The ongoing special Awadhi food festival at Radisson Blu is incorporating the expertise of Unani medical practitioner Izzat Hussain in the dishes being served. Bilal Vohra checks out the fare
Although the food and culture in our country changes every 100 kilometers but Awadhi cuisine is inseparable when it comes to India’s deeply embedded gastronomical journey, there would hardly be anyone ,who has slightest sense of food and would not have experienced this magic on his tongue numbing
his brain.
The recent Awadhi Food festival happening at Indiyaki, Radisson Blue, Paschim Vihar promises to deliver the same food to the masses of Delhi by the hands of Izzat Hussain, who is a direct descendent of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and is a Unani medicine practitioner, as he claims. The whole event was curated by Ashish Chopra, a self-acclaimed food historian. But can they justify the cuisine to someone who hails from the same region and has spent more than 2/3rd of his life eating the same food every single dayIJ let’s explore.
Our pallet started with Izzati kawab with veg as well as non-veg variety where the mutton one seemed apt with spices and taste and is solely a new name given to shami kawab, while the vegetarian one is Rajma ka kawab and is overloaded with mace giving it unwanted heat. The paneer talatali is a good option in
vegetarian which has golden fried cottage cheese pieces topped with sesame seeds.
For the main course, it was Murghluaba which is thick gravy in onion paste and has sublime flavours with well cooked chicken. On the other hand Shahi mutton nihari is a shocking depart from actual Awadi or Delhi version. It tastes more like rogan-josh which is not bad on the taste buds but you don’t expect rogan-josh under the label of nihari.
The palak paneer is a great vegetarian option that trumps the carnivore section with a clear hand. The key to it is that the spinach leaves have not been grounded or even chopped for that matter, they have just been cooked the way they came keeping them as original as possible, which exudes great flavours to the curry as well as to the cottage cheese. The achari gobhi is another misfire on the name with barely any sour or tanginess to be located. This dish is a deformed vegetarian version of famous achari gosht from lahore which is very pungent and sour. All the above gravies can be coupled with Izzati roti which is dry whole grain bread with cumin seed on top — a happy depart from the butter and richness loaded breads that are generally prominent,although those breads can be called for, as per your choice.
The Mutton biryani is succulent with meat well cooked, screw-pine imparting right flavours to the rice. This is one dish in complete originality and is something that would make a lucknowi proud of his food. The khajoor ka halwa with suji is a great new experiment that’s bound to make heads turn.
Summing up the experience I can say, the food is not authentic to the five pockets of Awadhi region and is very average to our pallet. It’s more like home style food and not the royal Awadhi platter. The festival is on till August 2 from 7 in the evening to midnight and the PlF (pocket loosening factor) is `1699, plus taxes for an individual.
