Mughal cuisine was formed by all kinds of influences: Turkish, Afghani, and Persian, jumbled in with Kashmiri, Punjabi, and a hint of Deccan. Each emperor additionally had his favorites, and Shah Jahan is credited with adding new spices to the delicacies. Meals within the royal household began with the recitation of the Bismillah-e-Rahaman-e-Rahim—inside the name of Allah, maximum gracious, maximum merciful.
Salma Yusuf Husain records recipes from the kitchen of Emperor Shah Jahan in a brand new ebook, The Mughal Feast (Roli Books, 2019), a transcreation of the Nuska-e-Shahjahan. The following excerpt from The Mughal Feast: Recipes from the Kitchen of Emperor Shah Jahan has been republished with permission from the writer and Roli Books.
Shah Jahan, considered one of the finest Mughals, became the 5th Mughal emperor of India. He ruled over the tremendous empire left with the aid of his grandfather Akbar from 1628 to 1658. As the 0.33 son born to Emperor Jahangir, first of all, it seemed not going that he could be the selected inheritor to prevail over his father. Even after the demise of Akbar, he remained distant from courtroom politics while his brothers were engaged in conflicts over the throne. However, he became formidable with time, grew closer to his father, and ultimately named the emperor upon Jahangir’s demise in 1627.
In 1638, Shah Jahan moved his capital from Agra to Delhi, perhaps due to the summer heat of Agra, known as Shahjahanabad. Shah Jahan’s reign became a period of peace wherein literature flourished, schooling made potent strides, and architecture, portray, poetry, and song advanced in leaps and limits. He made India a rich center of arts, crafts, and structure and is rendered memorable in records for the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort of Shahjahanabad.
The silver twilight of Mughal civilization started with Shah Jahan. Delhi became a sanctuary of an urbane, sophisticated courtroom with flavor, even elegance. By early 1730, the town had absorbed diverse factors from neighboring regions and witnessed a mingling of international and national traces and an interchange of thoughts, customs, and food.
The Portuguese dating with the Mughals had already been hooked up a long time again, alongside the alternate routes. Hence, the imperial kitchens, besides Indian elements, saw an extra element added using the Portuguese chili. The chili became very similar to the lengthy pepper already in use, and therefore, it no longer looked too unexpected to royal cooks. However, it had a recent flavor.
Other veggies like potatoes and tomatoes were also regarded at the scene, and the meals of the Red Fort became wealthy in coloration, hot in flavor, and varied compared to the tasteless meals of its ancestors. Qormas, qiyas, pulaos, kab, abs, and greens decorated the desk in distinctive clothing, except European cakes and puddings.
Cooking and serving meals in royal kitchens became a riot of colors, fragrances, experiments, table manners, and protocols. The emperors typically ate with their queens and concubines, except on festive occasions, when they dined with nobles and courtiers. Daily food was commonly served by eunuchs. However, an intricate chain of command observed the food on the table.
The Hakim (royal medical doctor) deliberate the menu, ensuring it includes medicinally beneficial elements. For example, every grain of rice for the pulao was covered with silverware, which aided digestion and acted as an aphrodisiac. One account states a Mughal ceremonial dinner given to Shah Jahan through Asaf Khan, the emperor’s wazir, throughout Jahangir’s time. However, no outsider had ever seen any emperor eating except once. At the same time, Friar Sebastian Manrique, a Portuguese priest, was smuggled by an eunuch into the harem to watch Shah Jahan consume his food with Asaf Khan.
Once the menu was determined, a complicated kitchen workforce numbering at least a few hundred swung into action. Since many dishes were served at each meal, an assembly line of personnel undertook the chopping and cleaning, the showering and grinding. Food was cooked in rainwater, and water was introduced from the Ganges for the highest-quality, feasible flavor.
The cooking and how the food was served was exciting, and I noticed that the food was served in dishes made from gold and silver studded with valuable stones and jade, as it detected poison. The meals turned into eaten on the ground; sheets of leather protected with white calico covered the pricey carpets. This was referred to as astrakhan.
It became customary for the emperor to set apart a portion of food for people experiencing poverty before eating. The emperor began and ended his meal with prayers; the banquet ran for hours as Shah Jahan appreciated experiencing his food and spending long hours at Astrakhan. With time, indigenization inside the cooking fashion became obvious, and positive Indian substances, like Kashmiri Vadi, sandalwood powder, sugar, betel leaves, white gourd, and Natasha, and culmination like mango, phalsa, banana, and so forth. have been used to provide distinctive flavors to dishes.
