Salma tries to familiarise her readers with the mystique of ‘Mughal delicacies,’ which borrowed closely from Turkish, Afghani, and Persian patterns. The Mughal Khansamas successfully married the overseas impacts with Kashmiri, Punjabi, and Deccan substances.
Mughals
It is often stated that recipes are historical treasures, and in saving them, you’re stopping part of history from dying down. In her latest transcreation of the unique handwritten Persian recipe e-book ‘Nuska-e-Shahjahani,’ renowned meals historian and writer Salma Yusuf Husain has taken upon an immense task of bringing alive some boisterous Mughal recipes. The Mughal Feast: Recipes from the Kitchen of Emperor Shah Jahan, published using the Roli Books, offers a delightful peek into the rich culinary history of considered one of India’s finest empires.
Through her informative advent, Salma tries to familiarise her readers with the mystique of ‘Mughal cuisine,’ which borrowed heavily from Turkish, Afghani, and Persian styles. The Mughal Khansamas effectively married the overseas influences with Kashmiri, Punjabi, and Deccan substances.
When in 1638, Shah Jahan moved his capital from Agra to Delhi, the newly advanced Shahjahanabad flourished in arts, literature, and architecture. The foodscape of the metropolis also noticed a primary transformation inside the emperor’s rule. Mughlai delicacies, now not the handiest, have become a melting pot of numerous cultures. However, Shah Jahan became credited with adding new spices to the delicacies.
Husain additionally tells us that because Mughal’s shared congenial relationships with the Portuguese, the imperial kitchens also became aware of the Portuguese favorite chili, which added a revolution of kinds in Indian cooking. The meals have become colorful, flavourful, and hot. Imports like potatoes and tomatoes additionally modified the face of Indian meals for proper. The Mughals also added India to various results like cherries, apricots, grapes, and melons. Shah Jahan’s special penchant for mangoes coaxed the imperial kitchens to develop many innovative recipes for the usage of mangoes. The new change routes and roads facilitated the import of almonds, pistachios, walnuts, apricots, saffron, and fragrant herbs, which located their outstanding area in Mughal qormas, soups, and rice dishes.
While rice becomes a staple in Indian households a lot before the Mughals arrived, of their reign, cooking rice’s artwork noticed a unique refinement, giving us some of our favorite pulao dishes like moti pulao sarangi pulao, and greater. The Mughal ceremonial dinner, along with being a nostalgic recapturing of the conventional recipes, is likewise a unique tribute to Khansamas, who, alongside their group, could spend infinite hours to curate the special Dawat. The formal spreads have been various neighborhood and global favorites, from qormas and kebabs to European cakes and puddings.
The day-by-day meals, however, had been an affair of a laugh and gaiety. The kings preferred to have their meal with their queens or concubines; the menu was planned through an hakim (physician), who might ensure that the food had some medicinal elements. Food was also cooked in rainwater blended with water from the Ganges and changed into silver and gold utensils.
