meat with marinated yogurt and spices. The Awadhi kebabs are cooked in a tawa and not grilled in tandoor like the Mughal kebabs. The kebabs are served with a variety of Awadhi breads such as rotis, naans, sheer mals, kulchas and taftans.

“In those days, bawarchis cooked food in large quantities. The rakabdars prepared small amount and the nanfus made breads,” said a city-based Awadhi chef Md Akbar of Bashir Hotel, whose father Rafiq Ahmad and uncle Shafiq Ahmad are renowned bawarchis. “Preparing food over slow fire – dum style – in copper and brass utensils is the Awadhi form of cooking.”

After Wajed Ali Shah’s demise in 1887, the Lucknavi cuisine came out of the royal kitchens and began to be prepared in the small eateries of Metiabruj, Zakaria Street and Park Circus. Kolkata taste buds, which were familiar with the Mughlai fare, soon took to the Awadhi food.

By 19^th century, several eateries selling exotic Awadhi dishes came up around Nakhoda Masjid. And by early 20^th century, with Awadhi food gaining popularity in the city, bawarchis shifted from Lucknow to Kolkata to work as cooks. “I am the fifth generation bawarchi cooking Awadhi dishes here. We shifted 130 years back,” said Md Akbar.

Initially, the eateries that made name for selling biryani and kebabs in Awadhi style were Aminiya, Shiraz, Royal, Aliya and Shabir. Rahmaniya and Arsalang were late entrants to this league of not-so-high-profile restaurants selling tasty Awadhi delicacies in the city.

“Metiabruj has a locality of bawarchi or khansamah. They are traditional Awadhi chefs who came with Nawab Wajed Ali Shah. Our late chef Md Shamsuddin was one such bawarchi. Cooks trained by him now prepare food at Shiraz,” said Director Shiraz Hotel Pvt Ltd Ishtaque Ahmed.

Soon, city five-star hotels also added Awadhi menu to their repertoire. Taj Bengal does not have a separate Awadhi section. “But in our Indian restaurant Sonargaon, we serve Kakori kebab, Murgh malai kebab and Kebab Sonargaon,” said Taj Executive Chef Sujan Mukherjee.

ITC Sonar, however, has a signature outlet Dum Pukht that serves top-of-the-line, well-researched Awadhi delicacies prepared by their Executive Chef Mayank Kulsreshtha. Dum Pukht is famous for such Awadhi culinary cuisine as Subz Mioni (a mélange of seasonal vegetables cooked in fresh, green spinach and fenugreek), Dum Pukht Kakori (minced lamb flavored with cloves, cinnamon and drizzled with saffron), Dum Pukht Koh-E-Awadh (chef’s quorma made of lamb shanks and flavoured with cardamon, tinged juices, marrow and saffron), Mahi Qaliya Dum Pukht (marbles of rohu cooked in mustard oil gravy and garnished with fenugreek seeds, fresh coriander, ginger and lemon juice) and Dum Pukht Biryani (Basmati rice simmered with lamb in mace, ittar and kewar in a handi).

The last unputdownable from Awadh Masterchef Mayank is the Shahi Tukra (an exotic saffron rabri dessert). “The cuisine has its own taste and flavour. It has the right blend of spices and herbs. It is our traditional food that is cherished by a foodie,” said Mayank Kulsreshtha.

What’s more, over the years the city has been dotted with a number of small restaurants such as Daawat-E-Shiraz, Chhote Nawab, Haka, Mirch Masala, Anokha Bagicha, Naushijaan, etc., which are trying to titillate the taste buds with Lucknavi food. But while most serve Awadhi dishes along with Indian and Mughlai cuisines, there are very few dedicated Awadhi food joints.

Finding there was a big gap existing between the low-priced hotels and the five-stars that served the Awadhi fare to the city, “Oudh 1590” was opened recently to cater to the upper middle-class with exotic and niche Lucknavi delicacies.

To make their restaurant cuisine most authentic, they hired cooks from Tundewali Gali in Lucknow and also created an Awadhi ambience inside the restaurant. “It is an effort to recreate the old Awadhi charm in culinary taste and atmosphere. We serve exotic and wholesome Awadhi cuisine. It is the first Awadhi period restaurant in the country,” claimed Director of Oudh 1590, Shiladitya Chowdhury.

Today, Oudh 1590 has a steady footfall and people are fond of their Awadhi handi biryani, galauti and kakori kebabs, mutton brain masala, nargisi kofta, keema-kaleji, nihari and keema paratha. “We called it Oudh 1590, because this gastronomic delight got its recognition here around that time,” Shiladitya said.

Oudh 1590 perhaps is not the last Lucknavi food junction here. With more and more people falling for the spicy and tasty dishes, Awadhi food is here to stay. Ironically, the British who stripped the Nawab of Oudh off his kingdom and crown by illegally violating a treaty in 1856, could not prevent the kitchen of Nawab Wajed Ali Shah to conquer the palates of the Subcontinent and the United Kingdom (The Curry Country) with Awadhi A la Carte.

It appears culinary imperialism of Nawab Wajed Ali Shah has outlived British military imperialism.

SHAAM-E-AWADH

Dastarkhwan of Wajed Ali Shah was a majestic spread with all its nafaasat and nazaakat (delicateness).

Mutton

Raan

Kundan Kaliya

Shahi Mutton Korma

Haleem

Rizala

Nehari Khas

Nargisi Kebab

Shami Kebab

Patili Kebab

Pasanda Kebab

Parda Nashin Kebab

Kakori Kebab

Poultry and birds

Murg Musallam

Murg Jahanara

Gulnar Kebabs

Murg Korma

Murg Do Pyaza

Fish

Machli Ke Shami Kebab

Kanta Gali Machli

Khatti Machli

Dum Machli

Zamin Doz

Vegetables

Tamatar Ka Dulma

Dum Bhindi

Gobhi Musallam

Subz Aloo

Lazeez Lauki

Kathal Ke Kebab

Karela Ka Dulma

Pulses

Dal Masoor Musallam

Maash Ki Dal Khasgi

Sultani Dal

Rice

Kofta ulao

Mutanjan

Lucknavi Biryani

Zarda

Ananas Ka Muzzafar

Sheesh Ranga

Yakhni Pulao

Breads

Roomali Roti

Sheermal

Taftan

Dal Kachori

Bakarkkani

Warqui Paratha

Kulcha

Dessert

Sheer Kadhi

Sheer Branj

Halwa-e-Badam

Balai Ke Tukre

Shakramba

Jauzi Halwa Sohan

Sewain Ke Muzzafar

Curd dishes

 

Boorani

Kheere Ke Raita

Falon Ka Raita

Makhane Ke Raita

Baigan Ka Raita