Royal Spread

India’s maharajas feasted on very different cuisine from their subjects. Their food was redolent with rich clarified butter (ghee), aromatic spices, tender pieces of mutton and dry fruits. The recipes that follow bring alive that long-gone rose-scented and saffron-hued era.

Kheema Samosas

Ingredients

½ lb. white flour

Salt to taste

For filling

½ lbs. boiled minced lambs mutton

1 teaspoon each of garam masala

and coriander-cumin powder

1 medium onion minced

1 teaspoon ginger and garlic paste

1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

½ teaspoon chilies chopped finely

Salt and chili powder to taste

2 tablespoons ghee

Mix together salt and refined flour, add enough water to form stiff dough. Heat 2 tablespoons oil and add ginger-garlic paste and chilies until soft; mix in the remaining ingredients until dry. Divide the dough into lime-sized balls. Roll out the balls into round circles. Cut into halves. Make cones of each half in your hands and fill with the mixture. Seal the edges with water and deep fry. Drain and serve with chutney of your choice.

Shahi Murg

Ingredients

1½ lbs. chicken, cleaned and cut

1 teaspoon ginger and garlic paste

1 lbs. sour yogurt

Salt and chili powder to taste

½ lb. powdered pistachios

2 oz. blanched pistachios

4 oz. unsalted butter

4 oz. cream

1 teaspoon black cumin

2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaves

1 teaspoon green chili paste

¼ teaspoon saffron strands soaked in 1 tablespoon hot milk

Mix chicken in yogurt, ginger, garlic, salt and chili powder, set aside half an hour. Roast or grill chicken until cooked. Heat butter and add cumin, when it starts crackling, add ground pistachios, mix well and add the chicken, chilli paste, coriander leaves and three-fourths of the cream. Cook over a slow fire for 5 minutes. Place in a serving dish, mix in the remaining cream and saffron, decorate with the blanched pistachios and serve hot.

Hara Bhara Gosht

Ingredients

2 lbs. lambs mutton cut into serving portions

2 oz. coriander leaves

¼ oz. mint leaves

1 tablespoon ginger and garlic paste

2 oz. fresh coconut

4 oz. tomatoes

1 tablespoon each of garam masala

and coriander-cumin powder

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

4 oz. ghee

Salt and chili powder to taste

Grind all the above ingredients, with the exception of the mutton, to a paste in a mixer. Heat ghee, add the mutton and fry to a red color. Pour in the paste and cook over a slow fire without water for 30 minutes until the mutton turns tender and the butter floats on top.

Handi Ghost

Ingredients

1 lb. mutton, clean and chopped into small pieces

½ lb. onions, minced

4 oz. tomatoes chopped

¼ small teacup brandy

2 tablespoons tamarind juice

2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves

1 tablespoon ginger and garlic paste

1 tablespoon chopped mint leaves

1 teaspoon green chilies chopped

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

1 tablespoon coriander-cumin powder

1 teaspoon garam masala powder

½ oz. cloves, cardamoms and bay leaf

1 teaspoon broken cinnamons stick

Salt and chili powder to taste

5 tablespoons ghee

Mix all ground spices, tamarind and salt with mutton. Set aside for half hour. Wash earthenware pot well and place over a slow fire. Add all whole spices. When the spices emit a pleasant aroma, place all ingredients into the pot. Mix wheat flour and enough water to form soft dough. Cover the pot with its cover and seal the cover with the dough on all the sides so steam does not escape. Cook over slow fire until the dough turns red and hard. Remove from fire, break open seal and place in a serving plate. Add ghee. You can use a pressure cooker if earthenware pot is not available.

Shikhampuri Kebabs

Ingredients

1 lbs. minced mutton

1 tablespoon garam masala

1 teaspoon each of powdered cumin

and coriander seeds

1 egg slightly beaten

1 large onion

4 flakes garlic

2 ozs. blanched almonds

1 tablespoon Bengal gram flour

1 teaspoon poppy seeds

Salt and chili powder to taste

1 teaspoon ghee

Oil as needed

For filling

½ small teacup hung yogurt

A few sliced mint and coriander leaves

2 green chilies, minced

1 big onion chopped

Mix all the filling ingredients together. Boil the mutton in salted water until tender and completely dry. Roast almonds and poppy seeds and set aside. Fry Bengal gram flour in 1 teaspoon ghee to a light red color. Grind mutton to a paste with almonds and poppy seeds. Fry onion and garlic to a red color in a little oil and grind to a paste. Mix into the mutton along with all the spices, salt, egg and flour. Knead into a smooth mixture. Form the mixture into small round flat cakes. Shallow fry to golden brown color. Drain and serve with chutney of your choice.

Shehanshahi Goochi Korma

Ingredients

½ lbs. onions

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1tsp. grated garlic

4 ozs tomatoes, blanched and sliced

1 small tea cup yogurt

1 tsp green chili paste

1 oz. each of cashew nuts, almonds, pistachios and raisins

50 grams khoya

½ oz. small cardamoms, big cardamoms,

cinnamon stick and bay leaves

1 teaspoon each of garam masala,

ground coriander and cumin seeds

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

1 lbs. shelled peas

½ lbs. fresh mushrooms sliced

4 oz. sliced paneer, lightly fried

Salt to taste

Grind onion, ginger and garlic to a paste. Heat 6 tablespoons ghee and add the whole spices, then add the ground paste and fry to a golden color. Add the tomatoes, yogurt and ground spices. Cook until the clarified butter floats to top. Add mushrooms and fry for 5 minutes. Add peas, salt and all the nuts. Mix well and add 2 cups water. Cook until the vegetables are done. Mix in khoya and paneer, bring to a boil and remove from fire, serve hot.

Mughlai Biryani

Ingredients

For first layer

¼ lbs. mixed vegetables: finely chopped French beans, carrots and cabbage

1 teaspoon black pepper powder

Salt to taste

For second layer

¼ lb. small baby potatoes, boiled

1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon each of garam masala powder,

powdered cumin seeds and coriander seeds

For third layer

¼ lb. chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

6 to 8 mint leaves

2 green chilies sliced in the center, half way through

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

For decoration

1 oz. each of almonds, cashew nuts and raisins

Divide the cooked rice into three portions. To prepare the first layer, heat 2 tablespoons ghee and add all the vegetables. Cook over a high heat till the vegetables are crunchy and soft. Mix in salt and pepper and one portion of the rice and fry for 2 to 3 minutes over high heat, then place in a serving dish. To prepare the second layer heat 2 tablespoons clarified butter, add cumin seeds and when they stop tossing, add baby potatoes and fry. Mix in the remaining ingredients and cook for 2 additional minutes. Pour over the 1st layer of the rice in the serving dish. For the third portion of the rice, heat 2 tablespoons clarified butter, add tomatoes and remaining ingredients and cook until soft. Mix in the rice and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour the third portion over the rice. Decorate with nuts and serve.

Lachedar Paratha

Ingredients

½ lbs. white flour

3 tablespoons ghee

Mix ghee and add enough water to flour to form stiff dough. Divide dough into lime-sized balls. Roll out. Apply melted clarified butter liberally and roll into a strip. Place one edge of the strip on the palm of your hand and with the right hand coil the strip round and round till the whole strip is coiled. Press flat and apply dry flour on both sides of the flattened strip, then roll into the shape of a round paratha. Shallow fry to a golden color and serve.

Shahjahani Sevaiyaan

Ingredients

1 liter milk

½ lbs. sugar

4 oz. khoya

½ lbs mixed blanched and sliced nuts like

almonds, pistachios, cashew nuts and chairoli

4 oz. very thin vermicelli

½ small tea cup ghee

1 teaspoon cardamom seeds

A few drops essence of rose

½ oz. raisins

Heat the ghee and fry nuts and raisins. Remove nuts from ghee, add sevaiyaan and fry over slow fire until golden colored. Drain. Heat milk with sugar, add khoya and mix well. Add seviyaan and cook for 10 minutes until the mixture thickens. Remove from fire, add nuts and essence. Serve hot or cold.

Malpua

Ingredients

¼ liter milk

1 teaspoon anise seeds

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1 tablespoon black cardamom seeds

2 oz. refined flour

2 oz. powdered sugar

1 teaspoon saffron strands

1 oz. sliced almonds and pistachios

Mix sugar in milk, add enoughrefined flour to form a batter, beat well and mix in the remaining ingredients with the exception of nuts. Heat enough oil for deep frying until it is smoking, lower heat and add 2 tablespoons batter, spread to a thin round shape and deep fry to a golden color. Drain and serve decorated with sliced almonds and pistachios.

Sandalwood Sherbet

Ingredients

2½ bottles water

4¼ lbs. sugar

4 ozs. sandalwood powder

½ oz. cardamom

¼ tablespoon essence of rose

A few drops of lemon and yellow food coloring

¾ cup milk

Tie sandalwood powder in a piece of clean cloth. Powder the cardamoms. Place sugar, water and cardamom in a steel pan. Boil gently, stirring all the time, until sugar dissolves. Stir in the milk. Remove scum as it rises to the surface with a metal spoon. After syrup thickens a little, cover and set aside to cool. Squeeze out the juice from the sandalwood bag and discard it. Stir in the rose essence and color and strain through a fine cloth, Bottle and cork. Preserve in refrigerator.