Awadhi cuisine beyond biryani and korma

History — or folklore — often comes wrapped in flavours. One particular story about Awadh never fails to tickle my nostrils. Legend has it that Asaf-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Awadh in the late 18th century, had ordered that huge mounds of rice and meat be cooked together for workers engaged in construction work. One day, while on an inspection tour, he got a whiff of the food simmering on ‘dum’ (steam). He found the flavours so enticing that ‘dum’ was promptly embraced by the royal kitchen as a cooking technique.

Likewise, I find myself in raptures when I am near a just-opened biryani degh. Though not much of a rice eater, I cannot resist a plate of aromatic biryani. These days, however, I find that not everybody around me shares my passion for the sublime dish. When I ask people over for an Awadhi meal, the reaction (in some quarters) is: not biryani and korma again?

The time has come to clear some of these misgivings. Awadhi cuisine is not just about biryani and korma. The two signature dishes are, of course, the lead stars in the cuisine, but there are a great many brilliant characters that also play stellar roles. I realised that some months ago when I had a delicious dish called phulki ka salan, cooked by a friend. This consists of soft besan dumplings, nestling in a fragrant salan, or gravy.

I was offered this dish again a few days back —this time prepared by a young food enthusiast, Farhan Zaidi. Zaidi, who runs a food delivery outlet called Truly Awadh, tells me that there are quite a few lesser-known dishes from the erstwhile royal region of Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring areas. Take, for instance, kache kele ka salan. For this, a green or raw banana is sliced into small pieces, fried, and then cooked in a gravy tempered with mustard seeds. Or take channa dal ka bharta — mashed channa dal, tempered with dried red chillies and mint.

Muslim cuisines from different parts of the country are like Venn diagrams — with some common characteristics, and quite a few distinct ones. Take the biryani. In Lucknow, it is a rich dish cooked on ‘dum’ with long-grained rice, meat, whole spices, nuts and saffron, and is quite unlike the spicy Hyderabadi counterpart or the light Kolkata version. South Indian biryani (often cooked like pulao) celebrates the region’s spices and flavours. Delhi’s Muslim food is simpler, and has been described as ‘lashkari’, that is, soldiers’ food, unlike the rich traditions of Awadhi cuisine.

What interests me greatly are the little-known Awadhi dishes. In a book called ‘The Lucknow Cook Book’, the authors, Chand Sur and Sunita Kohli, mention dudhia tori — ridged gourd cooked with spices and milk — and kairi keema, a minced meat dish cooked with raw mangoes, mint, coriander leaves, chillies, curry leaves, onion seeds, onion and ginger-garlic.

In a compilation of essays called ‘Forgotten Foods’, historian Rana Safvi talks about an Awadhi breakfast of rogini roti and aloo ki qatli that her mother would prepare for the family. Her mother used to knead the dough with ‘balai’ or fresh cream taken off the top of a pot of milk. But then, rogini, she points out, means oily. Safvi mentions an early 20th century book called ‘Khwan nemat-e-kalan’, which had 44 varieties of rogini rotis. Rogini roti khassagi, for instance, is prepared with maida, ghee, milk, saffron, cardamom and salt.

Indeed, Awadhi food has so much to offer. Despite my love for biryanis, I have to say that there is a world beyond the rice-and-meat dish. And I think the late Nawab would have agreed.

Phulki ka salan

Ingredients

For the phulki

Besan 2 cups

Cumin seeds 1 tsp

Baking powder ½ tsp

Turmeric powder ½ tsp

Mustard oil For frying

A bit of water

For the gravy

Paste of onions 2 nos.

Ginger-garlic paste 1 tbsp

Amchoor powder 1 tsp

Red chilli powder 1 tsp

Turmeric powder ½ tsp

Coriander powder 1 tsp

Water As required

For the garnish

Fresh coriander leaves

Slit green chillies

Method

Mix the besan with cumin seeds, turmeric, salt and baking soda. Add some water to give it a pakora-like consistency. Now, turn these into small balls, and fry in hot mustard oil. Take these out when well browned, and then immerse them in warm water for 2 minutes. For the gravy, fry ground onions in mustard oil. Add turmeric, and cook until brown. Add the ginger-garlic paste, coriander powder, amchoor powder and red chilli powder and fry till the masalas get cooked. Add water. Add the phulki, and let it simmer. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and slit green chillies.