Rivaayat, a royal Awadhi food experience at Saffron, Trident, Gurgaon

Awadhi food is close to my heart as I have spent a major chunk of my growing up years in Banaras and even the vegetarian food there has the Mughlai Awadhi influence. Probably it was the geographical region that influenced the Awadhi Mughlai and made it richer with milk products, ghee and nuts making the spicing milder and more aromatic together. The origin of all Mughlai cuisine offshoots spread across the country is Persia as Dr. Izzat Hussain says, adding that the essence of Mughlai cuisine was preserved best in Awadh region. I think it was also because of the climatic and geographical attributes of this region where milk, khoya and ghee were used abundantly since time immemorial.

I met Dr. Izzat Hussain at Trident, Gurgaon last week where he is training and showcasing his own rendition of Awadhi Mughlai cuisine that he has developed over the years with his knowledge of Unani medicine combined with the love for food. We went there for dinner and Dr. Hussain greeted us with his trademark cheeky smile, then we settled down with some pineapple juice with ginger and talked about spices and herbs, condiments, cooking oils, ghee and everything that has a possible connection with food. He believes in using only as much spice and herbs in a recipe as is required for good health and digestion and that was the essence of everyday cooking in older days too.

My choice of pineapple and ginger juice mix was an effort to be prepared for a heavy meal.

Recently The Oberoi Group conducted an Indian culinary conclave by the name of Rivaayat and invited noted food historians, food critics and culinary experts to educate and train 32 senior most Chefs working with the group flown in from all over India. This is a great effort to preserve a culinary legacy and make a richer repertoire keeping the authenticity intact. Dr. Izzat Hussain's contribution to the Rivaayat is quite a wide range of kababs, kormas, rotis and biryanis and a few fine techniques that Chef Sandeep (from Saffron) finds useful. Many of these recipes will be included in the menu of Saffron, an eclectic Indian restaurant at Trident Gurgaon glowing with vibrant red and golden hues, massive Doric pillars and live instrumental Hindustani music.

As we sampled Galouti kabab and Kakori kabab, both cooked excellently. I asked Dr, Hussain about the origin of kakori kababs and he mentioned the place called Kakori closer to Lucknow. A cook named Golu miyan used to make kababs and to prevent the kababs from falling off the seekh, he tried a coating of egg whites that binds the soft and delicate kabab so well that it sticks to the seekh till cooked. The uncoated version is tied with thread and is called dora kabab.

Dr. Hussain has created a few vegetarian kababs too and they were good. I liked the paneer seekh, the mixed vegetable kabab enclosed in rice dough and bhuna aloo. I found the chutneys interesting as he introduced thoum and olive and coriander greens chutney. Thoum (or Toum) was made less pungent by adding cream and olive coriander was made almost like pesto.

I had never seen olives being used in Awadhi cuisine but Dr. Hussain revealed that the Nawabs of Awadh always had access to the finest olives, zereshk berries, dates and spices imported from Iran and Persia and their use was common in royal kitchens. Something we never find in the street foods we eat at Tundey's or Dastrakhwan in Lucknow.

The platter that came for mains was huge with both vegetarian and non vegetarian options for tasting. I loved the Saffron special daal (a specialty of Saffron), which is a light masoor ki daal garnished with cream and saffron. The best non vegetarian curry I liked was malai boti kabab (curried) which was delicately flavoured and cooked really soft. I liked the shahi nihari as well.

Nihari is eaten with gilafi kulcha in Lucknow and it was made well. The Baqarkhani roti was also made really well but I cannot eat breads so just took one bite from each. But I ate a good portion of Izzat ki roti which is a specialty of Dr. Hussain and it is really good multi grain roti.

The only grudge I have with this meal is the use of refined soybean oil for cooking. It is sacrilege for all traditional Indian cooking and health wise too. Ghee and mustard oil and other traditionally used cold pressed oils make so much difference in the final taste and healing properties of food as well.

A vegetarian kaju biryani was light and delicate, although just like a pulao. The gosht biryani had familiar aromatic flavours while the murgh tursh pulao was a bit tart but interesting. I would have liked the biryanis if served as a meal and not as a part of this huge spread. I was definitely full by then.

The desserts had the typical awadh signature. Tar halwa is a semolina halwa that is drowned in ghee, cooked with only milk and nuts this halwa is quite rich but somehow not my favourite. I liked the chhena kheer which was done really well and the shahi tukda that had raisins and nuts in the dense bread that is baked specially for this shahi tukda.

Mallika Gowda ( Manage communications) joined us for the dinner as well and introduced us to the whole concept of Rivaayat and how Oberoi group is taking it forward with their properties all over India so the signature recipes remain the same all over.

Chef Sandeep's rich fudge like chocolate cookies were the parting gift that came with an instruction to be microwaved for a few seconds before eating. I agree, rich chocolate is best enjoyed slightly warm.

I am sharing the recipe of Izzat ki roti that Dr. Hussain shared with me so graciously. It is a multi grain roti cooked with a few seasonal herbs and light spices and served with curries and kormas.

ingredients...

a mix of oats, ragi, gram, corn and whole wheat flours 500 gm
season fresh herbs like dhaniya-pudina 25 gm chopped fine
green chilli to taste
minced ginger and garlic 10 gm each
kalonji, ajwain and saunf 3 gm each
salt to taste
oil (ghee for me) 1 tbsp
warm water to knead the dough

procedure...

Mix the flours, the herbs, the spices and the ghee and salt. Mix well by rubbing together and knead a firm dough using warm water. Let it rest for half an hour and then make flat breads as you like.

Smear ghee or butter as per liking and serve as required.

chukandar gosht | mutton stew with beet roots and leaves

Chukandar gosht or mutton stewed with beet roots and leaves is one dish that looks really good on the table. Meats stewed slowly with vegetables is a Muslim way of cooking meats as much as I understand and that might be because it might have been the only way to eat vegetables in a primarily meat eating culture. I had never seen such meat stews being cooked in my family with added vegetables although spinach and fenugreek leaves were occasional additions to the meat curries cooked at home, sometimes a potato would be added for someone who doesn't like too much meat. Gobhi keema musallam and keema matar was common but any mushy vegetables were not at all considered for meat. I was a vegetarian back then.

Later when I learned about shalgam gosht, arbi gosht and bhindi gosht etc being cooked regularly at some of my friends places, I figured that would be a better way to eat meats. Then I started adding one odd vegetable to the Indian style meat stews but was not confident with adding a strong tasting vegetable to the meats. Then I started cooking rajma with beetroots some 6-7 years ago and everyone used to love it although I am guilty of not sharing the recipe of that rajma too.

Bringing beetroots to the meat stews was the next step and we loved this new avatar of Indian meat stew with beetroots and leaves. So much so whenever I find beets along with the greens attached, I think of a mutton stew. I sometimes cook this stew with just the leaves and sometimes add cubed beet roots as well. I must admit the version with just the leaves is appreciated more by majority of people I have come across.

This recipe is not quick but is fairly simple to cook. Cook this chukandar gosht when you have more work to do in the kitchen and this stew keeps cooking on the sly. I had learnt this recipe long back reading some Pakistani blog written in a very casual way but it was so good after tweaking the spices to my taste that I kept repeating it and forgot where I picked up.

ingredients 
(2 servings or 3 small)
mutton on bone (from shoulders or raan) 300 gm
beetroots with leaves 2 pieces (about 300 gm total)
tejpatta 3-4
ginger garlic paste 2 tbsp
dry whole red chillies 3-4 or more (keep it slightly hot to balance the sweetness of beetroots)
everyday garam masala 1 tbsp
yogurt 1/4 cup
special garam masala 1 tsp
mustard oil 2 tbsp or less if you can manage
sliced onions 2 (about 150 gm)
salt to taste
finely chopped green chillies and fresh ginger root to garnish

procedure 

Rinse, clean and chop the beet leaves roughly. Peel, rinse and dice the beetroots. Keep aside. (You can choose not to add the beet root chunks if you think they will be too sweet for the stew. You would need to tone down the spices in that case).

Put the mutton, beet leaves and tejpatta in a large stockpot along with a liter of water and cook on low flame for an hour or more, till the meat is cooked perfectly. Add salt after skimming any greyish matter that floats on the surface initially. You can pressure cook this mix in one step if you find it convenient.

Once cooked, fish out all the mutton pieces, remove the tejpatta and liquidise the stock along with the cooked beet leaves. Keep aside.

Heat mustard oil in a pan (preferably cast iron kadhai) and fry the sliced onions till browned well. Drain and make a paste along with the everyday curry powder and yogurt. Keep aside.

In the remaining oil add the broken dry red chillies and let them sizzle for a while to release flavours into the oil. Now tip in the ginger garlic paste and fry till pinkish. Add the onion, yogurt paste and fry in low flame till it gets glazed well or releases oil (if using more oil).

Add the cooked mutton pieces and bhuno till everything gets mixed well and the mutton pieces get a nice browning. Add the special garam masala, the beet root chunks and bhuno for 5-10 minutes. Add the pureed mix, some water if required and simmer till the beet root chunks are cooked well. This step can also be done in pressure cooker, being cautious of overcooking.

Serve hot with chopped green chillies and ginger. It tastes great with khameeri roti or kulcha and some sirke wala pyaz or sliced mooli.

Sometimes I cook mutton with spinach almost the same way, specially when the spinach is large and mature. This kind of masala suits well for added fibrous pureed leaves in the gravy. Basically a bit higher chilly and ginger heat to be toned down by the sweeter beets and yogurt. This curry has a unique taste that can convert beetroot haters. Some might not convert but most of them will for sure.

Please try this chukandar gosht and tell me if you like. Cook it with paneer or kala chana if you want a vegetarian version, you won't be disappointed.