Introducing the Moghuls
by Joyce Westrip
Author of Moghul Cooking: India's Courtly Cuisine
There is plenty of historical evidence that the Moghuls looked to Persia as the fount of their culture, and it was the interweaving of Persian and Indian culture that became one of the most notable features of the Moghul empire.
For the Moghuls, Persia epitomised high culture. Mughal is Persian for Mongol and Moghul is the Indianised version of the word. Persian became the language of the court, and Persian customs, literature, music, painting and architectural styles merged with the best India had to offer. It is a similar fusion of Persian and Indian culinary styles that sets Moghul cooking apart from other Indian cuisines.
In 1526 Babur the Moghul nurtured the seeds of a culture that was to become inseparable from that of India more generally. Moghul rule had begun, bringing with it a continuity of administrative systems and dynastic stability. The last Moghul ruler was deposed by the British in 1858, although a decline set in after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. Weak rulers followed one after the other, straining the political structure. The treasury was wickedly depleted in 1739 by Nadir Shah who, coming only to plunder, rode off with a grand booty including Shah Jahan's famous Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Nor diamond. So when we speak of the Great Moghuls, it is generally with reference to Babur and his direct descendants, from Humayun to Aurangzeb, who gave India a stability that facilitated the flowering of a cultured and lavish lifestyle.
The Moghuls not only unified all but the southern tip of the subcontinent, they overwhelmed it, leaving behind a legacy of grandeur and opulence, a wealth of painting, architecture, literature and cuisine. Moghul India has been well documented by historians, but, like the chroniclers of many other cultures, they have neglected to record the historical significance of the Moghul contribution to India's culinary arts. Today when enthusiasts speak of the classical style of Indian cooking, they are referring to the legacy left by the Moghul dynasty – the Moghul or Moghlai style.
Eyes light up, the tongue caresses the lips and a knowing nod accompanies accolades when conversation turns to cooking in the Moghlai style. The adjectives used to describe it – princely, sublime, majestic, illustrious – leave no doubt about its royal status. It is food for kings and queens, courtiers and nobility, and also for modern-day enthusiasts. But before we enter the Moghul kitchen with its courtly recipes, it is worth taking a brief look at the history of the Moghul dynasty.
History of Moghul Dynasty:
Babur, Founder
Babur was the founder of this great dynasty. His line was followed by direct descendants, starting with his son Humayun whose reign started in 1530; Akbar reigned from 1556 to 1605, Jahangir 1605 to 1627, Shah Jahan 1627 to 1658 and Aurangzeb 1658 to 1707. Although the power of the Moghul rule declined fairly rapidly after Aurangzeb, the grand lifestyle continued and magnificent tables with yet more innovative dishes found their way into the vast and wealthy palaces of the nizams of Hyderabad, the nawabs of Lucknow, the nobles of Lahore, the Rajput rulers and into the stately homes of the Pandits of Kashmir. The survival of a unique bland of Persian and Indian ingredients and methods was ensured, bringing to our tables dishes redolent of the days of the great Moghuls.
They were dishes that were aromatically marinated in masalas of ginger and onion, tinged with nutmeg, mace, cloves and cinnamon; dishes of rich sauces combining a perfect balance of a range of spices, yoghurt and cream, almonds and pistachios, the base to receive morsels of chicken of meat cooked in ghee; vegetable dishes with the nutty flavour of poppy seeds and sweetened with honey; extravagant rice dishes, biryanis and pilaus, each grain separate and full of flavour, garnished with cardamom and strands of saffron; silky-smooth, ice-cold desserts flavoured with essence of roses, decked with tissue-thin sheets of real gold or silver and decorated with a scattering of rose petals; drinks squeezed from fresh fruits. All were prepared to please the eye as well as the palate.
Babur was a Chaghati Turk with the blood of both Ghengis Khan and Timur in his veins. He was scholarly, a poet, sensitive to the fine things in life and, as were all the Moghul rulers, a lover of gardens in the Persian style – as today's visitor to Lahore and Kashmir can testify. He surrounded himself with Turkish and Persian intellectuals who, like himself, were as adept with pen and brush as they were at wielding the sword. He had seen the cultural achievements at his ancestors' capitals at Samarkand and Heart and he would clearly love to have taken those capitals – but it was not to be, so he turned his attention first to Kabul and then expanded down into northern India to enjoy its legendary spoils.
Babur was meticulous in keeping a journal which leaves us with a record of his Indian campaigns, and of life in the tented encampments – set up to a regulated plan with quarters for the women, the guards, the chiefs and nobles, the kitchens and out-houses. The tents themselves were luxurious, lined with carpets and fine fabrics. Babur's first impressions of his new land express disappointment, perhaps because he was unfamiliar with the countryside and homesick for the cooler climate of Kabul. He thought Hindustan a country of few charms.
Of social intercourse, paying and receiving visits there are none; in handicraft and work there is no symmetry, method or quality; there are no good horses, no ice or cold water, no good bread or cooked food in the bazaars, no hot baths, no colleges, no candles, torches or candlesticks … Except their large rivers and their standing waters which flow in ravines and hollows … there are no running waters in their gardens or residences … These residences have no charm, air, regularity or symmetry. He does concede, however, that, 'Pleasant things in Hindustan are that it is a large country and has masses of gold and silver … and endless workmen of every kind.'
History of Moghul Dynasty:
Babur,Founder
Babur soon set about planning and planting gardens and brought in seeds, plants and gardeners from Kabul and Persia to grow his favourites – melons (prized for their restorative power), peaches, apricots, pistachios, walnuts and almonds. He does not tell us a lot about the types of food he enjoyed, but there is much mention of bouts of wine drinking and of a refreshing drink called julabmost (sherbet). He talks of a sheep being made into kebabs; chikhi, a eat dish incorporating a paste of wheat flour and ginger which also appears later at Akbar's table and is still in the repertoire today. This gives us a clue that spices had found their way into the Moghul kitchen. Babur appeared to enjoy the luscious mangoes of his new land and gives instructions on two ways of eating them – 'Punch a hole in it,' he writes, 'and squeeze or suck the juice out, the other is to eat it like a peach.' He likened the Indian jackfruit (a member of the durian family) to a sheep's stomach stuffed and made into gipa, a thick soup, but makes no reference to the smell of the fruit, often repugnant on first encounter. We do know that Babur employed Hindustani cooks – and that they were bribed to poison him. They made a good attempt, but as they were being watched they could not drop the poison powder directly into the cooking pot, so they hastily sprinkled it on the bread, probably naan or roti, and covered it with 'buttered fritters'. Besides, they had to have first taste from the cooking pot! Babur fell ill and reprisal was swift, certain and cruel – the negligent taster was cut into pieces and the cook was skinned alive.
Babur reaped rich rewards from his conquest of the Delhi sultanate and his reign saw the beginnings of the opulence and luxury associated with the Moghuls. The treasures of five kings fell into Babur's hands after the Battle of Panipet in 1526, but 'He gave it all away,' said his daughter Gul-Badan. Humayun, Babur's son, came back gloating with pride and clutching an enormous diamond believed to be the Koh-I-Nor (the Mountain of Light), so named later by the Persian plunderer, Nidir Shah. Babur nonchalantly returned it to Humayun to keep, but not before mentally noting its worth which, he calculated, would 'provide two and a half days' food for the whole world'. Babur divided much of the treasure among his loyal followers, including gifts to the ladies of the harem and to the female heads of household departments.
To each begum is to be delivered as follows: one special dancing girl of the dancing girls of Sultan Ibrahim, with one gold plate full of jewels – ruby and pearl, cornelian and diamond, emerald and turquoise, topaz and cat's eye – and two small mother-o'-pearl trays full of ashrafis, and on two other trays shahrukhis, and all sorts of stuffs by nines – that is four trays and one plate.
History of Moghul Dynasty:
Humayun becomes emperor
Babur died just four years later and Humayun became emperor at the age of twenty-two. He did not have his father's tenacity, nor his acumen in battle, and it was not long before he lost the kingdom, temporarily, to the Afghan chieftain Sher Shah (Sher Khan).
Humayun was forced to flee with his Persian wife Hamida and sought refuge at the court of Tahmasp, the Shah of Persia, in 1544. Here Humayun lived in the style of his ancestors at Samarkand and Herat. The Persian court of that time was considered a great artistic and cultural centre. The arrival of Hamida and Humayun was greeted with a welcome feast given by Tahmasp, and on each of the following days a banquet of five hundred dishes appeared:
Upon his auspicious arrival let him drink fine sherbets of lemon and rosewater, cooled with snow; then serve him preserves of watermelon, grapes and other fruits, with white bread just as I have ordered. For this royal guest prepare each drink with sweet attars and ambergris; and each day prepare a banquet of five hundred rare and delicious and colourful dishes … O my son, on the day of his arrival give feast, tremendous and enticing, of meats and sweetmeats, milks and fruits to the number of three thousand trays.
Shah Tahmasp agreed to back Humayun in his attempt to recapture his kingdom in India, and announced his intention to provide Humayun with 12,000 of his best horsemen. When Humayun returned to reclaim his throne in 1555, the diamond, the Koh-I-Nor, stayed behind. It had started out on its travels – the Shah sent it to the Nizam Shah in the Dexxan in India; in the seventeenth century it was in Shah Jahan's treasury; it was seized by Nadir Shah in 1739; was appropriated by the Sikh ruler of the Punjab, Ranjit Singh, and finally came into British hands when the Punjab was annexed in 1849. Today it is the jewel in the crown in the Tower of London.
Had Humayun not been forced into long exile, we might have been made more aware of his lifestyle and food habits. Of feasts there were many, often given by his aunts to celebrate birthdays or weddings. There was 'profusion and splendour', and we know that as early as 1533 Humayun was following a tradition of Hindu kings in being weighed against gold. Gul-Badan, Humayun's aunt, leaves us a description of the 'House of Feasting" commemorating his accession to the throne.
She describes the large room, with an octagonal tank in the centre and in the middle of the tank platform spread with Persian carpets on which entertainers and musicians sat. In the hall was a jewelled throne sheltered by gold-embroidered hangings and long strings of pearls. In another room sat a gilded bedstead and paan dishes, from which we learn that the Hindu ceremonial custom of paan exchange had been introduced to the Moghul court. There are jewelled drinking vessels and utensils of pure gold and silver and tablecloths of choice gold brocade. It was indeed a grand occasion, but yet more sumptuous banquets and feasts and festivities were to take place as Moghul rule progressed.
Humayun's reign after his return from exile was not destined to be a long one, and he died just six months later in 1556. He turned to answer a call to prayer, tripped and fell down some stairs. Although Humayun's reign was brief, his stay in Persia made a deep impression on both himself and Hamida, and they made the initial contribution to the cultural synthesis which was to be the hallmark of Moghul style in India.
Humayun's tomb in Delhi is a monument raised by his older widow, Haji Begum, who is said to have camped on the site while the building was in progress. It marks the beginning of the development of Indo-Islamic architecture. Persian in style, and incorporating for the first time in India the Persian double dome, with the Indian chatris on the roof, it was the predecessor to many other buildings fusing the two styles – from Akbar's tomb at Sikandra to the perfection of the fusion in Shah Jahan's Taj Mahal at Agra.
The Flowering of the Great Moghuls:
Akbar's accession to the throne
The real flowering of the Great Moghuls began with Akbar's accession to the throne in 1556. Akbar followed sound policies with the appointment of Hindu Rajput nobles to high positions at court and marriage alliances with Rajput princesses, and his personal curiosity, interest and involvement ensured the stability of the Moghul dynasty. Under Akbar the arts and culinary matters were both raised to a level of state concern.
Birthdays, festivals, naming ceremonies and other special occasions were celebrated with a display of abundant wealth. Akbar's wonderful palace at Fatehpur Sikri (built to honour a prediction, by Sufi mystic Salim Chisti, that a son would be born) was the scene of great jubilation on these occasions. To celebrate Akbar's birthday, the buildings were adorned with pavilions and awnings of translucent gold tissue-like fabric to shelter the golden throne with its inlay of rubies and emeralds. Persian and Indian court musicians played. A pair of golden scales glittered in the sunlight as nobles, chiefs, courtiers and attendants watched. The Emperor was to be weighed – but no ordinary weigh-in this, no simple test to gauge the results of gargantuan meals prepared by hundreds of palace cooks. This was a show of benevolence. The Emperor sat on one of the scales and the other was balanced with gold and silver, rubies, diamonds and pearls, with clothes heavily embroidered in gold and silver, rubies, diamonds and pearls, with clothes heavily embroidered in gold thread, and precious foodstuffs like almonds (also used as currency) – all later to be distributed for charity. Needless to say, the Emperor found much favour with his subjects.
The Moghul emperors accepted their vast wealth with a certain nonchalance. Ambassadors and foreign travellers to the courts of Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb have left their impressions of these displays of wealth and the extravagance of dress and jewels worn by those at court. Thomas Roe, England's first ambassador to India, spent long years at the court of Jahangir trying to establish an agreement for trade. He was getting ready to move camp and on one occasion watched as Jahngir was being robed by his attendants:
Then a nother came and buckled on his swoord and buckler, sett all over with great diamonds and rubyes, the belts of gould suteable. A nother hung his quiver with 30 arrowes and his bow in a case, the same that was presented by the Persian ambassador. On his head he wore a rich rurbant with a plume of herne tops, not many but long; on one syde hung a ruby unsett, as bigg as a walnutt; on the other syde a diamond as great; in the middle an emralld like a hart, much bigger. His shash was wreather about with a chayne of great pearle, rubyes, and diamonds drild. About his neck hee carried a chaine of most excellent pearle, three double (so great I never saw); at his elbowes, armletts sett wth diamonds; and on his wrists three rowes of several sorts. His hands bare, but almost on every finger a ring; his gloves, which were English, stuck under his girdle; his coate of cloth of gould without sleeves upon a fine semian as thin as lawne; on his feete a payre of embrodered buskings with pearle, the toes sharp and turning up.
The Flowering of the Great Moghuls:
Lavish Courts and Banquets
French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavenier was both dazzled and astounded by Shah Jahan's Peacock Throne. According to him it was six feet long and four feet wide. Four solid gold rods supported the base and twelve bars of gold rose up on three sides to support a canopy. The bars and rods were encrusted with large rubies and emeralds and the intervals between them were covered in diamonds and pearls. There were more than one hundred rubies, and the same number of emeralds. The underside of the throne was covered with pearls and diamonds, and the canopy was framed with a fringe of pearls. A peacock rose above the canopy, its gold body inlaid with a variety of precious stones, its tail composed predominantly of blue sapphires. An enormous ruby sat in its breast and from the ruby dangled a large pearl of about 50 carats. Fronds of golden flowers, again studded with precious stones, flanked the peacock. I can well understand Tavernier's stunned reaction. I saw the remains of the Peacock Throne when on a visit to Teheran to research the Indo-Persian links in Moghul cooking and was equally struck by its magnificence.
Even though the last of the Great Moghuls, Aurangzeb, was himself much more austere, lavish entertainments at court were still held for his large entourage and the expenses of running the Palace were extraordinary.
Foreign travellers to both Persia and the Moghul courts have left their impressions of the lavish banquets and the types of dishes served. Manrique, Bernier, Manucci, Roe, Hawkins and Monserrate all wrote of their experiences in the land of the Moghuls.
The Flowering of the Great Moghuls:
Culinary Style
Having glimpsed something of the extravagant courtly presentations and the fabulous wealth that supported the Moghul empire, we can begin to understand why the culinary style could not fail to be elevated into the surrounding extravaganza of state.
The fruits and vegetables for which Babur had pined were now grown in profusion – melons, peaches, apricots, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, plums, apples, pears, cherries, chestnuts and special grapes varieties came together to combine with local produce like mangoes, oranges, limes, jackfruit, coconuts, pineapples, star fruit, plantains, tamarind, sugar cane and, of course, the full gamut of spices.
With more than 400 cooks in Akbar's kitchen, there was great potential for experimenting to produce perfect blends of marinades and sauces combining meats and fruits, and using spices for their aromatic and pungent attributes as well as for their medicinal qualities. Royal banquets became a focus of entertainment at the Moghul courts. We must pay our salaams to Abul Fazl, the philosopher poet and Akbar's favourite courtier and confidant, who introduces us to those dishes which became, and remain, the classical dishes of India – Moghul or Moghlai style.
Abul Fazl's Food Records
Abul Fazl was an Indian-born Muslim, a scholar and a diplomat. He soon rose to the rank of prime minister and had command of 4,000 horsemen. He wielded an enormous amount of influence at court. We are indebted to Fazl for his meticulous recording and for his own great interest in food. His food consumption was gargantuan. His son sat by his side to serve him when he ate, while the kitchen superintendent stood by, watching closely to observe which dishes met Fazl's favour. This they would gauge if Fazl enjoyed a second helping of any particular dish. If he did not approve of a dish, he would, without uttering a word, indicate that his son taste it, and with great disdain the dish was passed to the superintendent to be removed and improved upon or never to be presented again.
When Abul Fazl was sent to the Deccan to relieve Akbar's drunken son from his command, he set off with 3,000 men. He lived in grand style during this time and his table was further embellished with dishes from that region. His daily fare apparently included 1,000 dishes, which were also relished by his officers. In another large tent nearby allcomers came to dine; khichri, one of the favourite dishes, was prepared in great quantities and distributed throughout the day. Today the very special cuisine of Hyberabad is a mixture of Moghul and Hindu influences, with a further injection of flavours from the south.
Back at the Moghul court we learn a lot from Abul Fazl about Akbar's policy on food. He philosophised on Akbar's pedantic concern for dishes presented at his table – every dish had to be perfect. Abul Fazl explains that,
The equilibrium of man's nature, the strength of the body, the capability of receiving external and internal blessings and the acquisition of worldly and religious advantages depend ultimately on the proper care being shown for appropriate food. This knowledge distinguishes man from beasts.
For Akbar, the right balance was more important than mere eating.
We learn too that Akbar ate only once in the course of 24 hours, but there was no fixed time for eating, so the kitchen staff were constantly at the ready, waiting for the royal command, and within an hour no fewer than 100 dishes were presented. With the ladies of his harem it was a different story – their kitchen staff were on the go from morning to night running back and forth with trays of delicacies to cater to special whims.
Royal Kitchen
Only trustworthy and experienced staff were appointed to the royal kitchen. The kitchen supervisors and the kitchens were overseen by no less a figure than Prime Minister Abul Fazl himself. He tells us that, although he was entrusted with other important affairs of state, the kitchen departments fell particularly under his control, with, of course, the emperor being kept fully informed. The possibility of being poisoned was never far from an emperor's mind.
When the Moghuls were on the move, even a short journey was a mammoth organisational task. When the royal party set out for Kashmir, Abul Fazl ensured the efficiency of the travelling kitchens. One camp contained 100 elephants, 500 camels, 400 carts, 100 bearers, 500 troopers, 1,000 labourers, 500 site levellers, 100 water carriers, 50 carpenters, 30 leather makers and 150 sweepers. Then there were tent-makers, candlemakers and torch-bearers; the hundreds of tents included sixteen large kitchen tents.
Akbar had 300 wives, most of whom were Turkish or Persian, but it was his Rajput Hindu princesses and their relatives in administrative positions who helped to turn the Moghul foothold into a united Hindustan in the north of the subcontinent.
The imperial kitchen was run like a state department with a treasurer, storekeeper, tasters, clerks, and cooks from Persia and various regions of India. 'Every day,' Abul Fazl reports, 'such dishes are prepared as the nobles can scarcely command at their feasts, from which you may infer how exquisite the dishes are which are prepared for his Majesty.' The treasurer issued the budget on an annual estimate, purchases were made accordingly and the storehouse sealed with two individual seals, those of the superintendent of the stores and of the head of the kitchen. These two were responsible for daily expenditure, for receipts and for the servants' wages. Rice, according to the season in different areas, was purchased quarterly. Fowls were never kept for more than a month after fattening, and even animals such as sheep and goats were fattened by the cooks. An abundance of vegetables was supplied from the kitchen garden, which was supervised by horticulturalists from Persia.
Richness and variety were the dictates of food required from the emperor's kitchen. Dishes were prepared with the utmost care and presented on elaborate platters, some made in the palace workshops, others imported. Vessels were made of gold, silver, stone or terracotta; gold ladles were studded with jewels; special foods were served in the finest of Ming porcelain imported from China; goblets of gold, jade and silver were filed and refilled with sherbets and wines. Elaborate security measures were taken to ensure that there could be no tampering with the containers as they were escorted from the royal kitchens to the royal dining chamber:
During the time of cooking, and when the victuals ate taken out, an awning is spread, and lookers-on kept away. The cooks tuck their sleeves, and the hems of their garments, and hold out their hands before their mouths and noses when the food is taken out; the cook and the Bakawal taste it, after which it is tasted by the Mir Bakawal, and then put into the dishes. The gold and silver dishes are tied up in red cloths, and those of copper and china in white ones. The Mir Bakawal attaches his seal, and writes on it the names of the contents, whilst the clerk of the pantry writes out on a sheet of paper a list of all vessels and dishes, which he sends inside, with the seal of the Mir Bakawal, that none of the dishes may be changed. The dishes are carried by the Bakawals, the cooks, and the other servants, and mace-bearers precede and follow, to prevent people from approaching them. The servants of the pantry send at the same time, in bags containing the seal of the Bakawal, various kinds of bread, saucers of curds piled up, and small stands containing plates of pickles, fresh ginger, limes and various greens. The servants of the palace again taste the food, spread the table cloth on the ground, and arrange the dishes; and when after some time his Majesty commences to dine, the table servants sit opposite him in attendance; first the share of the derwishes is put apart, when his Majesty commences with milk or curds. After he has dined, he prostrates himself in prayer. The Mir Bakawal is always in attendance. The dishes are taken away according to the above list. Some victuals are also kept half ready. Should they be called for.
Meals and Customs
Ice was transported daily from the mountains to the capital; water was cooled by a drip system through saltpetre. Meals were accompanied by a great variety of breads from the Persian-style oven, from pear-shaped naans using milk and yeast and ghee, to the simple chapati using only flour and water to make a pliable dough rolled out into a circle and cooked dry on an iron plate. There were always numerous side-dishes of curds, pickles, achars, fresh ginger and limes. And to finish, many varieties of paan, betel leaves smeared with camphor and musk rolled up and accompanied by betel nuts. Abul Fazl enjoyed the taking of paan because, 'It renders the breath agreeable, and repasts odorous. It strengthens the gums, and makes the hungry satisfied, and the satisfied hungry.'
The taking of paan was an Indian custom adopted by the Moghuls early in their reign. Today betel leaf plays an important role in ceremonies such as birth and marriage, and on auspicious occasion. It has been endowed with digestive, medicinal, even magical qualities in some parts of India. The offering of paan after a meal is a ritual expected of the host.
The list of dishes commented upon by Fazl reveal that the royal cooks were by then making much use of the spices indigenous to India, even in the Persian-style dishes. No doubt Akbar's Hindu wives and his Rajput chiefs had a role in ensuring that dishes made with spices with which they were familiar were presented to the emperor.
Tempting dishes were sent to the emperor after his periods of fasting. Murghs mussamman, a forerunner of today's murgh mussalam, was one of the favourite dishes of the Rajput warriors that became fused into the Moghul style. To prepare it is a supreme test even for expert cooks. The chicken has to be skilfully boned so that it remains whole, stuffed with well seasoned mince and rice and marinated in a spicy malsala paste, placed on a rack in a heavy panh and cooked slowly in the oven in the dum-phukt manner in which the lid is sealed with dough. The method has changed little since the days of Akbar.
Akbar demanded nothing less than perfection from all his state departments, including the royal kitchen. One chicken dish had to be prepared 247 times before it was pronounced fit to bear the name murgh akbari. Persian culture introduced richness to the rice dishes in the forms of the pulao or pilau, a Persian word meaning rice boiled with meats and spices. Akbar commanded that a special dish be created and dedicated to his nine favourite courtiers, one of whom, of course, was Abul Fazl. The nine were well known as 'Akbar's nine jewels' and the spectacular pilau with nine different jewel-coloured vegetables garnished with tiny grapes that resulted was called navrattan. Another of the 'nine jewels' was the philosopher-wit Mullah Dopiaza. Do-piaza gosht is a full-flavoured meat dish using large quantities of both fried and ground onion introduced into the spices in two stages. It is still a favourite on Hyderabadi tables today.
Khichri, a simple dish from Gujerat in the west of India, caught Akbar's fancy and took on a more sophisticated form as cooks in the royal kitchens prepared it. Aurangzeb also enjoyed khichri and one version, khichri alamgiri (Seizer of the Universe) was named for him. Being allowed to name a dish after an emperor was a great mark of prestige for the kitchen department and particularly for the cook who had created it. Khichri is still a popular dish and is often referred to as Kichdi, a Hindi word meaning a mixture of pulses and rice.
Shahjahani biryani is an elaborate rice dish which combines the products of an extended empire. Rice is par-boiled, layered with lamb, chicken or vegetables cooked in a special masala of onions, ginger, crushed almonds and spices, spiced yoghurt and finally milk and ghee, and then sprinkled with saffron threads to complete the layers. Baked slowly in the oven, it is superb and well worth the effort involved. Mumtaz, the lady of the Taj, also has dishes that commemorate her name. Murgh keema mumtaz mahal is a very tasty chicken dish flavoured with poppy seeds and cashews on a bed of savoury minced lamb.
Abul Fazl mentions more than thirty dishes and their ingredients which were presented at Akbar's table and many of these dishes are still cooked in India today. He tells us that the emperor was subject to the influence of the numerous Hindu princesses who gained so great an ascendancy over him as to make him forswear beef, garlic, onion and the wearing of a beard. Akbar, a Muslim, went out of his way to introduce modified Hindu customs and heresies into the court assemblies to please and win over his Hindu subjects.
Jahangir's Reign: Persian Influences
Jewellery was made incorporating Hindu motifs of the lotus, the ashoka tree, the elephant along with the tulip, the chrysanthemum and the gazelle of Islam. A deliberate policy of identifying with India was adopted. When Shah Jahan decided to try to conquer Samarkand, it was for the glory of his Indian empire. Both Akbar's son Jahangir and his son Shah Jahan had Hindu mothers. Akbar's courts were filled with Hindu entertainers, musicians, painters and philosophers.
Jahangir was also very fond of his food and wine. The now renowned dishes cooked in the tandoor oven were a favourite of his and his cooks were instructed to take their ovens whenever the emperor travelled. The clay tandoor oven came to India from Central Asia and today dishes like tandoori murgh are favourites wherever there are Indian restaurants.
Persian influences were certainly at work during Jahangir's reign. He married the daughter of a Persian nobleman employed at the Moghul court and she became one of the most influential women in the history of the Moghul empire. Nur Jahan counselled on state matters and also laid out gardens in Kashmir in the formal Persian style. She was an accomplished poet and a designer of clothes and jewellery. Her brother became a high-ranking official while her mother is credited as discovering attar of roses and her niece was wedded to the emperor Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal. This Persian quintet wielded much power, and under their direction banquets and festivals were celebrated in an even more lavish manner.
Lucknow: Seat of Muslim Culture and Learning
In 1590 Akbar chose Lucknow as one of the seats of government and, as the empire expanded, the city became an important seat of Muslim culture and learning. It was here that culinary skills reached new heights in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1753 Shuja ud Daula established the independent court of Avadh (Oudh) and the court kitchens far surpassed those of his ancestors. He had six separate kitchens, supervised in a style similar to Akbar's. He spent great sums on food, the main kitchen receiving over 2,000 rupees per day for food alone, a very sizeable sum for those times.
As Lucknow became the centre of high society, expert cooks were brought in and the preparation of food became more and more elaborate as the cooks competed for supremacy. New dishes were created, and any that came from the kitchens of Lucklow were of the greatest interest to the nobility elsewhere in the subcontinent. Cooks were paid high salaries, and one nawab, Salar Jang, paid his cook the unprecedented sum of 1,200 rupees per month to prepare pilaus. His dishes became so renowned that other nawabs tried to bribe the cook into their service. At this time Lucknow specialised in serveral types of pilau with exotic-sounding names: gulzar, meaning garden, nur (light), koko (cuckoo), moti (pearl) and chambeli (jasmine). One Lucklow cook is said to have prepared a khichri of pistachios and almonds cut and shaped to resemble and replace the usual rice and pulses.
These highly specialised cooks guarded their secrets and there was much enticing of cooks from one household to another. Cooking had become an art form centred above all around rice dishes. This is well demonstrated in a pilau in which the rice was made to resemble pomegranate seeds, each grain being painted half red and half white so that it looked as if a dish of rubies had been set before the king.
For moti pilau, the rice was made to look like pearls. Tissue-thin sheets of pure gold and silver leaf were beaten into the yolk of an egg. This was mixed into the rice, which was then stuffed into the gullet of a chicken. The chicken was tied up with string and heated slightly, and the skin then cut to release the rice, which looked like pearls. The rice was then cooked with the meat of the pilau. One renowned Lucknow chef used to make a bird pilau in which the rice formed a type of pie from which small birds flew out when it was opened.
India Today:
Today India specialises in two types of confectionery, that prepared by Muslims and that made by Hindus. Halwa is a typical Muslim sweetmeat and came to India via Central Asia. The Hindu variety, called tar halwa or mohan bhog, uses large quantities of ghee. Today's jalebi is often thought of as a typical Hindu sweetmeat, but Muslims claim that the name is a corruption of the Arabic zalibya introduced to India by Arab traders in the eighth century. Muslim-type sweetmeats include barfi, from the Persian word baraf meaning snow, a mouth-watering milk sweet, and gulab jamun, soft round balls steeped in syrup flavoured with rosewater.
When Shah Tahmasp of Persia offered hospitality to the Moghul Emperor Humayun early in the sixteenth century, he started another tradition that was to continue for hundreds of years. 'Let him drink fine sherbets of lemon and rosewater, cooled with snow,' he declared, and today in India cooling drinks are extremely popular, as are nimbu pani (lime juice), lassi (yoghurt diluted with wayer) and the sherberts or sharbats which can be bought from roadside stalls. In many households they are offered as a welcoming drink on a hot day. There is one sherbert that is very obviously Persian in origin, badam sharbat. Made from almonds, sugar and rosewater, badammeans almonds in Persian. Badam Sharbat is served both in Iran and in India. And so the Indo-Islamic fusion lingers on in these dishes handed down from the time of the Moghuls.
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Chicken Marinated in Yoghurt and Spices (Murgh Tandoori)
Chicken pieces with a lemony tang, traditionally coloured red, are marinated overnight and cooked in an earthenware oven. This version can be oven-baked, grilled or barbecued. Tandoori dishes are usually served with a mixed salad accompanied by naan and a mint chutney.
There are many recipes for tandoori-style dishes and it would be unusual to find two the same. This version with flavours of nutmeg and saffron is in the Moghul style. Jahangir was extremely fond of tandoor dishes and his cooks were instructed to take tandoori ovens whenever the emperor travelled. It is, however, only in more recent times that the popularity of tandoori dishes has spread south of the Punjab.
Allow a marination time of 4-6 hours or overnight. Before cooking the chicken, preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/400 degrees F/gas mark 6 for about 15 minutes.
First marination:
8 skinned chicken pieces
1 tsp saffron threads, steeped for 15 minutes in 1 tsp hot water
2 tsp salt
4 tbsp lime or lemon juice
Second marination:
1 roughly chopped small onion
2 tsp roughly chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp roughly chopped garlic
1 tbsp water
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 lightly whisked cup yoghurt
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
Edible red food coloring (optional)
Cooking the chicken:
2 tbsp melted ghee
Wash the chicken pieces and pat them dry with kitchen paper. Make a couple of deep diagonal slits across the thickest part of each piece with a sharp knife. Combine the steeped saffron threads and water with the salt and lime or lemon juice and rub well into the chicken pieces, particularly into the cuts. Leave to marinate for 1 hour. Drain the liquid off from time to time and pour over the chicken pieces.
Blend the onion, ginger, garlic and water in a food processor until smooth. Set aside.
Dry-roast the coriander and cumin seeds in a small frying pan and then grind them in a spice-mill or coffee-grinder. Add to the yoghurt, along with the blended paste, the pepper, garam masala, chilli, nutmeg and the food coloring (if used). Mix well to combine, allow the flavours to integrate for 20 minutes and then strain through a fine sieve. Set aside. Coat the chicken pieces with the marinade. Marinade for 4-6 hours or overnight, covered, in refrigerator.
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C/400 degrees F/gas mark 6. Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and arrange them in a single layer on a rack in a shallow baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes. Brush with the melted ghee and bake for a further 10 minutes. Pierce with a skewer or fork to check if cooked through. Breast will cook through more quickly than legs and thigh.
Pomegranate Soup (Anarkarli Shorba)
Pomegranates were relished at Moghul courts and it was believed by some that they were the fruit in the Garden of Eden. When Jahangir beheld the beauty of a flower-seller he called his beautiful Anarkarli (Pomegranate Blossom), but the ill-fated young woman was entombed alive by the Akbar for daring to acknowledge Jahangir's attentions. This delectable soup dedicated to the flower-seller is thickened with a purée of slit peas, lentils, rice, spinach and leek and flavoured with the syrup of pomegranate. I sometimes add a sprinkling of chopped mint leaves as a garnish. Allow 1 hour for soaking the spit peas.
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 finely chopped large onion
1/2 cup yellow split peas; rinse, cover with water, soak for 1 hour and drain
1/4 cup rinsed masoor dal (lentils)
1/2 cup well rinsed rice
6 1/2 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves and stalk
1 finely chopped small leek
120 g/ 1/4lb fresh spinach, rinsed and finely chopped
2 tbsp syrup of pomegranate or
1 cup juice extracted from fresh pomegranate
Heat the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and sauté the chopped inion until it turns a light golden brown. Drain and add the split peas, lentils and rice and stir to coat. Add the water, bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the salt, pepper, coriander, leek and spinach; simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Strain the mixture through a sieve and return the stock to the pan. Purée the solids and return to the stock. Add the pomegranate juice and continue to simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Roti Stuffed with Spicy Potato (Aloo Roti)
These rotis are filled with delicious spicy mash potatos before frying. The potatos for the filling retain a floury texture when cooked in the skins before peeling. You may prefer to use a cooked and mashed vegetable other than potato. The rotis are quite filling and make a good sandwich substitute for lunch served with a beetroot raita and one of the chutneys. Roti is a generic name for unleavened bread.
These quantities will make 8 rotis. Allow 1 hour or more resting time for the dough.
250g/8 oz potatos
1 finely chopped large onion
1 finely chopped fresh green chilli, seeds discarded
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp salt
2 cups sifted atta flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp ghee
3/4 cup water at room temperature
Extra flour for dusting
3 tbsp melted ghee
Cook the potatos in their skins, then cool, peel and cut them into large pieces. Add the onion, chilli, coriander leaves, cumin powder, garam masala and salt and mash into the potatos. Set aside.
Put the sifted flour into a bowl with the salt and rub in the ghee. Gradually add the water and mix to a dough. Knead to a soft pliable dough on a work surface for 10-15 minutes. Return to the bowl and cover with a moist cloth. Leave to rest for 1 hour or longer.
Knead again with moistened fingers. Divide into 8 portions and roll into balls. Flatten the balls with the palm of your hand and cover with a moistened cloth for 10 minutes.
Dust the work surface and rolling pin with atta flour and roll out the balls to circles about 10 cm/4 inches. Put a spoonful of the spicy potato mixture in the centre. Pull the edges up over the filling and pinch together to make a pouch. Lightly moisten your hands with water or a little ghee and gently roll into a ball.
Dust the rolling surface and rollong pin with more flour and gently and lightly roll the rotis out to about 13 cm/5 inches.
Heat the griddle, dribble a teaspoon of melted ghee over the surface and put a roti in the centre. After a few seconds, dribble a few drops of ghee round the edge, cook for 1 minute, turn and do the same for the other side. The rotis should be golden on both sides and served as soon as possible. If they need to be kept warm for a short while, wrap them individually in foil.
Pastries Coated in Syrup and Nuts (Balushahi)
Balushahis, deep-fried pastry circles, are dipped in syrup and coated with crumbly nuts go particularly well with after-dinner coffee. Almonds and pistachios are used here, but any other unsalted nuts may be substituted.
For the pastry:
250 g/8 oz plain flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
4 tbsp melted ghee
3 tbsp yoghurt
1 1/2 tbsp cold water
Ghee for deep-frying
2 light-coloured cardamom pods, bruised
3 tbsp blanched almonds
3 tbsp blanched pistachios
For the syrup:
8 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp water
2 tsp lime or lemon juice
Sift the flour in to a bowl with the bicarbonate of soda and stir in the salt and cardamom powder. Rub in the ghee, mix in the yoghurt and water and knead to a soft dough. Divide the dough into 16 portions and roll into your thumb and then flatten out the circles. The centre should be thinner than the other rim.
Heat the ghee for deep-frying in a heavy-bottomed frying pan until it sizzles if splashed with drops of water. Drop in the bruised cardamom, reduce the heat to low and slip the pastry circles into the ghee a few at a time. The ghee should simmer around them. Let them fry for about 6 minutes then turn them over. They should swell and be light golden in colour.
Remove with a slotted spoon onto absorbent paper and repeat until all the dough circles are cooked. Allow to cool. Now, while the balushahis are cooling, prepare the syrup.
Simmer the sugar and water together in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a low heat until the mixture becomes a thick, heavy syrup which will stick to the balushahis. Then stir in the lime or lemon juice.
Coat the fried circles with syrup by dropping them into the hot syrup a few at a time. Remove with tong onto the bed of crumbly nut mixture and sprinkle the tops with the other half of the nut mixture. Allow to cool.